Bonus, I guess.

One Wendesday I actually took 3 different walks, the third was unplanned. As I was parking to go shopping in Putnam I heard the fire siren go off and saw smoke in the distance. Being a fire engine chaser I walked to see what was up. Somebody had set a fire in an abandoned mill and the Putnam Fire Department responded to the call. Nothing big, but after a snapped a picture or two I left and let the firemen do their job. I imagine that this was good practice for the department, but I am also sure they would rather not have had to bother.

The End of Part 1 of the Airline

I have now finished the airline from the Massachusetts boarder to the Willimantic River, one of my early goals. At the river is a railroad museum in the town of Willimantic.

This begins the start of the second "airline" goal. The Connecticut river. In the picture above you can see a station in the distance. It is actually the old station that was in Chaplin, CT and moved to this location some years ago.

At the corner of Rhode Island

Sometimes my walks take me to unexpected places. What I wanted to do was walk the airline trail to the Massachusetts' boarder. After I had gotten there I started to walk back and was seduced by a blue blazed trail (I am like a moth to flame). After a short hike I saw this obelisk with the letter Conn on it. Since I had already walked to the Mass boarder I thought I had doubled back and reached the boarder on a different route. When I looked around the stone I saw that one side had Conn, one side had Mass 1883, one side was blank, and then I saw RI 1888. I was surprised to be at the corner of Rhodes Island.
A wonderful bonus to a fun walk/hike. This trail is rather rugged and I would rate it a 6 or 7. The walk to this trail is relatively short and easy.

Markers

As mentioned below this walk took me to the Mass/CT boarder. Also on the way is the site of the world's only 4 train crack up. Oh sure, other countries have their spectacular train wrecks, but it takes a truly engineering and scheduling screw up to wreck FOUR trains at once. Makes one proud to be an American. Although I found the markers, I am not exactly sure where the crash was, though I do have two suspected places about 1/4 mile apart. The total round trip walk is an easy 4 miles. Because the rail bed undulates the walk is occasionally annoying. For that reason alone I am going to rate this walk as a 3.

Bridge to nowhere

One walk walk I really looked forward to was completing the airline trail to the Mass. boarder. One of the oddities on this trail is this bridge over the old railroad. Once there must have been a good solid bridge here, the stonework below tells that story. Later it was replaced by a flimsy wooden structure that is now failing apart. What is most interesting is there are no remains of a road that once must have been there. This bridge is literally in the middle of nowhere and on both sides it leads to nothing. Getting to this bridge is a relatively short easy walk, less than 2 miles round trip. If you are willing to walk close to 4 miles you can walk to the boarder.

Blue Blaze trails Redux

On Saturday I walked the blue blazed trail at Bigalow Hollow State Park in Union. No WONDER people get lost up there. The trail is poorly marked and the terrain is sometimes rugged. The planned 5.5 mile walk became one of 10.2 miles. The beavers marked the trees much better as can be seen by these images. For the rugged terrain I will rate this trail as a 7 to 8 out of 10. For the poor marking I will rate it an 87 or so. Sheeesh. Today I hope to connect the trail from Ashford to Union. We will see, I have been having great difficultly trying to follow the blue blazed trails.

Common Courtesy and Luck

Today was another day on the blue blaze trail. This morning I started the trail in Eastford at route 44 and walked north. The trail itself is about 2.5 miles to the next crossroad (Ashford Rd). I then completed the circuit for a total of 7 miles. The trail itself is gorgeous and a hike rather than a walk. I will rate the trail as a 7, you not only need to be fit (at least walking wise) you also need good balance and be able to scramble. As I have mentioned before, some of the trails are through private land and as a user you need to show courtesy to the landowners and stay on the trail (and of course, what comes in with you, leaves with you). The trail winds through what appears to be virgin forest, and the sounds of the forest take you back in time.

When I was done with the walk, I noticed that my glasses where missing. I had dropped them. I know I had them half-way up the trail, so I only had part of the trail and all of the rest of the walk to search. The latter I searched by car and did not see my glasses. So I had to walk back down the trail to look for my glasses. As I went I looked at the path and the ground very close to the path. Since I practiced what I preached I did not deviate from the path at all. About 3/4 of a mile into the forest I saw my glasses in the path. Great luck. But my luck was enhanced since I observed common courtesy. The glasses had apparently not made it back to my pouch after I snapped the picture above.