It seems the area east of Hartford is riddled with abandoned missile sites - I of course had to check them out! The weather was beautiful today so I went for a quick mountain bike exploration...
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| Hercules was a type of Nike Rocket |
The Ride
Red Dashes indicate the route I took--Purple arrows indicate the way out...
Nike Recreation Center
The Nike Site, from 1957-1961 was a U. S. Army anti-aircraft defense site. This site was known as HA-25,. Nike missile sites consisted of two separate parcels of land -- (1) the launcher area and (2) a "battery control" area that contained the radar used to track hostile aircraft and guide the missiles to their targets. This site - now a recreation center was the control area for the launcher area which I
visited back in July.
Most of the original buildings are still standing and many of them are in pretty good shape.
Even the Connecticut Ballet is here!
The pump building and water tank are located up on the hill behind the main buildings near where the radar dishes were situated.
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| Former Pump Building |
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| An overgrown paved road leads down a hill |
The huge (water?) tank is down the hill a bit.
The overgrown asphalt former road veers to the right and eventually connects to Faith Circle.
I veered off the asphalt (to the right) and found the trail - beneath the leaves: a barely visible carriage road.
Eventually I ended up at the power lines. Man, it seems almost every trail in this area intersects the power lines!
Finally I turned back and went up a true single track to get back to where I parked. It was a ridiculous steep uphill - if I visit again, this trail will be bombed down the other way!
