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CTMQ > Hikes, Bikes & Paddles > State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites

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State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites

Mansfield Hollow State Park & Wildlife Area

February 2, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Mansfield Hollow State Park & Wildlife Area Mansfield & Windham You're not going to find too many references to the Mansfield Hollow Wildlife Management Area. But in reality, the WMA has more land acreage than the state park. But it's all one chunk of land and lake, so it's ridiculous for me to even make this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Everything Else, Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites, US Army Corps of Engineers Trails Tagged With: Mansfield, mansfield hollow state park, US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS TRAILS, Windham

Meshomasic State Forest Intro

January 21, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Meshomasic State Forest Colchester, East Hampton, Portland, Glastonbury, Hebron, & Marlborough I can't promise you that this page will ever be complete. Yes, I like to be thorough and almost always am, but when it comes to the Mesh... it's tough. It's big and it's sprawling, sure, but most importantly it contains … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: Colchester, East Hampton, Glastonbury, Hebron, Marlborough, Portland

Gay City State Park Intro

January 21, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Gay City State Park Hebron, Glastonbury, Bolton Gay City is one of those state parks that is an almost equal mix of history, hiking, and... I guess swimming. Gay City was first settled in 1796 by a religious sect led by Elijah Andrus and later by Rev. Henry P. Sumner. The Gays soon comprised the majority of the 25 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: Bolton, Glastonbury, Hebron

Harkness Memorial State Park Intro

January 13, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Harkness Memorial State Park Waterford Hark! The Harknesses left their fingerprints all over Connecticut, from their former home in Waterford to the Yale campus. Originally from Ohio, Edward S. Harkness was to become heir to a fortune initiated by his father's substantial investments in John D. Rockefeller’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford

Sunnybrook State Park Intro

January 8, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Sunnybrook State Park Torrington Sunnybrook is weird in the sense that it's a state park with a bunch of trails that are also part of the CFPA Blue Trails network as the Alain and May White Nature Trails. Sure, this is just an artifact of something or other, but it confuses my hierarchies on CTMQ. The park only … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: Sunny Brook State Park, Torrington

Windsor Locks Canal Trail State Park Intro

January 2, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Windsor Locks Canal Trail State Park Suffield & Windsor Locks It's kind of impressive how many "Trail State Parks" we have in Connecticut. These long, serpentine state parks that travel along rivers and old railroad routes are not your typical state parks, and I enjoy their oddness. And they often come with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: Canals and Dams, Suffield, Windsor Locks, Windsor Locks Canal Trail State Park

Burr Pond State Park Intro

December 27, 2020 by Steve Leave a Comment

Burr Pond State Park Torrington & Winchester Grrrr Pond State Park... I know I knew this, but did you know that when Connecticut designates a state park in the middle of a state forest, its land is no long state forest land? So every time you see that I have a state park listed as part of a state forest, I think … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: burr pond state park, Torrington, Winchester

Paugnut State Forest Intro

December 26, 2020 by Steve Leave a Comment

Paugnut State Forest Torrington & Winchester Though Paugnut sounds like a kind of tree, it was supposedly a Native American chief back in the day. There is some dispute about the veracity of this claim. Regardless, we now have a decently sized state forest that more or less connects two state parks in Torrington. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: paugnut state forest, Torrington, Winchester

Wadsworth Falls State Park Intro

December 23, 2020 by Steve Leave a Comment

Wadsworth Falls State Park Middlefield & Middletown You know what annoys me about Wadsworth Falls? That Middletown takes all the credit for the park. Sure, the main entrance is there, and the swimming pond, but both waterfalls and the bulk of the trail network are in Middlefield. And you can park legally to enter … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: Middlefield, Middletown, Wadsworth Falls State Park

Pootatuck State Forest Intro

December 21, 2020 by Steve Leave a Comment

Pootatuck State Forest New Fairfield Pootatuck might be the most fun name to say of any of Connecticut's state forests or parks. Pootatuck. Pooty-pooty Pootatuck. Of course Pootatuck comes from a Native American tribe that used to live in the area before they were mostly wiped out and then absorbed by other … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites Tagged With: new fairfield, pootatuck state forest

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