Carpenter's and Old Beech Falls - West Granby, CT

Date Hiked: Sunday, January 27, 2019
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".

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.

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.

Old Beech Falls

2017 Hike #20: Holcomb Farm to Carpenter Falls - West Granby, CT

Date Hiked: Thursday, June 1, 2017
Estimated distance:  4.52 miles
Weather: 75°F, partly cloudy
Resources: Holcomb Farm, Holcomb Farm Trail Map, McLean Game Refuge Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  waterfall, snake, millipede
Progress toward 2017 Outdoor Goals:  20/52 hikes; 69.83/250 miles hiked

I should have waited a day to take this hike.  I ended up picking a warm, rather humid day and if I had waited one more day it would have dried out and there would have been a bit of a breeze.  Oh, well.  It was still a good hike.

I parked at Holcomb Farm in West Granby, went across the CSA fields and over the West Branch of Salmon Brook.  I took the Holcomb Trails to the orange, Northwest Passage Trail which comes out on Broad Hill Road.  From there, I took the dirt road to Carpenter Falls.  On the way back down, I zig-zagged my way down the Holcomb Farm Trails.

Bridge over West Branch of Salmon Brook.

Yellow trail leading to stairs.

Before I got to the stairs, I happened to see a couple of folding chairs in the woods.  I decided to walk over and take a look and see if there was some reason there were chairs sitting out here.  I have seen some crazy stuff in the woods, so you never know.  The craziest was a gorilla suit dressed up with blaze orange hunting vest and hat that my kids thought might be a dead body.  (What the heck?  I saw reference to it later in a geocaching post).  Nothing that strange this time, just chairs.  But, then I turned around...

Ugh.  I sure hope I wasn't caught on camera!  I may find out, because when I was hiking with my friend a few days later she said her son was one of the kids charged with taking care of the cameras at Holcomb Farm.  MH, please delete my picture!

Top of Carpenter Falls with plaque on rock.

Below the falls.

Falls are part of Beach Brook.

I hadn't initially noticed this jumble of boulders.

Looking downstream from the falls.

Common garter snake did not move when I got close.

Millipede.

Beach Brook near southern end of Holcomb trails before joining Salmon Brook.

Heading back across fields of Holcomb Farm CSA.