Case Mountain

Case Mountain can be easy if you take the Carriage Trail, but where’s the adventure in that? I could have been discouraged in my confusion and despairing of my abilities if I hadn’t googled Hartford Courant’s Peter Marteka, my favorite nature writer:

Manchester's Case Mountain recreation area . . . has a reputation of swallowing up hikers and mountain bikers so they have to dial 911 for a rescue. -January 11, 2009 

While hiking the Case Mountain trail system, be wary of the spinning heads of fellow nature lovers and mountain bikers. The spinning heads may be from trying to navigate the numerous trails that spread out across the park . . .  -November 14, 2000

Just looking at the printed map can make your head spin, but kudos to the town of Manchester for providing the map! Fortunately, most of the trails are well marked, but if not for my Runkeeper app, this hike might have been a bit daunting.

We began on the wide Carriage Path and then moved on to the pink-blazed trail, taking the left fork of the trail.

This is a loop trail that leads to the Lookout Mountain summit, with a view of Hartford and beyond. It’s a quick walk to a nice reward if you're pressed for time, as the total distance to complete this loop and return to your car via the Carriage Path is just over a mile and a half. We reached the summit in 25 minutes.

Some young hikers had spent the night at the summit and were rolling up their sleeping bags when we arrived. Their campfire was still smoking, and we joked about making S’more’s. Turns out they actually had made S’more’s and offered us some! We meet such nice people on the trails.

Rather than completing the pink loop, we took the yellow trail directly opposite of the view and came upon this interesting burl:

Next we turned right onto the blue-blazed Shenipsit Trail and headed toward the Birch Mountain summit. Unless we missed it, there is no view from the summit, and we moved on to the blue/yellow trail. The rocks along this path were impressive, and we found a great place for our devotional.

Deuteronomy  8:7 “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land –  a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills.” 

There is a moment in hiking that is especially pleasurable - boot removal. There's nothing like loosening the laces, pulling the boots off, peeling off sweaty socks, and reveling in the accomplishment of the day’s hike. 

We experience this in daily life too. During the ritual of removal at the end of the day - loosening a tie, removing dress shoes, or dropping a book bag to the floor - we may be tempted to be proud of what we accomplished that day. But we mustn't forget that we are created beings. God has given us the strength for what we have accomplished. 

On the trail we struggle to traverse mountains, but we are using legs created by Him. Those mountains we climb were created by Him, and they tremble in His presence. As we walk through life, we might wear the boots, but He wears the crown! (adapted from With God on the Hiking Trail by Nathan Chapman)

I had wanted to check out a grotto that is shown on the Runkeeper map. It’s not on a marked trail, so I missed it. But in studying the map at home, I realized that I happened to take a photo right where we should have turned. So if you want to see the grotto, turn right at this rock, which shows a blue/yellow blaze:

We moved on to the Case Mountain Summit. No view, but we still enjoyed the path. We met up with the blue-blazed Shenipsit trail again, headed back to the beginning, and then I got a little confused and almost took us back to the pink trail. Fortunately we ran into a hiker who pointed us to an unmarked trail that lead back to the Carriage Path. Following this trail brought us back to the path and to our cars.

This is the corrected route. The map can be found at https://runkeeper.com/user/SusanGayle/route/4449135

Address:  680 Spring Street, Manchester CT

Trail map:http: www.mdogct.com/documents/Casemountainmap.pdf

Length: 3 miles

Duration: 2 hours, 25 minutes

Difficulty level: Easy to moderate

Calories: 612

Belden Forest

Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury is a hopping place! This busy thoroughfare has a bit of everything - groceries, coffee shops, baked goods, wine, jewelry - and you will even find a forest where you can forget the hustle and bustle and enjoy a peaceful walk among giant pines.

We started on the first trail we saw and quickly ran into a "No Trespassing" sign.  We decided to walk little farther and see if we could find another trail, but ended up on a street. The trail wasn't on my Runkeeper app, but thankfully our friend Judy checked Alltrails.com and found it there. I downloaded the app and, muttering apologies to unseen homeowners, we traipsed through a back yard and found our way to the trail.

This was a nice trail, carpeted with pine needles. The height of the trees was amazing, and I don't know why I didn't think to take a picture that showed them reaching toward the sky. After a few minutes I was surprised to hear a siren, forgetting that we were in the midst of Simsbury.

We saw some interesting fungi along the way

Just as one can see shapes in the clouds, in the fungus we saw a golf ball, a flower, and a donut!

The trail looped around and we ended where we should have began and came face to face with a nice big sign that we missed when we started.  I felt a little silly having missed it, until we reached the bottom of the hill. There I realized that it is barely visible from the parking lot.

A nearby bench was the perfect place for our devotional time.

John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice; and I know them, and they follow me." 

Today we have the luxury of listening to the radio through apps on our smartphones, but there was a time when getting good reception on an AM radio station took some finagling. We would walk around the house pointing the radio this way and that trying to get a good signal. Sometimes we either had to settle with the static, crackles and whistles that accompany a weak signal or give up and turn the radio off.

Sometimes the voice of our Savior can be drowned out by the static of living in a fallen world. And when we get frustrated we are tempted to give up listening. But Jesus promises that we can recognize his voice. Scripture encourages us to tune in to Him and and eagerly listen for Him. We need to make every effort to keep the distractions of the world turned down in order to clearly hear His divine voice. Being in the wilderness or on the trail is a great way to be in touch with God because it lacks those worldly distractions. But even when we can't get to the mountains we can make sure we are tuning in to Jesus, being attentive to what God has to say, and keeping our minds clear so that we can hear His voice.

This was a short hike, so a few of us decided to cross the street and head to the Farmington Canal Trail on Iron Horse Boulevard. Just across from Jim Gallagher Way we found another trail, walked just a few minutes and came to an enchanted path.


After a few minutes more the trail narrowed and, not in the mood for bushwhacking, we turned around and took a brisk walk on the trail beside Iron Horse Boulevard.

While Belden Forest is a small trail, it's a nice oasis to visit when you have a limited amount of time. According to Peter Marteka, the yellow-blazed trail takes you to the top of a ridge where you can view the town. We missed this view, so I'm sure there's more to explore at Belden Forest.

Boy Scout Hall

Address:  Boy Scout Hall, 695 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury - Entrance is directly opposite Drake Hill Road. Park to the right of the Boy Scout Hall


The trail begins on top of the little hill to the right of this building.

Runkeeper Route: https://runkeeper.com/user/SusanGayle/route/4440621

Length: 1.37 miles

Duration: 1 hour,

Difficulty level: easy