Hike #23: Tunxis Trail (Indian Council Caves) - Barkhamsted, CT

Date Hiked:  Sunday, April 17, 2016
Estimated distance round-trip: 3.85 miles*
Weather: 60°F, bright, sunny day
Resources: CFPA Interactive Trail Map
Highlights of the trip: caves
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  23/52 hikes; 84.48/250 miles; 13.6/25 miles on Tunxis Trail**




I have completed the first section of the Tunxis Trail, and am over half way to my goal of 25 miles!

Rats.  I forgot to start GPS.  Parked near Legeyt Road.

We left one car at the parking lot on Ratlum Road and drove up to Legeyt Road to start.  It seems kind of funny to me, but no one else parked on Ratlum Road.  Instead, they squeeze into the area on the side of 219 and then have to try and back out on to that busy road.  Also, no one else parked at Legeyt for the easy walk into the caves.

We walked down the forest road, freshly widened and graveled from tree work in the area.  We came to the pond we saw at the end of last week's hike and continued on to another.  There were a couple of old cellar holes nearby.

Shortly after, we turned right to the caves.  While not real caves, the boulders are still pretty impressive.  Think about them traveling along in a glacier and being left behind.  Pretty cool.

Indian Council Caves.

We climbed to the top of the boulders and had the place to ourselves.  There is not really much of a view from the top, mostly the tops of trees, but without the leaves, we could see one of the ponds.

View from top of boulders.

We were lucky to get the caves to ourselves.  It was a beautiful day and as we headed south on the trail, we ran into a slew of other hikers.  Everyone was very friendly and we had conversations with a couple of people as we crossed paths.

Another excellent hike with well-marked trails.  A little wet in spots, but nothing we couldn't navigate.  On to the next section which will take us to a view over Lake McDonough.



*Curses!  I forgot to start the GPS tracker when we left the car!  Using the website, Map My Hike, I was able to use the "Create a Route" feature to estimate that I had gone a mile before turning on the tracker. 

**I will true-up the distance on the Tunxis when I finish the next section.  We completed the northern most section in the Walk Book (Route 219 to the Massachusetts State Line), which is listed as 12.6 miles.  We also did part of the next section because we parked on Ratlum Road rather than deal with the limited parking on 219.  I estimate this added a mile.