Indian Kill - Aug2020

Took a quick hike in the Indian Kill Nature Preserve early Saturday evening while upstate for the weekend. It was hot and super humid!

"Lonely" Tree

Nice Spot!

Ah yes... the infamous hill
Its a dangerous climb when icy...

Nice trail work here

This heads back to the road along the stream

pValley Clean Up

Tropical Storm Isaiah caused havoc throughout Connecticut. Roads were blocked everywhere from downed trees, power was out for a huge number of people and of the course trails were in terrible shape as well.

I parked at Whitney and noted the Parlor Rock section of the Rail Trail was closed

Pequonnock Valley

I went to the main section of the park to do a bit of minor clean up...

Blue Trail up north

Trimmed the sight line on the rooty section just south of the old bridge crossing

The old bridge is still there!

Beware - a new up and over on the Blue...

..and there's a fallen tree on the Yellow Trail climb 

 

Chilled for a bit by Turtle Rock (it was getting really hot and humid)

Curious what these berries are (will crowd source)

Lastly, a reminder that these huge yellow paint stripes on the White Trail near the playground aren't blazes. These are markings to show the border between Town and State ownership .

Woodland Walk

I took a quick walk in Woodland Park in the early evening. It was humid and buggy but...

 ... at least I saw a deer.

Shelton (North end)

I stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the Huntington section. It hit the spot!

I was scheduled to have a family phone call with my sisters and my Mom so I sat on a rock on the side of a stream behind the restaurant and made the call!

Shelton Lakes Rec Path

Wooee! --  This is a simple yet fun place to ride

I turned off to try a little single track on the second entrance to Turkey Trot. It's a fun trail and great for an old man like me! But the heat was so oppressive I didn't do the full loop (I may go back tomorrow :-) ) 

Lastly the ride out was almost all downhill - I remember coasting for at least five minutes for one stretch -- Wooeee!

Stop for a sec to chat with a deer near Silent Waters Lake (it was a nice but one-sided conversation ;-) ) 

 Damage wasn't much at all today....

Shelton Lakes Map >

Double Header for the Old Man

I got off to an early start and got to the park a little before nine. It could have been earlier but I stopped for a bacon, egg and cheese at Bruegger's Bagels and it sucked! The damn thing took over 12 minutes to cool off enough just to grab without scalding myself - never again!!

For a while it was cool and a pleasant ride but it heated up pretty fast and within an hour or so it was like a sauna in the forest. For variety, I went to some unusual spots today.

After checking on the shifting boardwalk...

I rode out into the swamp land...

...circled back to where the old bridge was. The lush greenness of the area in the morning light made everything look gorgeous!

A bit later I wandered down to the ford crossing and checked the remnants of the old waterworks, I believe there was a dam here ages ago and this was part of the sluice. I documented this way back in 2015,

The river was beautiful looking either way!

After riding a bit more all over the park, I revisited the old car wreck. Each year it disintegrates more and more...

Despite being ridiculously tired and sweaty, I decided to head over to Shelton  to ride some more. That's an easier park to ride and I really didn't want to head home yet...

My adventures at Shelton Lakes >