New England Trail

The New England Trail (NET) is our backyard trail. We often hike sections of it when going rock climbing.

It starts at the Long Island Sound in Guilford and officially ends by the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire (as a National Scenic Trail) but it keeps going North all the way to Monadnock mountain in New Hampshire.

Well, you have probably guessed it by now, Muriel and I decided to hike a big chunk of it: from the Long Island Sound to Simsbury! It's about 100 miles.

Our friend Dan played trail angel for us. He stayed at our home the night before our departure and then drove us from home to the start in Guilford. Thanks Dan!

October 12. It was a wet and windy start. It had downpoured the day before so all streams were running pretty high.

Downtown Guilford was quite pleasant but then we had to walk a good hour by the roadside (blazed!) before entering the woods.

Branches were falling off the trees due to the strong winds and we wondered if helmets would have been a good idea!

The winds recessed eventually and we enjoyed following the blue blazes and getting immersed in the Connecticut woods.

The NET is composed of 3 trails actually. From South: Menunkatuck, Mattabesset and Metacomet trails. Menunkatuck is an easy one. Mostly flat and easy footing.

After 16 miles the trail changes name: Mattabesset. It also changes in difficulty: it climbs and descends constantly and the footing has many rocky sections. At mile 18 we're at Bluff Head and decide to call it a day!

Day 2

The rain arrived as forecasted. But we're not too worried. First we had rain gear, second we were going to sleep at our friends Natasha and V place tonight! And they have a sauna too!

Rain lasted 4 hours. Our feet did get wet. It was fun for a little but we were happy when it stopped!

Old trail tracks that the trail crosses. Maybe a rail to trail conversion one day?

After the rain we were lucky to get clear skies and great views!

We arrive at route 66 where our friend Dan awaits us; he is our trail angel driver!

Day 3

Amazing how much healing sauna can do to your body! We had not only a great time at our friends’ house but we also left the next day with no pains! Great to see Marty and Jen too!

The trail continues to follow ridge after ridge.

To ponds

To lakes

Only when crossing main roads things get a bit uncomfortable. We feel out of place with our backpacks and cars zooming next to us on 4 lane roads. That's how we felt when we arrived at Berlin, on route 5. It was too late to keep hiking so we stayed at a beat up motel. Very convenient location though, right next to our path.

Day 4 - It rained all day as forecasted. But sunny days were forecasted, so we kept going.

Fog and rain

Castle Craig at East Peak.

The trail got pretty steep sometimes and of course we hiked the steepest when it was wet!

Day 5 - We awoke with beautiful blue skies. We know this area. We come here often to rock climb but never really hiked the Metacomet trail connecting the different areas.

Roger's Orchards along the way. A good resupply point with great bakery and local apples and apple cider. No need to load on water here by the way: 4.5 miles further, at rte 372 there's a Dunkin Donuts and restaurants!

We were still hiking mostly in woods and very rarely following roads, the longest being rte 372 for a mile or so.

We had to plan our last night carefully though as we arrived at rte 4: North of it is a residential area. We chose to stay a little South of rte 4, inside the Hillstead museum park actually. There's a bench, nobody around, and the noise from rte 4 was well dampened by the trees. We were very happy with our finding!