Starting at 198-244 Beacon Road, Bethany and ending at 2-22 Andrasko Rd Beacon Falls, CT ~5.07 miles and 2hrs 19 mins

The Naugatuck Trail is a great little trail. The terrain is a mix of dirt trails and rocky trails and it has fabulous rock formations, including quartz, and little waterfalls (followed by a pretty and decent-sized one near the end). It is a very easy trail that was essentially flat, so it was a good one to break my new boots in with. This would be a great trail to do again once the Mountain Laurel blooms, as a good portion of the trail is bounded by them.

This time of year is expected to be muddy, and some parts did require fancy footwork to avoid the mud and not trample vegetation, but I love hiking in early spring and seeing the new growth — especially skunk cabbage. A first for me was to see the pods opened exposing the seed inside. It looks like a funky little brain or maybe even a COVID spore.

Other notables were the quartz rocks, the lovely green moss, the bowtie shaped mushroom and the gigantic tree. It took the three of us to reach around it. It’s also very tall. When we looked up, we experienced that dizzying effect one can get while looking up at skyscrapers.

My only complaint for this trail was the end. We started hearing shooting (I am assuming there is a range nearby,) but gun sounds are always alarming. The trail ends by walking down a dirt road that eventually leads to a path next to the highway. Although the exposed rock face was pretty, this section was very loud and unpleasant.

Adventurers included: Jes, Dana, Bryan & Dogo