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  1. #1

    Default Avoiding Road Walking-Connecticut New England Trail

    I have learned (or re-learned) my lesson and will not publish any detailed routes for my road walking bypasses.


    But for those with whom I’ve shared the route to avoid road walking in Connecticut (Middletown area) on the Mattabesett Trail from Route 147 to Brainard Hill Rd I need to add some information as a result of recent feedback.


    The 0.25 mile walk SE-NW along a power line near Rt 154 has been complicated by current construction activity on that power line. My route is still fine but when they’re working there’s lots of heavy equipment you don’t want to get involved with. You can either do that 0.25 portion on Route 154 (yuck!!), or bushwhack pretty easily through the open woods parallel to and BETWEEN the power line and Rt 154. Once the construction activity is completed, I’m sure that portion of my route will still be there.


    About 0.5 miles South of Route 9, there is a cabin deep in the woods which my route gives a wide margin, traversing near the top of a ridge about 0.2 miles up to the West. The owner of the cabin has verbally claimed ownership all the way up to the ridge top. No posting was observed (there is some BHA posting for a development much further S along that same woods road but my route doesn't come anywhere near that). Frankly I don’t believe it because that ownership would straddle a town line and that’s unusual for a land parcel. The extent of any posting we have seen on the ridge is a sign advising hikers to carry bear spray as bear have been sighted in the area! And another posting sign further S on the ridge that prohibits hunting and ATVs.


    Nevertheless, I’d suggest looping briefly further West just on the other side of the ridge for a few hundred yards. It’s not the nice path across, definitely bushwhacking, but it’s open woods and easy walking.

    I will post any other feedback I get here in this thread, but no detailed routes.

  2. #2
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    Thank you for this update!

    Jane

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wil View Post
    ... Mattabesett Trail from Route 147 to Brainard Hill Rd ...
    Typo: that's Route 154.

  4. #4
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    took me a bit to find where you where talking about -- southeast of Middletown near the Seven Falls State Park. I'm embarrassed to say that I've never walked on that eastish bound offshoot of the NET. Good walk? ...and thanks for the info.
    Lazarus

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by 1azarus View Post
    ...eastish bound offshoot of the NET
    Offshoot!? Watch your tongue.
    I've been hiking the Mattabesett Trail off and on for 50 years; the NET is barely an adolescent. Offshoot indeed.

    Quote Originally Posted by 1azarus View Post
    Good walk?

    You don't start getting into the classic Connecticut traprock ridge views until a bit further Southwest, when the Trail passes Myer Huber Pond near Rt 77; some folks find the quiet woods of this area boring. I love open woods, long interior views from wooded ridges. Solitude. Streams, ponds, small cascades; though the drought has taken its toll.

    Outside hunting season and on Sundays, when hunting is off, you can wander all over this area, making your own loops and side trips, respecting posting of course. I did some of my earliest hiking here and after a lifetime of major backpacking all over the U.S. and beyond I am bringing back what's left of my knees to the the wonderful medicine of these beautiful woods.

  6. #6
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    awwww shucks. ok. i'll visit your woods now.
    Lazarus

  7. #7
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1azarus View Post
    awwww shucks. ok. i'll visit your woods now.

    Laz, I went looking for the tent pads at Rockland preserve last week, from the lot on 77. Pleasant walk, but I don't think we can move MLK5 to the NET.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by coach lou View Post
    Laz, I went looking for the tent pads at Rockland preserve last week, from the lot on 77. Pleasant walk
    Find them OK?

    77toCoanPond.jpg

  9. #9
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wil View Post
    Find them OK?

    77toCoanPond.jpg
    No, I need maps of this trail. I started to get to the Bike trails. I moved on.


    Too any chores today, I did not get out.

  10. #10
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    Mt pisgah.jpgJust finished hiking "Wil's" Trail -- the Mattabesett from River Road to Route 77, with CMoulder. Great trail. We did skip your bushwhacks, though... you might have to give us a tour some day. The view is from Mount Pisgah.
    Lazarus

  11. #11
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    Really great walk in early Spring-like weather!

    Mattabessett01_small.jpgNature's own Bonsai, stunted pine on a rocky ledge
    Mattabessett02_small.jpgOn top of Pisgah
    Mattabessett04_small.jpgBeautiful stream between Pisgah and Mica Ledges
    Mattabessett05_small.jpgValley view from Mica Ledges

  12. #12
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1azarus View Post
    Mt pisgah.jpgJust finished hiking "Wil's" Trail -- the Mattabesett from River Road to Route 77, with CMoulder. Great trail. We did skip your bushwhacks, though... you might have to give us a tour some day. The view is from Mount Pisgah.
    River Road in Guilford?

  13. #13
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    River Road by NRG in Middletown, at the Connecticut River!!!
    Lazarus

  14. #14
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1azarus View Post
    Mt pisgah.jpgJust finished hiking "Wil's" Trail -- the Mattabesett from River Road to Route 77, with CMoulder. Great trail. We did skip your bushwhacks, though... you might have to give us a tour some day. The view is from Mount Pisgah.
    So give me a guess, how far from the river to 77?

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    Quick and highly OT question for you guys but... has anybody biked the full Farmington Canal Trail up to Northampton? Any idea where I might find maps and even a course description? I've looked at their site and it's pretty minimal, after Cheshire it all looks like "under construction" and I don't know what that means, like it doesn't exist at all, or it's a road course or what?

    Thanks so much for any insight you can give me... hoping to do an E2E of this in early summer...

    Jane

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    Coach Lou,

    Adding up the numbers on Wil's map it was 28.4 mi. Felt about like that although we didn't do GPS tracks.

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    Should mention we saw a bobcat on the trail. Or at least a bobcat blur. Funny to be on the lookout for not often sighted wildlife and then to see it a few miles from your relatively urban home.
    Lazarus

  18. #18

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    Fchtrail.org. has maps for sale with both the on and off road sections. The trail name changes once you get into mass. Look at the Southwick sections an Easthampton that lead into Northampton. Westfield has some open and is ongoing.

  19. #19

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    I've been away from Connecticut this Winter, coming back in a week. I've heard there's been lots of precipitation and the water sources are probably flowing well on the Mattabesett and Metacomet (the major components of the New England Trail in CT. Any recent experience.

  20. #20

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    I want to know how precisely the OP learned....or re-learned his lesson! It sounds like there's a story there.
    "Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."

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