Camping at Pachaug State Forest

Back in June we went camping at the Pachaug State Forest (I've been a bit busy in the meantime having a baby and all so I'm just posting it now). It was a campsite where you parked and had to hike into so you only brought what you could fit on your back.  Carrying everything in isn't as easy as it may sound; it's the camp fire wood and water that really make things heavy, but on the way out it's a lot lighter!

The campsite was free, we just had to register online so we knew it wasn't taken. 

I think it is no dogs allowed though.... (shhh don't tell).

The hike in was only about a mile or so and had a shelter to prop your tent up in.  We brought books and some good food to cook over the fire.  It was probably one of the most relaxing camping trips we've had together.  The state forest also has another free shelter to hike into that we would like to try out sometime.

Are any of you going camping this Fall?  I might be too soft to handle the cold.

xo 

Erin

Mt. Washington and My Veteran

A few weeks ago we took a day off of work and headed up to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.  It is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft but is most known for it's dangerous ever changing weather.  The Mountain has claimed many lives (even a couple a few weeks before we were there) due to the sudden changes of weather, high wind speeds, and the rough terrain.  There is an Observatory at the top that records all the extreme weather.  The day we spent there was beautiful, surprisingly, because it was already September!  There was hardly any wind and I really didn't even need a coat.

I've never climbed the Mountain (yet) but this was Ryan's fourth time hiking up it.  This time he was on a mission though; to climb it in less than 2 hours.  I'm not sure of the official record but we think it's around one hour and fifteen minutes.

Ryan officially climbed up the Tuckerman's Ravine in 2 hours and 2 minutes!

The Cog Railway is something I would love to come back and do. 

 It's an hour long ride up the opposite side of the mountain

Even though I didn't climb with Ryan I still got to the top via the Auto Road.  This was really intense for me.  I dropped Ryan off at the base of the trail and told him I would meet him up there.  I wasn't planning on driving up but had planned to take the train up.  Well, we found out that the train was on the opposite side of the Mountain than the trail head so it wasn't feasible for me to drive an hour to the other side.  I panicked a little, prayed a lot and then just got in the line to drive up.  I refused to look over the edge or even out my window driving up.  I only looked at the road in front of me.   I was having nervous flashbacks to this scary road in AZ.  My method worked for me and I made it up. 

The picture below is the windy road up.

This is the gravel part of the road.  Complete drop off! and yes it's a two lane road so you do have to be all the way over to the edge on the way down.  Thankfully we drove down after they stopped letting cars up that day so I had the road to myself.

I'm so proud of Ryan for more than just his ability to conquer mountains but also for serving in the United States Navy for nine years.  I've seen the sacrifices he's made because of his service and I feel like a thank you once a year will never be enough.

Thank you to all the veterans out there!

More of our hikes around New England:

Lion's Head, Salisbury, CT

Bear Mountain, CT

Lantern Hill, CT

Bluff Point State Park, CT

Napatree Point, RI

xo

Erin

A Beach Hike: Napatree Point

A few weeks ago we went to our favorite beach, Napatree Point, to hike to the end of it.  When we got there a fog rolled in.  We walked for miles with only seeing three people, also walking out, to go fishing.  I've never walked out to the end before (about two miles down) and with barely any visibility in front of me I really had no sense of distance when we were walking.

The beach hike was a total of 4 miles.  I think I would visit this beach every single day if I could.

More hikes in CT:

Lion's Head - Salisbury, CT

Bear Mountain

Bluff Point State Park

Lantern Hill

xo

Erin

4th of July Weekend Adventure: Lion's Head Salisbury, CT

Above:

 July 5th 8:30pm

Stonington Borough, CT

Below:

 July 6th 5:30am

Lion's Head, Salisbury, CT

I had this brilliant idea of wanting to see a sunset and then the sunrise next morning.  The location we chose for the sunrise was the Lion's Head trail in Salisbury, CT.  That meant a night hike for us; my first one.  We caught the sunset on the ocean near our house and got maybe an hour of sleep and then headed out at 1am to travel the 2.5 hours to begin our night hike.

We started our hike around 3:30am, armed with glow sticks on our packs, one head lamp and one flashlight.  We got lost once at the start of the trail, not knowing where it started and overshot our lookout by a quarter of a mile but we got to our sunrise location at 4:30am.  Plenty of time for Ryan to make us some coffee and oatmeal with his stove.  I had really no idea what surrounded me when hiking at night; no idea how far up I was or where the trail was meandering through.

We settled in for an hour waiting for the sunrise while eating our oatmeal and drinking our coffee.

I caught some dragonflies in this picture!  The bugs were bad, bring repellent.

Fog was rolling through from the river in the valley below.

Lion's Head elevation is 1738 although we only climbed a little over 500 feet.

On the way down we enjoyed the scenery in the daylight.

Here is a little info about the Lion's Head trail since I scoured the Internet before we went and didn't find much info.

This info here will get you to the hiking parking lot but you don't have to walk down the road to hop on the trail.  The trail now leaves directly from the parking lot.

The hike is approximately one mile up and one mile down, making the total round-trip hike 2 miles.  The trail intersects with the application trail. The first trail you intersect with, go straight.  The second trail you intersect with go right (follow the blue markers).   At the very end you have a choice to go straight up and scramble up some rocks or go left on the blue trail to go around and back track to the views.  When you get to the top you can't see the view go to the right down a little path and it will open up to the view.  The trail is fairly easy to moderate.  It's only a mile each way but there is some elevation climbing.

It is a perfect hike for a sunrise!

We were back to our car at 6:30am and drove home to sleep.

xo

Erin

See more CT hiking here.

Hiking: Bluff Point State Park

Bluff Point State Park is one of my favorite local hikes.  It's close enough that I can drive to it in 15 minutes and usually just call up one of my girlfriends after work on a nice day to meet me there.  It's a 3.6 mile loop, but it's no ordinary trail in CT.  It allows dogs, biking, swimming and fishing!

Ryan and I decided to go on a rainy evening after work.  He was breaking in his weekend backpacking pack so do not fret the trail is flat, wide and easy enough for children.  I tend to like hiking the river side both to the point and back.

Map via here.

The best part is the ocean view at the point!

See more hikes in CT:
Lantern Hill
Bear Mountain

xo
Erin

Bits and Pieces of a Summer Walk

Long live summer 2012!

xo