Connecticut Hiking Trails by Town - Burlington

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Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area

Beaver Marsh at Sessions Woods WMA

DEEP Sessions Woods WMA
Sessions Woods Trail Map
Friends of Sessions Woods
FOSW Trail Guide
CTMQ's blog post (multiple hikes)



Included in the following books:
Connecticut Walk Book (20th Edition) by Connecticut Forest & Park Association
AMC's Best Day Hikes in Connecticut by Rene Laubach & Charles W. G. Smith
New England Waterfalls by Greg Parsons & Kate B. Watson  (see website)


There are side trails that lead from Sessions Woods to the mainline Tunxis Trail.

Tunxis Trail

The Tunxis Trail is a nearly 40-mile long trail that stretches from Southington to the Massachusetts border.  It has numerous side trails that increase the number of miles that can be hiked.  Some of the more extensive side trails are in the Burlington area, including ones that head into Sessions Woods.

CFPA Trail Map for Burlington area
CFPA Interactive Trail Map

Included in the following book:
Connecticut Walk Book (20th Edition) by Connecticut Forest & Park Association

Burlington Land Trust

Overview of BLT Properties (detailed maps included in trail maps below)
Burlington Land Trust trail maps

Hartford Courant Article on Taine Mountain (21 Mar 2015) by Peter Marteka
CTMQ blog post on Taine Mountain (11 Jul 2015)
CTMQ blog post on Martha Brower Sanctuary (22 Nov 2015)

Other information

If you look on OpenStreetMap for Burlington, you can see the town seems to be covered with trails.  Most of the main ones have been included above.

Hike #32: Sessions Woods WMA - Burlington, CT

Date Hiked: Sunday, June 12, 2016
Estimated distance: 6.89 miles (2.87 of which was on the Tunxis Yellow-dot and Black-dot trails)
Weather: 80°F, partly cloudy, temperature started dropping as wind picked up
Resources:  Sessions Woods WMA Trail Map, CFPA Tunxis Hiking Map - Burlington re-route
Highlights of the trip:  Tunxis black dot trail, wildflowers, beaver marsh
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  32/52 hikes; 126.56/250 miles; 31.37/25 miles on Tunxis Trail

An excellent hike today at Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area!  I hadn't been here in awhile and I forgot all that it had to offer.

My hiking partner and I were joined by her husband, who likes to geocache.  There were quite a few caches to find in the area and he found the first ones when we took the short Forest Meadow Trail. 

Sessions Woods Trail Map

Then we followed the Beaver Pond Trail and he found another cache at the junction with the Crosscut Trail.  That one took a little hunting, but he eventually found it.  He was going to continue on the Crosscut Trail while we kept to the Beaver Pond Trail, but his trail became impassable before too long and he caught up to us.

Sheep laurel (Lambkill)

We decided to back-track and pick up the Tunxis Yellow-dot trail, which would take us around the far side of the beaver pond.  This was a fantastic decision.  This trail is quite different from the wide cindered trails you find in Sessions Woods.  Unlike the fairly heavily traveled Sessions Woods trails (a lot of joggers and dog walkers), we had the Tunxis Trails to ourselves.  Another cache was found on the far side of the pond and we continued to loop around and picked up the Tunxis Black-dot trail.

Pink corydalis (aka harlequin corydalis, rock harlequin, pale corydalis)

The Black-dot Trail was the most impressive area.  A lot of rocks and caves that my pictures just can't do justice to.  Very rugged terrain which makes it more interesting.

Looking back up the trail from which we came.

We re-entered Sessions Woods at the camping area and took the Beaver Pond Trail back in a clockwise direction toward the beaver pond.  My friend's husband left us to continue on while he searched for a couple of caches.  We told him we would continue and maybe stop at the waterfall and fire tower before heading toward the beaver pond.  It had already been a decent hike, so when we saw the warning about the trail to the waterfall being in disrepair, we decided to skip it.  As we came to the trail for the fire tower, we skipped that, too.  So, we went straight to the beaver pond, noticing two turtles on the path along the way.  They had probably left the marsh to come up and lay their eggs.

There were both pink and yellow water lilies, though my photos show them as white.

The beaver pond is my favorite part of Sessions Woods.  We walked across the boardwalk to the viewing area and then found a place on a rock to sit, relax, and look at the pond.  There were a lot of high bush blueberries and huckleberries.  Not ripe yet, though.  The water was much higher than I remember it being the last time I was here.  Some extra planks had been out down to allow access to the boardwalk as the start of the boardwalk is under water.

We thought we were sitting in a place that would make it easy for my friend's husband to find us, but I guess not.  It had become really windy and after about 45 minutes, we decided we had better get up and head back to the car.  We ran into him on the trail headed back out.  He had gone to the car looking for us after going to the waterfall and fire tower and passing the pond and not seeing us.

Almost 7 miles of hiking today, and probably closer to 9 miles for my friend's husband. (Sorry.)  We started our hike around 11 a.m. and finished around 3:30.  As a bonus at the end of the hike, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts and got drinks for the ride home.  An excellent day of hiking. I'd highly recommend taking the Tunxis Trail around the outside of Sessions Woods.

Hike # 29: Tunxis Trail (Nepaug SF to Rte 4) - New Hartford to Burlington

Date Hiked:  Sunday, May 15, 2016
Estimated distance: 5.3 miles
Weather: 55°F, sunny, breezy, started clouding up
Resources: CFPA Interactive Map, Burlington Land Trust, CTMQ
Highlights of the trip:  scarlet tanagers!, marsh area, pine plantation
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  29/52 hikes; 109.03/250 miles; 28.5/25 miles on Tunxis Trail

My goal of hiking 25 miles on the Tunxis Trail has been completed!  I still plan on doing some more, and I am happy this goal got me out to areas I hadn't been to before.

This section of the trail was a little bit of a surprise for me.  I think after my disappointment with the last section of the trail, I was expecting more of the same.  We found this section of the trail to be surprisingly pleasant.  No real wow factor, but nice.

In this case, hiking north to south required more uphill hiking.

In The Walk Book, the trail appeared to end at Hotchkiss Road in Burlington and the next section picked up at the State Fish Hatchery on Route 4.  This gap has now been closed and we were able to hike all the way down to Route 4 in Burlington.  The trail south of Route 4 has been re-routed and we'll hit that section next time.  The fish hatchery is not part of the mainline trail anymore.

We parked one car at Joni's Antiques.  I'm not really sure this was where we were supposed to park.  The CFPA Interactive map indicates a parking lot large enough for 6 cars, but I have no idea where this is supposed to be.  I just hoped that with it being a Sunday and Joni's having a large parking lot we'd be okay.  We drove back through Collinsville, turned west on 202 and parked in the Nepaug State Forest parking lot.

From Nepaug, we had to walk on the shoulder of 202 for a little bit and then climb over a guard rail to follow the trail.  I think that later in the year, this section, unless it is kept mowed will be hard to navigate.  The trail was not easy to pick out and there were prickers and other weeds.  As we neared the trees away from the shoulder, there was quite a bit of poison ivy.  It is still pretty low to the ground right now, but I wouldn't want to walk through it later.  An alternative, if you are not a trail purist, would be to skip this little section and just keep walking on 202 until you get to Southeast Road.  The trail just cuts the corner.

The trail comes out on to Southeast Road.  We headed south and after a little way turned left into the woods.  There was a lot of signage here letting you know it was the trail and also telling you to stay on the trail.  There was also something about hunting, but it looked like it was left over from last fall.  Most of the hike was along MDC service roads, but much easier to traverse than the ones through Nepaug.

On Douglas Road (the MDC roads are named), we came across a section that had been cleared and contained a field of yellow plastic tubes.  A sign explained that this was a research project for Chestnut trees.  The American Chestnut, once a major source of timber, suffered a blight in the early part of the 20th century.  Experiments in cross-breeding American Chestnuts and Chinese and Japanese Chestnuts, which are resistant to the blight, have been going on for a number of years.  This area is one of the experimentation stations.  The yellow tubes protect the saplings from browsing by deer and other animals.  Speaking of deer, we saw one on the trail out here today!  Couldn't get the camera out before it bounded away.

Chestnut experimentation station.

Vein of quartz.

One of the highlights of this hike was spotting some scarlet tanagers!  I had never seen one before.  They are incredibly vibrant!  First we spotted just one, and then another one came, and then a third!  They were all relatively near the trail and not high in the tree-tops.  I have done a little reading and they must have all been males because of their coloring.  In the winter, they look more like the female which is a yellowish-green.  Yellowish-green?  I think that is just crazy - going from scarlet to greenish to scarlet again.  The colors are so different.  Check out this page at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds website.

Another pretty area along the trail was the marsh.  I think this must be Phelps Brook.  We saw a small beaver dam here.

We reached a point in the trail where we could see people jogging along Hotchkiss Road.  If we stuck to the original trail, we would have quickly been at the parking area shown in the Walk Book.  The  new trail headed to the right which brought us down to the corner where Hotchkiss meets Covey Road.  Walking south on Covey Road, we turned right and  followed the blazes into the woods.  We had left the service roads behind and were on a trail.  In here, we came to a pine plantation.  It was pretty cool to walk down a tunnel of pine trees.

In the pine plantation.

Overall, a very nice hike with a new bird to add to my lifetime birding list.  I think we will have to take two cars again for the next section of the trail, but I think we may be able to do some loop trails after that.

Hike #28: Tunxis Trail (Ratlum Road through Nepaug State Forest) - New Hartford, CT

Date Hiked:  Saturday, April 30, 2016
Estimated distance: 6.04 miles*
Weather: 60°F, sunny, started clouding up
Resources: CFPA Interactive Map, Nepaug State Forest Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  Ratlum Brook dam, view of Farmington River from Route 44
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  28/52 hikes; 103.73/250 miles; 23.2/25 miles on Tunxis Trail


My overall thoughts on this hike:  The beginning part on either side of Ratlum Road was okay, but nothing spectacular; I didn't really care for the road walk on Route 44;  I don't feel the need to go back to Nepaug State Forest.

We took two cars again and dropped one in the parking lot off Route 202 in Nepaug State Forest.  We drove back up to Ratlum Road and started our hike just north of Ski Sundown.  We had to walk down Ratlum a short distance before heading into the woods.

We didn't start at a high point, I forgot to turn on the app.  Missing the initial ascent.

This first section of our hike was nice, but there were no real views or streams.  Just a walk in the woods (which is fine).  We crossed Ratlum Road and climbed again and came back down near a pretty little pond created by a dam across Ratlum Brook.

Dam across Ratlum Brook.

Ratlum Brook pond with a few Canada geese.

We left the pond and walked along the side of a ridge and eventually came out on someone's driveway.  We turned right down the driveway.  I missed the town-line marker (New Hartford/Canton) and I guess I also missed a turn in the trail.  We walked down the driveway and saw the blue blaze going into the woods on the right, but also saw it farther down the road.  Hmm.  The one on our right, was probably where we should have been coming out.  So, we missed a tiny section that leaves the driveway and comes back.  I was not going to walk back up and re-do that small section.  I am not a purist.  Sorry.

The blaze we could see down the driveway, soon directed us off the driveway and down a series of switchbacks to a dirt road (Farmington River Turnpike/Puddletown Road).  The walk along this road was very pretty.  As we approached the corner with Breezy Hill, there was a beautiful farm with sheep and geese.  Very picturesque.

The walk along Farmington River Turnpike.

We got out to Route 44 and made a dash across.  Walking west, we came to the bridge over the Farmington River.  A beautiful view of the river, but the traffic is rushing past pretty fast.  Satan's Kingdom Recreation Area, where you can rent tubes in the summer is on the north side of Route 44 here.  We were headed south into Nepaug State Forest on Satan's Kingdom Road.

View of Farmington River from Route 44.

As we walked along the road, we could see fishermen far below.  A family with small children had just arrived with their fishing rods and were headed down the steep trail to the river.  For the most part, the Tunxis Trail follows a dirt road through the forest.  There were a couple of loop trails, but we did not try any of them.  The forest seems to be a popular place for dirt bikes and ATVs.  Several dirt bikes, jeeps, and pick-ups passed us as we walked along.  No one was rude or annoying, but I prefer to hike on trails closed to motorized vehicles.  The road itself was also a little bit of a pain to walk on because of the loose trap rock that had been put down. 

Near the very end of the trail, the blue blazes head off into a single-track into the woods.  Finally!  We ended up back on the park road not far from our car.

As a side note, when we were dropping the car off at Nepaug, we noticed the Nepaug Reservoir on the south side of Route 202.  It looked beautiful and I wondered if there was a trail around it.  I found this website which has a map of the reservoir.  It does not look like you can go completely around, but might be worth checking out.



 *  Forgot to start app again!  Not too much distance lost.  Tunxis trail mileage will be based on Connecticut Walk Book.

Hike #19: Tunxis Trail (Pine Mountain) - Barkhamsted

Date Hiked:  Sunday, April 10, 2016
Estimated distance round-trip: 3.85 miles
Weather: 40°F, bright, sunny day
Resources: CFPA Interactive Trail Map, Short Nature Walks in CT starting on page 13
Highlights of the trip: View to Springfield and beyond
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  19/52 hikes; 66.86/250 miles; 10.1/25 miles on Tunxis Trail

A nice hike on the Tunxis Trail today at Pine Mountain in Barkhamsted.  I had my hiking partner with me once again, so we were able to leave one car at Legeyt Road and took the other up to the start at Pine Mountain Road.

We debated whether to do this hike or stretch and go for the longer hike which would have included the Indian Council Caves and all the way down to the next parking area on Route 219.  In the end, we decided on the shorter hike.  For some reason, it did feel really short, maybe because we got the hardest part (Pine Mountain) over with early.

The view from Pine Mountain was quite impressive.  On the far left, we could see the white steeple of the church in the center of East Hartland.  We could also make out Springfield, MA in the distance.  I don't know how far beyond that we were seeing.  (I really need to check out the PeakFinder App).

Little white dot on left is East Hartland church steeple.

Metacomet Ridge?

We came across two Geodetic Survey markers.  The first one was in the open area at the top and the other was off to the side, just as we were about to head down the trail.

We descended and reached the other end of Pine Mountain Road.  We continued on the trail until we came to the pond at Roaring Brook.  We could see a beaver lodge and there were a couple of geese out on a little tuft of grass in the middle.  The trail looks like it splits with one way going over a bridge near the pond.  I believe the other way just goes a little farther down the brook and then connects back to the same trail.

Pond at Roaring Brook.

A short distance on, we came to the woods road that would take us back to the car we parked at the end of Legeyt Road.  There has obviously been some work done here recently.  The last time I was here, the road was much more overgrown.  A lot of gravel has been laid down and it is fairly wide.  (Taking the woods road in the other direction would lead to the Indian Council Caves).

Pond along woods road.

A good hike on a beautiful day.  We probably could have gone a little longer and done the caves, but we'll just save those for next time.

Hike #16: Tunxis Trail (Roberts Brook) - East Hartland, CT

Date Hiked:  Saturday, March 19, 2016
Estimated distance round-trip: 4.61 miles
Weather: 32-40°F, sunny, but cold
Resources: CFPA Interactive Trail Map, Short Nature Walks in CT starting on page 11, CTMQ
Highlights of the trip: Roberts Brook
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  16/52 hikes; 53.91/250 miles; 8/25 miles on Tunxis Trail

The friend who hiked with me last weekend on the northernmost part of the Tunxis Trail, joined me again this week for the next section.  We left one car at the small parking area at the beginning of Pine Mountain Road and drove up to start our hike where we left one car last week, at the corner of Pine Street and Walnut Hill Road (old Route 20).

I was kicking myself at the start of the hike.  I started the MapMyHike app while we were at the car, but then paused it because we were getting stuff out of the back.  I forgot to restart it until we were down the trail a little way.  It makes it look like we went straight from point A to point B.  This only messes up the mileage toward my 250 mile goal.  The mileage for the Tunxis Trail is based upon the Connecticut Walk Book.

From the car we headed down old Route 20 and turned south when we got to the blue-blazed Tunxis Trail.  I really need to take notes as I hike, because I'm a little confused about Roberts Brook.  We hiked across one brook without much water and later came to a brook with much steeper banks, like a ravine.  I assumed this was Roberts Brook, because I had looked at topo maps ahead of time and thought Roberts Brook had steep sides.  There wasn't much water, so it was a little disappointing that this was supposed to be the highlight of the hike.  Somewhere along here (see, I need to take notes), you can see down to the reservoir.  It is probably hidden from view once the trees leaf out.

What I thought was Roberts Brook.

A little farther along the trail, we even came to a trail marker that indicated that Roberts Brook Ravine was in the direction from which we had just come.

Then we came to another stream.  This one actually had a lot more water than either of the previous two streams and it would make sense that this was Roberts Brook, regardless of what the sign said. 

The trail to the stream was not steep and continued on the other side of the stream.  It didn't seem the best place to cross, so we started walking up along the edge of the stream to find some good rocks to use as stepping stones.  We thought we found one place, but the bank was a little steeper on the other side.  We looked up the stream and, lo and behold, there was a bridge!  As far as I can tell, there was no indication on the trail that there was a bridge upstream.  I don't think there was a trail that led to it.  Did I miss something?  It is not mentioned in the Walk Book or any other place I have seen.

We crossed the bridge and took a few more pictures of waterfalls upstream, then bushwhacked our way back to the trail.  We came out on a woods road that I thought might be Pine Mountain Road, but looking at my GPS, I could see it was not.  We were not doing Pine Mountain today, so I didn't want to pass where our car was parked.  There has been logging in the area and there are a couple of spur roads (Roberts Spur Road and Pine Mountain Spur Road) that made things confusing.  The GPS was a big help.  We came to another road that I was able to confirm was Pine Mountain Road and we walked the mile or so back to the car.

I am not really sure what to make of the signage for Roberts Brook Ravine.  My pictures are time-stamped, so I know I came to the sign before getting to what I now believe to be Roberts Brook.  I enjoyed this hike, so I may have to go back at some point and take more detailed notes.

I know last week, I ended with "On to Pine Mountain!", but this time I mean it.  The next section of the Tunxis will include Pine Mountain and maybe Indian Council Caves.

Hike #14: Tunxis Trail (Hurricane Brook) - Hartland, CT

Date Hiked:  Saturday, March 12, 2016
Estimated distance round-trip: 5.46 miles
Weather: 60°F, sunny
Resources: CT Forest & Park Association (CFPA) Interactive Trail Map, CTMQ Hikes, Short Nature Walks in CT starting on page 15 
Highlights of the trip: driving Pell Road, streams and waterfalls
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  14/52 hikes; 45.79/250 miles; 4.6/25 miles on Tunxis Trail



One of my 2016 hiking goals is to hike at least 25 miles of the Tunxis Trail.  I have hiked sections before, but I'd like to start fresh.  This hike is the first step toward reaching that goal.

Twenty-five miles is certainly a modest goal, but one made slightly more difficult by wanting to round up a hiking partner.  I will often hike by myself, but being able to place a car at one end of the trail section and start at the other makes things a lot easier.  The northern end of the Tunxis is also pretty remote and a partner is a good idea for safety.


Before venturing out, I did some research using CFPA's CT Walk Book.  I wanted to start at the northern end of the trail near the Massachusetts border and hike south to either Route 20 (2.8 miles) or Old Route 20 - Walnut Hill Road extension (4.6 miles).  My hiking partner was up for the longer distance, so we left my mom-mobile (minivan, which currently only has seating for two because of the street hockey nets and other equipment loaded in the back) near the gate at the corner of Walnut Hill Road and Pine Street and headed off in her Jeep for the trail head.

According to the Walk Book, there is parking on Pell Road near the trail head.  For most of its length, Pell is a dirt road.  I had read Steve Wood's account of his mom driving her minivan along this road and figured we could leave the car at the corner of Pell and East Pell Roads.  Well...as we drove along, we started to wonder if the minivan would be able to get us back to the Jeep when we were done.  The Jeep was doing fine with its high ground clearance, but the van would be another story.  We turned on the GPS and noticed that East Pell was a lot shorter than Pell and would take us out to Route 179 (Granville Road).  We decided to drive out East Pell just to see how that road was and see if it would be easier for the van.  Well, hello!  Just a short distance down East Pell, the dirt road turned to pavement and there was a little parking area!  That would have been nice to know!

Looking at a screenshot of the Interactive Map from CFPA, you can see that the parking area actually appears in Massachusetts, just north of the trail head on McCarthy Road.  Looking at Google Maps, there are houses along this road, so it would probably work.  Where we ended up parking (after driving most of the length of Pell Road) was on East Pell Road, I would guess roughly at the edge of the green area on the map below.  It was a short walk in to the trail head from there.  If you decide to park on McCarthy Road, you need to drive around and not try to go up Pell Road.

Now, on to the hike!

At the trail head, there was a little sign giving mileage amounts to Route 20 and beyond and a trail register.  I signed in and we started hiking.  Before too long, we came to the CT/MA boundary marker.  On the Massachusetts side, there was a large field with a camper in the middle of it.

The trail started to head down hill.  It became steeper as we approached a stream with a nice little waterfall.  Check out this quadrangle map and see how close the contour lines are.  I think this might be the stream referred to as Trailhead Stream in the Walk Book.

Huge pieces of quartz.

Pretty little waterfall.  You can judge how steep the trail was here.

There were a couple of brook crossings and in one area we could see the DEEP lean-to.  I had hiked in to this point from the other direction in 2012, and the lean-to was in pretty rough shape.  We did not go over to look at it today, but I think it may have undergone renovation because it had a new metal roof on it.

Hurricane Brook

Hurricane Brook waterfall.  Bridge for Hurricane Brook Road is on the right near the top.

Hurricane Brook was probably the low elevation on the trail.  We then started climbing and made our way to the top of Trillium Hill (no view).  It is here on the interactive map (see above), that there is a trail notice indicating that the trail is closed for timber operations.  I did not know this before we started hiking, but there was nothing going on today as we hiked through there.

Unfortunately, I think the Trail Notices section of the CFPA website needs some work.  When I use the interactive map and see that there is a trail notice, there is a link for more information.  That takes me to a general page where I can click the link for Trail Notices.  The notice for this section of trail is not even listed.  There are listings for other trail closures, one dated from 2012.  Is the trail still closed in that location?  Maybe, but now I am not sure that I can trust this listing.

We came out to Route 20 and turned left, walking just a short distance up the road and crossing where we saw the CFPA tags on the trees.  The trail on this side of Route 20 was a lot easier than the other side.  We came to what I thought might be Balance Rock Road (mentioned in the Walk Book, but not included on their map!)  I was using the MapMyHike app, so I pulled out my phone to see if I could tell where we were and sure enough, it had us standing on Balance Rock Road.

Before long, we came to a nice little stream (Morey's Brook?) with several areas of little waterfalls.  There were signs here indicating an alternative trail for high water, which takes you over a bridge.  We opted to stick to the main trail and we crossed the brook just below the bridge.

We hiked a little farther and came out on old Route 20 (extension of Walnut Hill Road).  The road here is beat-up asphalt and there was an SUV driving toward us (we had seen that the gate was open when we dropped off the van).  I was hoping it was a DEEP employee dropping off a bear (see Steve Wood's description of what he saw), but no, it was just a couple out exploring.  They soon turned around and came back.  We took old Route 20 back to the van and drove up Route 179 (NOT Pell Road) and picked up the Jeep.

This was an excellent hike!  It feels really remote and the waterfalls, while not showstoppers, are very nice.  The trails were very well blazed and extra information was written on the blazes in a couple of areas (for high water by-passes).

I used the Walk Book when planning this hike and I would make a couple of recommendations.  I would suggest looking at the interactive map on the CFPA website.  It is probably more up to date and you can also see elevations listed on the contour lines.  For some reason, the maps in the Walk Book include the contour lines, but no way of determining the actual elevation.  Also, Balance Rock Road is not shown on the printed map, but you will see it online.

On to Pine Mountain!


Elevation Data:

I'm still trying to figure out the elevation graphic on MapMyHike.  As I mentioned somewhere else, the graph does not match the numbers printed below it, but I think that is because two different methods are being used.  One way probably uses GPS info and the other maybe uses some kind of underlying terrain map of the area.  I really have no idea.  What I had not paid attention to before was the elevation gain.  I assumed it was the difference between the max and min, but it is not.  Perhaps it is cumulative elevation gain?

My guess is the low point on the graph is Hurricane Brook and the high point to the right is Trillium Hill.  After Trillium Hill you make your way down to Route 20.  Everything to the right is the trail between Route 20 and old Route 20.  You can see it was a lot easier than the first part of the hike.