Sunday, September 12, 2010

Pomperaug Trail, CT (Fiddlehead Preserve - Jackson Cove Park - Kettletown State Park)

ABOUT THE PARKS:
Fiddlehead Preserve/Oxford Land Trust
Jackson Cove Park
Kettletown State Park
Pomperaug Trail - part of the Connecticut Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail System

TRAIL MAPS:
Kettletown State Park - only covers northern half of the hike and map is somewhat outdated
Connecticut Walk Book West - pages 63 through 72; binder book with removable maps, highly recommended

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates: 41.396298,-73.184016

View Larger Map

The parking area for hikers is the gravel section to the right at the end of Fiddlehead Road  This is a no fee parking area.  This hike is also accessible from parking at Kettletown State Park (northern end) and Jackson Cove Park (middle of hike) where seasonal fees apply.

HIKE DISTANCE:
This hike is 12 miles long incorporating all trails but there are many options for shorter hikes.  The Pomperaug Trail is 4.5 miles one way.  This can be combined with any or all side trails along the way - Miller Trail at the northern end in Kettletown State Park (2 miles), Crest Trail (1 mile) at the southern end of Kettletown State Park and the Oxford Loop Trail (0.6 miles) south of Jackson Cove.

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
Although this is a lovely hike through beautiful woods and forests, it would probably be more enjoyable when the leaves are down and motorboats are put away during off-season.  Out of the 10 vistas shown on the map, only 3 offer up views during full summer foliage.  Lake Zoar allows motorboats and the resulting noise pollution can seriously disrupt an otherwise peaceful hike, especially since most of this hike runs parallel to Lake Zoar.

From the parking area at Fiddletown Road, head straight into the woods to the left of the parking sign through a very short overgrown section.  Once on the other side of the weeds, start to follow the light blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail uphill to the left.  Stay on the Pomperaug Trail for its entire 4.6 miles.  The blazes are faded early on so pay close attention.  Farther along the blazes have been refreshed and are easier to follow.
At 0.6 miles take a short unmarked side trail to the left for a view of Lake Zoar.

At 1.6 miles another blue-blazed trail splits to the left.  This is the Oxford Loop Trail (the return route) which is supposed to be blazed blue/white but is only blazed the same shade of light blue so be sure not to confuse it with the blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail.

At 2.3 miles, after rock hopping over a stream, descent towards Lake Zoar:
The blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail continues to the right through a very short overgrown section emerging at Jackson Cove.  (Facing the water, the blue-blazed trail to the left is the start of the Oxford Loop Trail which will later be the return route.)

Found a baseball cap on the trail mid way between Fiddlehead Road and Jackson Cove.  Brought it along and put it on a post in the Jackson Cove parking lot by the porta potties, in case anyone is looking for it...

Walk straight through Jackson Cove to the continuation of the blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail directly across the paved road where it immediately crosses a bridge:
The trail will skirt along Lake Zoar with some short side trails up to the lake.
Stay on the blue-blazed trail as you pass the northern and southern intersections for the Crest Trail.  Where the previous intersections with the Oxford Loop Trail were not marked with signage, from this point forward all intersections are very well identified.
After the Pomperaug Trail becomes a wide woods road in Kettletown State Park, it comes out at a paved park road, this being the end of the Pomperaug Trail.  Cross straight over the park road to pick up the blue/yellow-blazed Brook Trail which runs to the left between Kettletown Brook and the park road.
Even after a long drought, small waterfalls still running in Kettletown Brook.




At 4.7 miles turn right on the blue/pink Miller Brook Connector Trail. (Maps show this as blue/red or blue/purple, but looks pink to me...)
Cross over a bridge...
 ...and follow the trail along picnic areas and across two paved park roads, turning left on the second paved road.  Head beyond the "One Way" sign then turn right on the blue-blazed Miller Trail.
The blue-blazed Miller Trail is about a 2 mile woods road loop.
After a few steps arrive at the loop where you can go in either direction ending up right back at this spot.  Along the Miller Trail you will see a blue/orange side trail.  This is a short trail which splits into two directions, each one coming out at vista.  With summer foliage, however, there isn't much to see.
Vista from southern blue/orange side trail.

Vista from northern blue/orange side trail.
After finishing the loop, head back along the blue/pink Miller Brook Connector trail crossing back over the bridge, then turning right at the blue/yellow Brook Trail.  This trail crosses the park road and ascends up a series of steps.
At 8.1 miles pass a huge glacial boulder on the right.
Go straight at the intersection on the blue/white Crest Trail.

Watch for a short unmarked side trail at 8.4 miles which brings you to views of the lake and has a nice shady break spot.

At 9.1 miles merge on to the blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail to the right.  Follow this trail back to Jackson Cove at 9.7 miles.  Walk straight through the parking lot parallel to the lake, continuing on the dirt road through the high weeds.
On the other side of the weeds, cross over the log bridge and turn right on the blue-blazed Oxford Loop Trail.  (The blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail that you came in on goes left.)  Follow the Oxford Loop Trail until it joins back up with the blue-blazed Pomperaug Trail at 10.4 miles. Turn right and return to the parking area arriving at 12 miles.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Macedonia Brook State Park and Pond Mountain Natural Area, CT


ABOUT THE PARKS:
Macedonia Brook State Park
Pond Mountain Natural Area - no web site found, link gives contact information

TRAIL MAPS:
Macedonia Brook State Park
Pond Mountain Natural Area (large file - map takes a long time to download - copies were in the trail register but that may not always be the case.)  The Appalachian Trail is shown incorrectly on this map.  It was rerouted from Caleb's Peak to cross over Skiff Mountain Road below the terminus of the Red Gate Trail.  The AT no longer runs parallel to Skiff Mountain Road then along Fuller Mountain Road as shown on the map. To reach the Appalachian Trail from the Red Gate Trail you need to turn right on Skiff Mountain Road at the end of the Red Gate Trail and walk along the paved Skiff Mountain Road until you reach the where the Appalachian Trail crosses over, about 0.1 miles away.

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates:   41.760535,-73.493924

View Larger Map

There is no actual parking lot at the trailhead.  You will notice picnic tables along the road with space to park a car at each one.  Just before crossing the bridge there is room for about 4 cars on the left.  This is the parking area.


HIKE DISTANCE:
11.5 miles to do both parks in one hike.  The parks can be hiked together using a paved road to connect. This hike can also be done as two separate hikes or driving from one to the other.  The entire blue loop trail around Macedonia Brook State Park is 6.4 miles (I cut off the northern 1.5 mile section to reduce total mileage).  The Pond Mountain Natural Area trails total 3.8 miles with the option of an out and back hike to Caleb's Peak on the AT which is about 0.7 miles each way.

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
The first 3 miles of the hike will have some challenging rock scramble sections but it is an absolutely gorgeous area and the views make it well worth the effort.  From the parking area walk across the bridge on the gravel road.  Immediately after the bridge turn left at the sign for the light blue-blazed trail.

The trail will cross a bridge and then start to climb uphill.

At 0.5 miles you will start to catch glimpses of views to the east.  Rock scrambles bring you higher to better views to the east and north.
View to the east.
The Taconics to the north.
At 1.6 miles the white-blazed Cobble Mountain Trail comes in on the right.  Stay left on the light blue-blazed trail as it climbs up a smooth rock surface - watch for blazes painted on the rocks.

The top of the climb brings you to the summit of Cobble Mountain (1350 ft.) with views to the west.
A little farther along the summit the Catskills come into view.
The trail starts to descend steeply and will come to a couple of challenging almost vertical downhill sections.  A dog will most likely have trouble with this.  It took a long time but I was eventually able to get my dog down without having to turn back.

After passing the intersection with the green trail, continue on the light blue trail up a steep rock scramble to more views at the top at 1200 feet elevation.

The most difficult part of the hike is over.  The trail will now descend more smoothly and switchback down to a gravel road.  At the gravel road turn left and walk towards the paved road.  You will see the continuation of the light blue trail on the other side of the road. Take that if you want to do the full light-blue loop.  I turned right on the orange trail here to cut that section off since I knew my hike was going to be well over 10 miles without that part.


A short distance ahead to the left of the orange trail is a magnificent stone retaining wall which was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930's.
The retaining wall does not look that impressive in the picture but it is HUGE in real life.
After turning right and crossing a bridge, the orange trail turns left and goes up a mowed section between campgrounds to meet back up with the light blue-blazed trail.
Continuation of the blue trail is beyond the logs.
Turn left on to this section of the light blue trail (shown as light blue/white on the map but there were no white blazes) if you stayed on the blue trail, or walk straight ahead if coming from the orange trail.  At 3.2 miles the light blue trail turns right and becomes an easy, smooth foot path. 
At 4.0 miles there will be a right turn blaze for the light blue trail just before stone wall remnants.  Barely visible beneath the blazes is a dark green blaze.  Keep straight on the blue trail to return to the parking lot.  To go on to Pond Mountain Natural Area, turn left here on to the green-blazed trail.  This trail is pretty much a woods road which is easy to follow but it is obviously not maintained, somewhat overgrown in places, blazes almost impossible to see and you do need to navigate around a few blowdowns.  There are many old stone walls throughout this .3 mile trail.

At 4.3 miles arrive at a log barrier at Fuller Mountain Road.  Make note of this barrier as it will be the return route later on coming from the opposite direction.
Turn right and walk along Fuller Mountain Road until you reach Pond Mountain Natural area on the left at 5.2 miles.  If you were to drive from Macedonia Brook State Park, exit the park, make the first left and the Pond Mountain parking lot would be about 1 mile away on the right at the top of the hill.

Walk straight through the parking lot to the trail register at the white-blazed Entry Trail.
Take the white blazed trail to the intersection of the blue-blazed Pond Trail.  Turn right on the blue-blazed trail.
Although you can see Fuller Pond through the trees, the Pond Trail does not actually go up to the pond.  A few short unmarked side trails go to the edge of the pond for better views.
Fuller Pond is a spring-fed glacial lake at an elevation of 909 feet.
At 5.8 miles turn right on the red-blazed Red Gate Trail.  Follow this woods road trail to its terminus at Skiff Mountain Road.  Turn right on Skiff Mountain Road and walk about 0.1 miles watching for the Appalachian Trail crossing.  Turn left on the white-blazed AT.
After about 0.7 miles of going uphill, arrive at Caleb's Peak which offers outstanding views of Kent, CT and the Housatonic Valley.
Retrace your steps back to Skiff Mountain Road, turn right and walk back up Skiff Mountain Road to the Red Gate Trail on the left.  Take the Red Gate Trail to the intersection with the green triangle-blazed Saturday P.M. Trail.  Turn right on the Saturday P.M. Trail.
At 8.5 miles (about .3 miles along the Saturday P.M. Trail) turn left on an unmarked trail which brings you to a view of Fuller Pond from up above at 1130 feet.
We found this to be an excellent break spot.  With quite a few people in the park in addition to an orienteering meet in progress, there was not another person around at this beautiful and peaceful spot.
Retrace your steps back to the Saturday P.M. trail, turn left and continue on.  A short distance ahead at 8.7 miles, cross through three open, mowed fields.
At the end of the third field, keep right into an adjacent field, staying to the left of that field.  Come out at an intersection and turn right towards the gate at Fuller Mountain Road.
Turn left on Fuller Mountain Road and follow it uphill then as it curves around sharply to the left.  At the far end of the curve as the road starts to straighten and descend, look for the log barrier on the right to enter the woods on the green-blazed trail.  You will not see any blazes so use the barrier to know where to turn.

Follow the green trail .3 miles back to the light blue-blazed trail.  Turn left on the blue blazed trail.  This trail will go along a ridge which offers glimpses through the trees to the right of Cobble Mountain from earlier in the hike.  After a sharp turn to the right the trail descends back down to the road and parking area arriving back at the car at 11.5 miles.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Appalachian Trail - Lusscroft Farm to Sunrise Mountain (High Point State Park and Stokes State Forest, NJ)



ABOUT THE PARKS:
High Point State Park
Stokes State Forest
Lusscroft Farm
Sunrise Mountain (NJ1K.org peak)

TRAIL MAP:
Half of the hike on each of the following maps:
NY/NJ Trail Conference Northern Kittatinny Trails Map #123 (Lusscroft Farm trails on back)
NY/NJ Trail Conference Northern Kittatinny Trails Map #122

DIRECTIONS:
GPS coordinates to parking lot off of Deckertown Turnpike (Route 650) 41.252618, -74.690083
At the time I hiked this, as I turned on to Deckertown Turnpike a sign indicated no thru traffic as the road was closed 3 miles ahead.  The parking lot is before the road closure so it was accessible.  Deckertown Turnpike goes uphill.  Once it starts to descend the hill, watch for a paved road to the right which takes you directly to a paved parking lot that holds about 8 cars.  There is no sign indicating this is a parking lot so watch closely.

View Larger Map

HIKE DISTANCE:  7 miles out and back without Lusscroft Farm trails; with Lusscroft Farm trails it would depend on trails taken through the farm.

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
This is a very easy way to reach Sunrise Mountain without much change in elevation.  The hike starts up high and follows the Appalachian Trail along a ridge with some minor ups and downs.  Lusscroft Farm trails do go steeply downhill so that would be the part requiring climbing.

Pick up the white-blazed Appalachian Trail directly across Deckertown Turnpike from the parking lot.

After a short distance, arrive at a shelter where the Appalachian Trail makes a sharp turn to the right:

You will soon be walking along a smooth rock surface with limited views to the west.  Turn around and you will be able to see High Point Monument to the north.


At 0.75 miles the Appalachian Trail merges on to a woods road that comes in from the right.  A short distance ahead a trail goes to the left while the white-blazed AT continues to the right.  The trail to the left is the trail to Lusscroft Farms although you won't see blazes until you are a little farther along that trail.  You will be on the blue-blazed Explorer Trail.
At the first intersection the blue-blazed Explorer Trail forks.  Turning right would take you back to the AT.  Left continues to the rest of the Lusscroft Farm trails.  A short distance ahead the blue trail turns to the left leaving the woods road which continues straight as an unmarked trail so this turn is easy to miss unless you are paying close attention.  From this point forward, although well-blazed, the trails become very overgrown.  That in addition to seeing a young bear in a tree the same time he saw me made me abandon my plans to hike farther into the Lusscroft Farm trails.  The bear skittered down the tree and took off in the direction I was heading so I turned around and went back to the AT.  The farm trails might be better explored during the winter when they are more passable.

At just a little over 3 miles (not counting Lusscroft Farm trails) ascend a few stone steps heading towards Sunrise Mountain.  Watch for an unmarked trail on the left after the steps.  This trail comes out at a bench with great views to the east.

Backtrack to the AT, turn left and continue to the pavilion at Sunrise Mountain.
View to the east.
View to the south.
View to the west.

Retrace your steps back along the white-blazed Appalachian Trail back to the parking lot to finish the hike.