The Amateur Hiker

The next weekend the kids were with the grandparents and we were hiking on our own in part to celebrate our anniversary. It turned out to be a good thing we were kid-less, because we'd been eyeing CT section 17 for awhile but knew none of us (but the kids especially) were ready to do a total of 10.3 miles in a day. There's a reason this blog is called The Amateur Hiker. Dan and I DID think we could split up those 10 miles over a couple of days, so we decided to hike this trail in two parts over a Saturday and a Sunday. The total of this trail runs from the towns of Farmington through Avon, West Hartford, Bloomfield and Simsbury. Near the middle of that the trail cross Route 44, and that's where we began our hike (on the north side of Rt. 44).  We parked near the West Hartford Reservoir, and the first part of the trail is very flat and pleasant and walks along the reservoir for a while. This is a very popular area and there were people all over the place. In fact, most of t

We started the trail with an extra two hikers -- my parents! As a kid we'd always hiked several easy to moderate mountains in Massachusetts, where I grew up, and Maine, where we'd vacation in the summer. They love hiking but have found mountains have become more difficult as they've grown older. We thought this trail would be a good option, and it was -- for the most part.  We got started late, and while it was a beautifully sunny early October day, the wind was fierce at times, making it unseasonably cool. The trail starts steeply from a parking area just down the road from Old Newgate prison. As with most of the NET in this area, it levels out once you get to the ridgeline, where you enjoy some really nice views, especially on a day as clear as this one.  There were some definite rock scrambles on this trail that the NET website describes as "examples of the Metacomet basalt eroding into chimney-like spires along the cliff edge." We'd been hiking for a numbe

I am here to tell you that we are the most woefully unequipped people, when it comes to any sort of hiking gear. Let this be an inspiration -- if you are just doing day hikes (we have not delved into overnight camping at this point), there is very little you need.  Right now, our list consists of the following: - Water and snacks - Small backpacks  - Sturdy shoes and socks  - A sweatshirt/extra layer on cool days - A few Bandaids and some Advil - A pair of hiking poles that Dan likes to use for support I am pretty ignorant when it comes to hiking accessories, especially when it applies to clothing. I have even been known to hike in jeans. This is hiking taboo, I know, but if it's an old comfortable pair of jeans and the kind of hike that involves sliding down rocks, they're not so bad. We have no hiking boots right now, so sneakers it is. If the "real" hikers on the trail are snickering at us, so be it. I am not going to wait until I have everything perfect to start m

  After a weekend off from hiking due to some other plans, we almost missed out on hiking again the following weekend. Chloe had been fighting a cold and the weather didn't look promising. However, after the steady rain didn't materialize and Chloe started perk up, we decided to hit the trails once again.  As we were trying to keep things a little less strenuous, we decided to do two shorter sections of trail that did not have much elevation gain: CT Section 21 and MA Section 1 .  It's really a different vibe, hiking on a gray and gloomy day. In one sense it made the colors emerging really pop; in another, it made areas of thick woods feel even darker. "I'm scared!" Chloe even said at one point, in an especially dark area.  Both sections that we hiked are about 2 1/2 miles in length. Section 21, the last section in CT, meanders through Suffield to the Massachusetts border without too many points of interest. There were the usual ridge views and we kept searchi

Another weekend, another hike! We decided to start from a familiar spot not far from home. CT Trail Section 18 begins at Penwood State Forest and offers a number of trails, some of which we'd hiked before. Our foible of the day came after trusting our GPS. This time both of them were wrong. Since we'd been to Penwood before, we KNEW that when the GPS announced we'd "reached our destination," we were not in the right place. We were on a side road marked with a sign that read "Private Property." Still, we kept going, because maybe this was a back way we weren't aware of, or something like that? We saw more No Trespassing signs and then the clincher, a last sign that boldly asserted: "Turn Around. GPS Incorrect." At that point we'd reached a house far set back down this road and had to turn around in a driveway where a man with a dog were glaring at us. Apparently we weren't the only ones who had done this.  So after trusting our memor

By the next Saturday we had (mostly) forgotten our rough start from the week before and were ready to start again. Well, if by ready you mean listening to the kids saying, "No, are we really doing that again?!" and us saying, "Yup!" The funny thing about kids -- and we notice this week after week -- is that they complain and they whine but then they get out there and start talking with us and interacting without bickering, and it's really very nice.  This week we stayed a little closer to home and decided to take on a shorter section of trail ( NET CT Section 19 ) that begins in the village of Tariffville about 15 minutes from our house. Right away we realized that this hike would once again begin with a somewhat brief but rather pointless road walk. We literally parked on a side street where the trail comes out of the woods, got out of our car and walked a half-mile or so on the street, only to spot the trailhead where we needed to enter the woods, with a parki