Starting at Wooster Street New Britain and ending at trail parking at 2933 Albany Ave West Hartford, CT ~ 14.4 miles and 6hrs 19mins.
Picking up where we left off on Wooster Street, the trail was walking a busy road for the first mile. Just past some train tracks and across the street, the entrance for the trail is marked with some detailed signs of some sights to look for including: an old missile base site, Pinnacle Rock, Rattlesnake Cliffs, Will Warren’s Den. The climb starts right away and at the top of the first hill there are cacti growing!
Rattlesnake Mountain, Will Warren’s Den and Killkenny Rock offer some really cool rock formations and giant boulders. On the way up Rattlesnake Mountain there is a section of collapsed boulders that you have to climb through. There is no way I would have climbed through it in warmer weather, same goes for Will Warren’s Den — I can only imagine what sort of dangler noodles we would have encountered.
We hiked in and out of the woods a few times and crossed several busy roads. Crossing over Rte 4 and 508 in Farmington was probably the most dangerous (people would not stop to let us cross). Once crossed we entered a section of the Farmington Land Trust and then crossed another road to a giant meadow. There was a mother bobcat (barely visible in the pic) and two babies. Unfortunately the three scattered in different directions with the mama going the way we were headed. The next few minutes of trail were a little scary as I was worried that the mama might pounce on us as she circled back for her young ones. Dana started singing “If I had a Hammer” in order to calmly alert her or any animal of our presence. Since we didn’t get attacked I have to guess it worked.
Overall the trail is a mix of smooth and craggy trap rock, forest floor and loose rocks. There were several views, but unfortunately every one was cluttered with houses. The woods are very pretty, lots of beech trees and moss, but we were never far enough from roads and neighborhoods to get away from car noises and leaf blowers. This section had much less elevation changes than the previous week and many flat sections through neighborhoods and powerlines. The blazes can be difficult to follow in some sections and we had to backtrack twice. The trail ends on a weird lump of a grass ridge that dropped us right at the car. The flat sections helped with our time per miles and we made it out before sunset.
Adventurers included: Jes, Dana, Bryan & Dogo