If you want to check on the hikes that I completed so far as part of this challenge, go here.
Prologue: A hiking challenge is going on this year by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEEP) in the state of Connecticut where I live, “Sky’s The Limit”. We have to finish a hike in the chosen 20 Park and Forest locations before December 3rd this year Each location has some specific points of interest that the departments asks us to take pictures of and document them. Most of the Parks and Forests are located in an hours of driving distance, except a few. I decided to take this challenge and hopefully will be able to complete all of them. Here we go!
Next up is Chatfield Hollow State Park. This is # 6 on the list provided by DEEP. I am not following the order they have listed. I am just going to any hike I can whenever I can from that list. 🙂
Chatfield Hollow State Park in Killingworth, Connecticut, is a medley of ponds (Chatfield Brook, Schreeder Pond and Mill Pond), picnic areas, fishing and ample number of hiking trails – both paved and natural rocky terrain. We took the trail that was given in the challenge – Paul Wildermann Boardwalk to the Paved Park Road to the Purple Trail to the Park Paved Road to the Red Covered Bridge.
The uniqueness of this park is that is is connected to Cockaponset State Forest in the neighborhood cities of Chester and Haddam. Some refer to it as “The Never Ending Park” because of the numerous interconnected trails between both Chatfield Hollow and Cockaponset State Parks.
We came back the same path, bypassed the Purple Trail though, to the parking area near Paul Wildermann Boardwalk making it a 3.5 mile hike. We avoided the Purple Trail in the return only because of the immense amount of bugs through the forest and rocky trail that would take us again. The recent rains perhaps added to the amount, and also the marsh and wetlands the state park preserves. Although one of their interpretive signs describes Insects as – Insects are animals and very successful animals! I bet they are. 😛
The park area is surrounded by oak, beech and hickory trees. They are so tall, making them both majestic and scary at the same time.
Other sights we got to see along the hike began with this gorgeous horse-shoe shaped waterfall formed by the overflow of one of the ponds (I forgot to find the name of the pond the falls were around).
A couple of boardwalks we came across the hikes. Along with this stone bridge on one side leading to more trails further into the park.
Always amazes me the beautiful colored fungi we get to see in all of these trails. And so also here we saw a few. Are they poisonous or not? – a question we didn’t dare answer. 🙂
Typical of any brook, there is a Red Covered Bridge that goes across the Chatfield Brook.
Finally we also saw the CCC Worker statue – honoring the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps who from 1933 to 1942 helped create access to all the state parks and forests by creating trails, bridges, roads and buildings. It only made sense to take a pic with the worker. 🙂
Galavant Reflections 