Enders State Forest Barkhamsted & Granby Enders is known primarily for its eponymous waterfall - one of the state's best for sure. Viewing the falls has been made much safer with the installation of stairs, but I'm sure people will still find a way to hurt themselves here. Enders became a state forest in … [Read more...]
Smith Tree Farm Trails
I Give a Hoot About These Places Canton Land Conservation Trust, Canton & Barkhamsted August 2021 In case you were unaware, there are some hills in northwest Canton. One of the bigger hills is Ratlum Mountain. There are several hills just to the west of Ratlum: the one where Ski Sundown is located, and the two the … [Read more...]
Tunxis State Forest Intro
Tunxis State Forest Barkhamsted, Granby, & Hartland Although the CFPA's Tunxis Trail takes hikers south down to Southington, the state forest of the same name only covers land in the northernmost towns along the way. The forest surrounds the Barkhamsted Reservoir and always feel remote. Because it is remote. I like … [Read more...]
East-West Trail Intro
East-West Trail Bloomfield to Cornwall, ~60 miles Began: June 2019 Completed: Note: This trail does not yet exist! It won’t be the longest trail in the state and it won’t even be all new trail. But for whatever reason, I’ve been obsessed with CFPA’s proposed hypothetical East-West Trail since I first heard … [Read more...]
CTMQ’s Guide to Barkhamsted
Everything Barkhamsted I’ve been exploring and writing about Connecticut since 2006. After a decade, I began compiling CTMQ guides for each town in the state. I plan on “completing” Barkhamsted CTMQ-style... as well as the other 168 towns, cities, and boroughs in Connecticut. That is the ultimate goal of CTMQ. … [Read more...]
Barkhamsted’s Town Trails
Barkhamsted’s Town Trails Here's the thing about Barkhamsted: It's a small town where almost all the land is owned by the state or the criminal MDC. There are four state forests here, plus the massive Barkhamsted Reservoir and Lake McDonough. And there are plenty of great hiking opportunities in town - just … [Read more...]
Book Review: Barkhamsted Lighthouse
You Never Know What Comes in My Mail... Barkhamsted Lighthouse By Kenneth Feder I'm on a current kick of ripping through a giant stack of books I've had stacked for years. Literally years. Literarily years? Literally. Many of these books are what I lump into the category of "Connecticut books," which surely … [Read more...]
American Legion & Peoples State Forest Trails Intro
American Legion & Peoples State Forest Trails Barkhamsted I’ve been forced to create this page not to make you come here to get an extra website “hit” but because the CFPA combined these two trail networks into one. And since I follow their lead, here we are. So without further delay: American Legion State … [Read more...]
TSTL’16.4: American Legion State Forest’s Henry Buck Trail
The Sky's the Limit 2016 Hiking Challenge #4 American Legion State Forest, Barkhamsted March 13, 2016 Level of Difficulty: Difficult Yeah, yeah, CT DEEP, whatever. "Difficult." Pfffft. Honestly, there are very few, if any, truly "difficult" hikes in Connecticut. Trust me, I've hiked more than most … [Read more...]
Indian Council Caves
No Indians and Not Caves Indian Council Caves, Barkhamsted October 20, 2013 I’m not going to get into our fine state’s habit of naming boulder jumbles and overhanging cliffs “caves.” It’s what we do and what we’ve always done and we’re gonna keep doing it, goshdarnit. So with that, no, these caves are not caves. … [Read more...]