2019 Trails Day Hike - Parlor Rock

This year, the route for our Trails Day hike was a little different. We started at the Dog Park parking lot and headed down thru a bit of the north section of the valley on the Red Trail. The weather was great!

 We then ascended the Indian ledge area, Everyone agreed - it was awesome! :-)

 We reassembled near the Pump House trail in the Whitney parking lot for a group photo.

Next we headed up through Parlor Rock including a stop on the big rock for the adventurous. I forgot to take a photo but here's one of that spot from a previous trek:

Parlor Rock is a small area but the scenery here is delightful.

 On the way back, we paid a closer visit to the Radcliffe Woolen Mills ruins...

  and the awesome glacially sculpted channel of the Pequonnock River:

This caught me eye - the diagonal fallen tree propped up by the cliff and the starkly horizontal fungi protruding from the side...

All in all it was a great hike and folks really enjoyed it!


National Trails Day Hikes - Trumbull, CT

Lazy Day in Pequonnock Valley

It was absolutely beautiful today - sunny but a bit of a breeze and I decided to not ride the usual today so I first rode the back trails at Old Mine. I parked at the circle at the end of Corporate Drive and stayed up high the whole time, never descending to the parking lot. Snapped a nice woodsy shot while way over on the east side.

I then drove to the Whiney lot and rode the rail trail. Then  I headed up to the little mini  trail playground just north of Parlor Rock. Yep I was lazy but I still enjoyed the day!

Lastly a quick trip back to hang out by the spot of the old North Bridge <sigh>

Another one-handed video captures some highlights:

Biking and Hiking - Wet Trumbull

Water water everywhere - a boat would have been better than a bike - yikes!!

Pequonnock Valley Bike Ride

I had no idea it would be this wet in Trumbull. I couldn't even get to the boardwalk in the old Reservoir bed - the water was 5 inches deep on the normally 1 inch deep crossing!

But I did spent some time wandering down by these waterwork relics near the old dam.

I've never seen the river this powerful!  (short video)

Later when I fell, I decided this was kinda a neat photo - looking straight up!

Broadway Woods, Parlor Rock, Old Mine Hike

I met my friends John and Kevin for an afternoon hike.  These are some wonderful "Adirondack" chairs made from rocks!

Walking thru Broadway Woods brought us to this old foundation.

The river at Parlor Rock was absolutely roaring - I had never seen it this high!

Ain't this just beautiful? :-)

Dam for former Lake Lo-Lo

Still looking mighty good after all these years
(note stone edge on left)

Up a but further north, we wandered by the river--astounded at how high it was!

Kevin and his dog Brian took a moment to "be one with the moss" :-)

This was our destination in Old Mine.

On the way back, I snapped a shot of the old steps

Parlor Rock

After more than a week of perpetual rain every day, the Pequonnock River was raging through Parlor Rock...

 < Old Mine Hike (earlier that day)

A return to Old Mine and Parlor Rock

Old Mine

I ventured back to the park today to finish up GPSing the trails but the damn app wasn't working correctly.  It was bummer when I got home and saw all the trail map data on the phone was wrong!

But I still enjoyed wandering around the park. I ran into a couple of friends of mine (both a biker and a hiker) and noticed a little more closely how much of the old mine remnants are still visible throughout the park.

As you ascend the west side of the hill, remnants of an old parallel mining road are clearly visible.

...and at the top of the hill--right after the carriage road turns eastward--is a huge area that looked like an open pit for mining. Sure enough, an old map I located online confirmed this area was known as the upper pit.

Many stone pilings and pits scattered across the entire park indicate previous mining activity and the sketch map above helps identify them. Interesting stuff for sure!

This knotted and burled tree caught my eye - it looked like the face of a gnarled lizard :-)

Parlor Rock

On my walk back to Whitney Ave, I stopped to marvel at Parlor Rock Falls. They were "full blast" today with all the meltwater.