Endos at Trumbull - &#^&#^$ Shoes!

I hit the trails at Pequonnock Valley around 11am and it was a non-stop disaster. Yesterday I had busted my mountain shoes at Mianus--I actually couldn't get them off as the buckle mechanisms got stuck (ended up busting one just to remove it :-( ) so today I decided to ride with an old worn out pair of mountain biking shoes I kept in my car trunk.

That was a big mistake-- details below...

Scenic Stops
A special spot on the Copper Creek now has orange mushrooms to seemingly compliment the creek color!

The ride up on the Rim Trail was fun as usual - the photo sucks and sadly does not capture the ambiance of the sunlight streaming thru the trees - it was a beautiful day!

Slip Slidin' Away
It turns out the clips were worn so I had a hard time keeping the cleats in the pedals (Crank Brothers Candy) and the soles had absolutely no traction so my feet keep slipping off the pedals at all the critical bouncy fast moments when you need to stay anchored on your bike to maneuver!! NOT!!!

I took two nasty endos at normally easy spots in the Central Maze area (One endo occurred in front of other riders - major embarrassment!!!)

Crappy old worn old mountain biking shoes
(I bought a new pair later that day--these went to the garbage!)

"Mark of the Endo"

So being bruised and battered (actually more like "frustrated and embarrassed"), I opted to ride out on the pavement by the large parking lot above dog park and head home - I was pissed!

I mellowed out a bit once I got to the car and decided to make the most of being there and opted instead to ride the rail trail.  It was actually very relaxing and fun.

Rail trail ride (including Video)  >

Pine Mountain (Scottish Tour!)

Bennetts Pond/ Hemlock Hills / Pine Mountain

Ridgefield /Danbury CT

Interactive Map > 

It was a grey and overcast day with a forecast of rain and I didn’t get started until about 12:15.  I wanted to check out Yellow Trail in the Pine Mountain Section of the park. I opted to park at the end on Pine Mountain Road and once I realized I forgot the batteries for my camera I decided not to bike but hike in instead. At least I would have the crappy camera on a tablet I had with me rather than nothing...

Hiking--rather than biking--turned out was a wise decision in the end… I first trekked straight south from the parking lot (green arrows) and marveled at the huge descent and ascent. I only realized when I got to the Blue Trail intersection that I went the wrong way  I had been here before a few weeks ago). DUH!

But I trekked back to the car and chatted with a hiker in the parking lot. Turns out I got off to a rough start when I asked if he was English (He had a strong accent...) -- Nope he was Scottish!  Fortunately he didn’t hold a grudge and offered to hike with me around the Yellow as he had been hiking here hundreds of times and knew the park well.

Well he was a chatterbox but quite endearing with his storytelling and wry Scottish humor! :-) We hiked in, taking the Brown Trail detour and stopped at the Overlook. Sadly, it was overcast but John pointed out where you could see Long Island Sound in the distance.

As you can see below, the photos came out pretty crummy. Although it was overcast, the real issue was it was very difficult to hold the tablet steady enough to get a sharp picture, Oh well - checking the camera to ensure it has batteries is on the "before I leave home checklist" from now on.

Once you reach the Overlook, the forest is fairly clear of an understory and the trail is marvelous - traversing slick rock and a few rocky sections here and there but it is mainly a flowy trail curving thru grass and/or pine needles.

I noticed some square rocks off the the side - wondering if they were some kind of surveyor remnants or whatever... (??)

A little later I noticed this interesting ladder (a deer hunter platform?)

John offered to take a photo of me next to a fallen tree

The whole area is peppered with all kinds of enormous glacial erratics - pretty amazing when you take note you are on top of a mountain!

 John was strong but not strong enough! :-)

A short bushwack took us to the remnants of an old airplane tower. There are four footings at the top of a hill. I reckon with the Danbury Airport just north of the mountain - this was an important signal tower for low-flying planes...

 Another interesting surveyor's stone I reckon, right off to the side of the trail.

Finally we arrived at the chimney ruins - sadly half the size as it use to be John tells me due to vandals tearing down the top and use the large rocks for a fire pit. Damn you - this is priceless history.... [see historical photos > ]

This was Charles Ives' hang out - he loved the woods as well :-)

Super Short Video (Highlights)

When we got 3 minutes away from the parking lot on our jaunt back - it started to pour. I'd call that a lucky break!