Hike #12: American Legion State Forest - Barkhamsted, CT

Date Hiked:  Saturday, February 28, 2016
Estimated distance round-trip: 1.96 miles
Weather: 50°F, sunny
Resources: American Legion State Forest, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip: streams, cliffs
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  12/52 hikes; 38.1/250 miles


Today I was joined on my hike by a friend and her husband.  Our original plan had been to hike the Henry Buck Trail at American Legion State Forest and then walk up Legion Road and hike the Turkey Vulture Ledges Trail.  Unfortunately, as you can see from the screen shot below, it took us over two hours to hike less than 2 miles! 

By way of explanation, I will just say we had a lot of catching up to do and spent a fair amount of time pausing to talk.  The trail was also tricky in places especially at the stream crossings.  My friend's husband was a good sport and did not complain about how slow we were going.  He was looking for geocaches, so that kept him a little busy, but we'd also find him waiting for us at different points along the trail.  The result of our slow progress was that we decided to save the Ledges for another day.

Foundation ruins of cheese box mill.

Part of the reason for doing this hike was to start working on the DEEP's Sky's the Limit Challenge.  In order to complete the challenge, I have to visit the 14 listed state parks and take two pictures of myself at each park.  One picture at the trailhead, and one picture at a designated place along the trail.  In the case of the Henry Buck Trail, the picture was to be taken on the wall across from the Henry Buck plaque.  The picture below shows the plaque as the black rectangle high on the stone cliff.

A little farther along the trail (after some rather treacherous climbing), we came to a view out over to Ski Sundown in New Hartford.   There must be a lot of snow-making going on because there was no snow on the ground anywhere else in view.

Ski Sundown in the distance.

We came out of the woods and had to walk down the road to our car.  There was a man in a kayak practicing his turns in the West Branch of the Farmington River.  We also stopped and talked for quite a while (didn't pause my trail app, so this explains part of the 2 hour time) to a woman who had done last year's Sky's the Limit Challenge.  She was at American Legion to get started on the 2016 challenge.

Man in kayak visible on right side.

Although I wish I had made more mileage, I am happy to have gotten out on this beautiful day.  I am also glad to have had the chance to catch up with my friend.  I don't really mind hiking alone, but it's nicer to have someone to share the experience with.

Other American Legion Hike recaps:
Farmington Valley Homeschool Hikers
The A to Z of CT State Parks
Greenhorn, Blue Blazes
CTMQ