Penbrook State Forest

Went for a walk this afternoon in the Penbrook State Forest. The state protected area runs for more than six miles atop Talcott mountain. The trail itself was part of the Metacomet trail, named for Chief Metacomet who is said to have watched Simsbury burn from a cave on Talcott mountain during the Narragansett Bay War of the early 1600's.

The trail goes up and down over several ridges and the climbs are moderate to challenging. Check out this photo of the trail right before the summit. If you look closely, you can see a little blue mark on the big boulder denoting the path of the trail. I had to force myself to watch every step.

Once you've put in all that work, it's only a short distance up an incline (of course) to the summit. From there one can clearly see the steeple of the United Church of Christ in Simsbury; downtown Simsbury and cemetery; West Simsbury; and the Barndoor Hills. Taking the pictures was a bit of challenge after the long hike, but the view was fantastic. Looking to the left, one can see across two ridges to the Heublin Tower, built in the 1920's. What a house.

Okay, I'm almost done with the photos. On the way to the summit, I stumbled upon Lake Louise and snapped the photo of the frog that you see here. Little guy was about two feet away just mac'n out on the Lilly Pad.


Finally, someone or several someones had gone to a number of different points in the park and created these funky rock statues. They looked kinda cool, so I took some photos. Is there any significance to them, or were they just done on a lark.

To see a large view of any of the photos in this blog, just click the photo and it will open up in separate window or tab.

Walking in Connecticut - Inter District Ballroom Competition

While browsing around the library for something diverting to read, I came across a binder called the Connecticut Walk Book. For some reason I picked it up and started flipping through the pages.

Inside the book are trail details for some great hikes throughout the state. They range from the duck pond down the street to the 26 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail that passes through the Western part of the state on its way to Maine.

Yesterday (I know - Mother's Day) Susan and I picked a trail out that starts near Barn Door Hill road in Simsbury and continues into Granby's McClean Game Refuge. The walk was awesome - we were just about the only people for miles.

I've posted a couple of photos of really cool things we saw. The first was a turn of the 20th century manure spreader; at least that is what my sources report. A small secluded pond was the second. I wouldn't have taken too much prodding for me to have stayed.

Inter District Ballroom Competition

Hannah's Simsbury team stole the show, beating out other Connecticut High Schools, at a regional ballroom competition. Standing out from the crowd, Hannah was awarded a number of ribbons.

She's enthused about dancing and does it well. Someone, and I'm not sure who, took a ton of really cool photos. I've picked out a few that I enjoy. To see more, please visit Susan's Facebook page, or contact Susan directly via e-mail.

That's all for now. Back in touch soon.