CT A.T. Falls Vlg to Salisbury & back 1-28

[Chip]

I got up early and was on the the AT in Falls Village, south of the old iron bridge, by 7am. I planned to hike to Salisbury and hike back if I was feeling good. I could also have hitched back or turned back sooner. The sun was coming up as I crossed the old iron bridge and made my way past the falls and into the woods. Mt Prospect comes up quick but I was having a hard time getting warmed up, so it seemed like it took longer than normal. There was about 3" of snow. I brought crampons but decided to leave the snowshoes in the truck, which turned out to be fine. The best part about today was that the trail was unbroken, except by all the animals. I observed deer, coyote, rabbit, mouse, squirrel, possum, turkey and possibly bobcat tracks. It was obvious that there was some real drama being played out by the looks of some of these tracks. The woods after Prospect soon open to reveal Rand's View, a real pleasure. After the field that offers Rand's View, it was back into the woods. I photographed the odd obelisk style rock on Raccoon Hill called "Giant's Thumb". I'm sure there are stories/legends about this rock, I'll have to try to find them. Further along there's "Billy's View" and then the Barrack Matiff that overlooks Salisbury. I was feeling pretty good at the Matiff, had an early lunch and decided to turn around there and head back to Falls Village. All told this was a bit under 14 miles completed in about 6 hours.
This is a link to the photos I took. Enjoy !

 

[Snowflea]

Nice photos Chip! I like that section of Trail a lot and have fond memories of it.

Only 3 inches of snow down there?? Hmm... I should be down there running...


.

 

[askus3]

Just curious if you went as far south as the Housatonic High School? If you crossed Warren Turnpike, did they finally clean up the train wreck? See my photo album of my dayhike through that neck of the woods on the AT last Mothers Day. Here is the link. Attached is my hike report from that outing.

 

[Kevin]

If I am not mistaken, the rail cars and wood is still spilled along the AT south of the village.

I was just talking with some AT folks about trying to get some of the wood for our annual work weekend in early July at the RPH Shelter on the AT here in NY; we need to replace some boardwalks, and are thinking about some other projects where a nice supply of that wood would be helpful. Actually I am surprised that people have not scavenged the wood. I guess they (Sounds like the state of CT and some AT folks) are in negotiations on what to do with the material once all the legal things are taken care of. I am sure they do not want people climbing all over the mess trying to help themselves.

I hiked through there this past summer heading SOBO, someone had taken down the re-route sign and all of a sudden I came across this twisted jungle gym of building material that I had to negotiate around less I be speared or impaled on something. You can do a road walk along Rte 7 I believe to avoid it.

Chip, great photos, Giant's Thumb is a wild piece of stone. It has always reminded me of one of those giant ant hills you see in National Geographic in Africa. I think, as someone pointed out, it is a glacial erratic, but for all we really know, a few colonials back in the 1700's could have placed it as a survey point or a prank....

Catch you later...
Kevin

 

[Howack]

Nice pics Chip

I went up Race Brook Falls on Saturday as well, what a great day!!!