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.
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| 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
Aha! I found you. I was getting a "blog not found" because I was missing the "s" at the end of ctvalleyhikers.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to mention that the Simsbury Land Trust has a fantastic book of all of their properties with trail maps. Here is the link, or you can google the walk book. They have newer/prettier maps on their website, but they don't include maps for all the properties. I couldn't find a link to the walk book from their site, but you can find it if you just google it.
https://simsburylandtrust.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/slt_wlkbk_05.pdf
I laughed when I saw the picture of what I am assuming you are calling the enchanted path over by Iron Horse. I took my boys through there when they were younger and there was poison ivy everywhere on those pine trees. We got to an area where we could walk along the river and the trail is supposed to come out somewhere near Simscroft-Echo. For the life of us, we could not find the trail. We were walking through a field full of brambles. We finally had to back-track out of there. By the way, the trail is called Riverwalk Nature Trail in the walk book.
I'm looking forward to catching up on some of your posts that I have missed in the last couple of months. Happy Hiking!
Sarah
http://granwoodexplores.blogspot.com/
Hi Sarah! Thanks for the info on SLT and also for pointing out the added "s" - I changed it to make it uniform with our Facebook page and then forgot to change it on the Facebook page :(
ReplyDeleteThere is a sign at that "enchanted path" but I didn't think to take a picture of it. Thanks for naming it for me. I loved that path through those giant pines. You went farther than I did - I had no desire to wade through the weeds! However, runkeeper does show it running into a path that runs into the river. Runkeeper also shows a path just a little farther north across from Phelps Lane. It's labeled "Helen's Way - cleared as of 2015-10-26" and it is shown leading to the river. Will have to check it out some day. I need to catch up on your blog too!
Thanks,
Sue