Estimated distance: 3.76 miles
Weather: 33°F, cloudy
Resources: McLean Game Refuge, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip: two waterfalls
Today, my hiking partner joined me to see two waterfalls. She had visited Carpenter's Falls with me once before, but I also took her to see another set of falls that I had "discovered" and named "Old Beech Falls".
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| My route from MapMyHike. |
While many people may not think so, I think hiking in the winter can be one of the best times to hike. There are no bugs and you are treated to sights you just can't see the rest of the year. Look at some of the ice formations in the pictures below! So cool! (Really, no pun intended.)
Carpenter's Falls is pretty easy to get to. Just 3/4 of a mile up Broad Hill Road from the gate (near the Simsbury Road end). A spectacular waterfall for relatively little effort.
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| Carpenter's Falls |
After viewing Carpenter's Falls, we continued up Broad Hill Road past the cabin and pond (which are marked as private property on the map) and on to the Old Beech Road trail. [Note: The old map says this trail is called Pine Cone trail. The new map lists it as Old Beech Road trail and then the Pine Cone Trail goes off of that, farther west.] We could hear the water in Beach Brook below us, and after a little bushwhack, we were at the falls. Much more picturesque than I was able to capture in my photo.
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| Old Beech Falls |
I loved hiking in winter through the woods near our Haviland Drive house. It was so amazingly silent. Most beautiful of all, though, were periods of slight thaw, when the sun shown brilliantly, and the sound of a thousand tiny streams rang from under the snow.
ReplyDeleteVery poetic!
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