A Walk Through the Valley of the Falls
Multiple Trails, Vernon
April 2010 & December 2023
Valley Falls Park is a hub. It’s a great jumping off point for tons of hikes and bike rides. This page is about the park trails maintained by the town and Vernon. It won’t delve into the Shenipsit Trail or the Hop River State Park Trail or the Boulder Ridge Park/A.K. Webster trails or the Box Mountain trails or Bolton Notch State Park trails – all of which are connected to Valley Falls Park and its trails.
This page is also an attempt by me to marry what I did in 2010 with my return to clean it all up in December of 2023. These efforts are always a bit of a mess and explains the mix of photo sizes and formats.
There are a bunch of trails in Valley Falls Park:
1. Valley Falls Loop Trail Blue/Yellow 3.8 mile loop
2. Main Road Trail Red (R) 1.6 miles
3. Railroad Brook Trail Yellow (Y) 2.0 miles
4. Boulder Crest Inner Yellow (Y) 0.4 mile loop
5. Boulder Crest Outer Orange (O) 0.9 mile loop
6. Lookout Trail White (W) 0.6 miles
7. Pond Loop Trail Orange (O) 0.6 miles
2010
Those who follow my hiking exploits know that I’m thorough both on foot and with keyboard. To officially complete the CFPA Blue Trails Challenge, one must not only hike all the main CFPA blue-blazed trails, but all the side trails mapped and described in the excellent CFPA Walk Books.
Admittedly, when I set out after work one day to knock off the Valley Falls Loop Trail in Vernon, I didn’t have high expectations. But as I’ve learned time and time again, my low expectations often yield exciting returns. Such was the case here at Valley Falls Park.
I had hiked the Shenipsit Trail section through the park a couple weeks prior with my friend Dennis, who happens to live less than a mile away from the park. The Shenipsit follows a converted rail bed for 2 miles into the park, then heads down to the parking area next to a lake and an old mill race and falls before continuing north out of the property – and into the Belding Wildlife Management Area.
There is a lot of history in these parts. An amazing amount of 19th-century engineering created the railbed and tunnels here. I liked this bit from The Tankerhoosen site, which is like the CTMQ of this part of Vernon.
The first train passed over this route in 1850. It was a very precarious run for stones on the side of the mountain above the tracks were often jarred loose and fell down on the tracks. The Railroad Company employed a steady track walker to go over this section of track each time a train passed. It was a hard uphill pull for the heavy steam locomotives to get to Bolton Station, then called “Quarryville”. At times the train seemed to just crawl along its shelf cut in the side of Box Mountain. Thus, Valley Falls became a “station” for hobos who could easily jump on to freight trains as they toiled along and in this way they got a free ride. Passengers riding the train from Willimantic to Vernon Depot got a thrill for at 301 tons, the engineer would disengage the engine and let the train coast down through the valley at breakneck speed thoroughly frightening even the most composed of its riders.
I love a good hobo story. A lot more went on here and this whole area of Bolton Notch State Park and Valley Falls is one of my favorites in this part of the state. Let’s hike!
Valley Falls Loop Trail, 3.8 Miles
This is the only trail one “must” complete along one’s way towards completing the CFPA Blue Trails Challenge. It consists of a fairly large loop that will take you to both sides of the of the Shenipsit Trail/Hop River State Park Trail/old railbed (all the same thing here). I started with the eastern loop, clockwise.
From the Valley Falls parking lot, it starts at the northeast end of the pond near the picnic pavilion and initially traipses through a meadow outfitted with a bunch of very nicely made bat houses. (They were an Eagle Scout project, I think.)
Once through the pleasant meadow, the trail heads uphill and leaves behind most of the park-goers, through some timbered area with very strangely laid down cut trees. I’m quite sure this is done for some forest management purposes I’m not aware of, and I’m sure it makes sense, but it looks very odd when freshly laid. (Remember, this was in 2010, so if you’re reading this now, this makes no sense.)
Once atop the unremarkable hill, the trail swings south and west, crossing a series of seasonal brooks. Ridiculously, I dropped my water bottle into one of these while stumbling across it. (Moderately funny story: I’ve never bought a bottle of water in my life but was offered one at a CTMQ stop the day prior. I only accepted the bottle because they are now worth a nickel in Connecticut. So to me, it was like the guy said, “Steve, do you want a nickel?” So of course I said yes. Then I brought it along on this walk because it was easy to carry in my hand… Until I infected it with giardia. Oh well.)
After that, the trail contours around a hill and ultimately winds up down in some swampy areas near Railroad Brook before turning north along the brook and then steeply up the banking to join the Shenipsit along the old railroad bed.
It’s not the world’s most exciting trail, but my hike gets better. Instead of rejoining the Shenipsit to repeat the mile I did a few weeks earlier, I continued along the brook via the yellow blazed Railroad Brook Trail.
…………………………………………………….
Railroad Brook Trail, 2 miles
No way is this trail 2 miles long. I would guess it’s around 1 mile, but that’s not important. This yellow-blazed linear trail winds along with, you guessed it, Railroad Brook. And Railroad Brook parallels the Shenipsit Trail, often about 50 feet below it.
An enormous amount of effort has gone into maintaining this trail, as there are at least 15 bridges spanning the decent-sized brook. A brook, which in times of rain, often overflows its banks taking out these bridges. And yet, most are all still intact and holding up well. Valley Falls Park is to be commended.
I enjoyed the walk along the brook. Heck, if you’re bored with the Shenipsit at this point, feel free to hop down to this side trail and get your feet wet. There were a bunch of dopey Vernon kids smoking and cursing and running around the area like a bunch of idiots.
…………………………………………………….
Valley Falls Loop Trail (Western Loop), 3.7 Miles total
A whole mess of trails all come together around the stairs leading to (and from) the pond. At the top of the stairs, the Valley Falls Loop Trail continues north along the rail bed for about half a mile before turning sharply west and up the northern slopes of Box Mountain. The ascent is fairly gradual and the trail crosses over into some Northern Connecticut Land Trust Land.
Once atop the ridge, the blazes become somewhat difficult to follow so I lost the trail for a moment and found myself, rather oddly, standing at the end of a nicely maintained soccer field.
A soccer field on top of a (small) mountain in the middle of the woods. There are no roads leading to the field; just a rutted dirt road at the extreme western end which leads to a neighborhood. The whole scene was really, really weird.
Who plays games here? Why is this field here in the first place? It’s very disorienting. It’s called the Boulder Ridge Soccer Field and… That’s all I can tell you. I can almost see a well-hit errant shot on goal making its way through the trees on top of the ridge and then falling down the cliffs all the way to the rail trail 200 feet below.
Which, upon reflection, could be pretty funny.
I found the blue and yellow blazes again and followed them past an orange trail, across a Jeep road, up to the ridgeline again and on to a While blazed trail.
(The loop trail continues down the mountain back to the Shenipsit right about where it descends those steps to the lake. In 2017 I learned that the area up around the soccer field is the A.K. Webster Preserve which is maintained by the N CT Land Trust. I hiked it.)
…………………………………………………….
Lookout Trail, white-blazed, 0.6 miles
I’m thinking their mileages on the brochure are out-and-back totals. Though short, this is the best walk in the park. It’s wonderful.
It merely follows the ridgeline south atop the cliffs that loom above the Shenipsit below. The rewarding view at the end (and a few more along the way) are definitely worth any extra effort to get up here. And really, the effort isn’t all that much as I passed a young woman wearing flip flops on the ridge.
Once I reached the view, I sat for a while and took it all in. It’s nice… Valley Falls Park is nice.
But as nice as it is, I think I like the Belding Wildlife Management Area a little more…
…………………………………………………….
Belding Path, yellow-blazed, 0.5 Miles
You can read about the Shenipsit through the Belding area here; easily one of the best sections of that trail. It’s particularly beautiful and tranquil.
This short little side trail which connects out to Reservoir Road and a very nice hiker lot is interesting in that there are interpretive signs along the entire path. And these signs aren’t your usual “Forest succession” and “Wooly Adelgid” signs, but are unique and interesting.
The trail walks under huge white pines, red pines, pitch pines and even some living hemlock. It passes by an old millrace which is one of the finest crafted ones I’ve seen around the state.
My hike was at dusk and I sort of jogged the whole thing, but I loved it.
Vernon, you have a treasure in the Belding Wildlife Management Area. I wonder how many of you know that?
The nearby Risley Reservoir Loop (part of the Shenipsit System)
There will be a Valley Falls Farm Museum soon. I visited in 2017.
stacey says
April 17, 2011 at 9:34 pmi brought my friends to the belding area today. its the best =D great article, by the way. i sent it to one of my hikey friends. thanks!
Nick says
April 17, 2011 at 10:02 pmgood article man. stacey linked me to it. I hike to valley falls a lot from a place my friends and I dubbed “Floodplain Forest”…not sure what the actual name is but we enter on reservoir road off exit 67…it’s a decent hike if you haven’t tried it, about a mile and a half from floodplain to valley falls.. Good inclusion of the snip trail in your article too..I grew up in tolland next to that lake and hiked down there before it was an official state trail.
Nick says
April 17, 2011 at 10:11 pmjust noticed the very end of the article and the inclusion of floodplain. even better