It was a cloudy and nasty humid day but I decided to check out North of Howe because I knew the dirt bikers had leaf blown their trails. Since I leaf blew a few of their trails for mountain bikers I was curious. They must have got the idea from me! Yikes - its like a wide roadway in there now :-(
Back in October of 2021 - I discovered and hiked the vestiges of this old trail. Its very scenic along the ravine and is worth clearing this trail remnants (probably eventually extending it back to near the beginning of the waterline - it would make a nice loop)
Here's some photos my hike today - the ferns are along the waterline - they were stunning and super green :-)
I had the day off so I drove up to Factory Hollow / Gay City Park to ride the supposedly easy (green) trails. I parked by the pond swimming area and headed on the trail northward.
Factory Hollow / Gay City Park
Gay City State Park is the location of an ancient mill town, Factory Hollow. The park is named after the Gay family, the largest family living there and the last to leave.
First settled in 1796 by Elijah Andrus, the leader of a religious sect, it grew to a mill town of about 25 families, the majority of them members of the Gay family. The residents kept to themselves and lived separately from other towns. They built a sawmill on the Blackledge River, and a wool mill in the hollow. Both were successful businesses until the mill burned to the ground in 1830, triggering an exodus of many families. A paper mill was later built which revitalized the town somewhat but that too burned to the ground after the Civil War and the town was abandoned. Local lore has it that the park is haunted.
While it managed to survive, after a fashion, for some 80 years, Gay City was never, as its name seems to suggest, a center of merriment. The settlement--begun in 1796 by Elijah Andrus and a band of devout followers from Hartford--was long known as "Factory Hollow," until feuds, wars, liquor, fires, and legends of murders and ghostly hauntings finally transformed the small community on the Blackledge River into a permanent ghost town in the 1880s. There are rumors that the area is haunted. Some hikers report hearing drunken brawls or seeing ghostly specters out in the woods.
