Welcome to the September 17th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures.

This weeks hike was a little wet, but it was not cold, so we enjoyed ourselves. It worked out just fine.

During all of last week, everyone was talking about Bob possibly missing out on the coming hike because he didn't want to miss out on a very important auction. Also, the weather was predicting rain, so we knew that Saturday morning could get interesting.

Deb and I ended up spending Friday evening at Sof and Rob's, taking the edge off with Jean and Paul by the fire. While we were taking the edge off, we were able to set a meeting time at 8am in Norwich to start our hike. But when Saturday morning came, when I was still half asleep, I heard the soft rhythm of the rain drops outside. The predictions of a wet morning were confirmed. I shortly called Sof who suggested to wait until 9am so that we could not only possibly wait for Bob to join us, but also to wait for the rain to have a chance to slow down a bit.

Deb and I arrived in Norwich as planned, and we soon all headed to the trail head after a few minutes of our morning greetings. We eventually parked at the old white church on RT49 and started on our hike. We noticed that there was a sign posted at the trail head which stated it was closed to all hiking from October through March because it's path goes through hunting grounds used by a Groton hunting and fishing club. The sign was placed in a very good place, and nobody was going to miss seeing it.

There was a light sprinkle, and also quite a bit of wet grass to wade through, but we expected that going in. The temperature was warm enough so that if you were moving you were able to stay comfortable, but if you stopped for a considerable amount of time, you started to get cold. The tree cover and the clouds made our surroundings appear dim and at times dark. Also, our surroundings were not ones that permitted many pictures. My camera did get a little wet, and it wasn't long before I decided that I should just give up trying to take them, so I put it in my backpack to keep it dry.

This hike turned out to be very close to about 3 miles in and therefore 3 miles out. Rob's pedometer read exactly 6.00 miles at our finish. At about the 1.5 mile mark, we came across a small, very old stone bridge that supported a dirt road that brought back memories of the last time we were there. Sof mentioned that Uncle Al and Chet was hiking with us that day. It could have been 8 to 10 years ago... And I then remembered resting at that bridge with Uncle Al, admiring the stone work.



After reminiscing at the stone bridge, the trail got interesting. The rocks on both sides of the stream that the bridge had crossed started to get larger. Our trail got steeper, and steeper. Within a very short time, our trail was following the stream on top of a rock cliff about 50 feet high on both sides of the stream. I had put my camera away by this time, so I don't have any pictures, and it was too dark anyway. I indefinitely want to hike this trail again, but we will have to wait until March of next year before we can do that.

At about the 3 mile mark, we came across Green Falls pond and a very attractive stone dam. We rested a bit at the dam, and then headed back.



By the time we got back to our cars, we were pretty wet. And it wasn't long before we realized that our decision not to do lunch right away was a good one. We would not have been comfortable sitting in a restaurant as wet as we were.

We are all going on our Greek trip for about 3 weeks starting on Thursday, so our newsletter won't be very active until we get back. But I am hoping to post something if we end up doing a hike when we are there. I am told we are planning to hike about 2 kilometers, so we will see.

Talk to everyone soon,
Joe

Welcome to the September 10th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures.

Good Morning Happy Hikers!

This week's hike was another hot and humid one. My guess is, we won't be seeing these temperatures again until next year. It won't be long before we will be stripping off our shorts and t-shirts, and putting on jeans and jackets. Also, the leaves are starting to change color and are falling in front of us. I am looking forward to snapping some colorful reds and yellows on our next few hikes.

This week's hike took us out towards Middletown, CT to the Mattebasett Trail. The last few hikes we have been choosing to enter and exit our trails at the same location so we don't have to waist time placing cars at both ends. I think our Loop-Dee-Loops have been working out very nicely.

On the subject of Loop-Dee-Loops, Deb and Sof have come up with trail names for everyone that fit rather nicely. Rob, who is usually up front knocking down all the spiderwebs is our "Point Man, or Spiderman." We call Bob our "Bobby-Goat-Gruff," because he is always rough and tumbly. I'm the "Flasher" because I'm the one taking most of the pictures, Sof's called Loop-Dee-Loop because he always professes to never lead troops, but always ends up doing so, and finally our Deb is called, Dragon-Ass because she is most content taking up the rear, making sure everyone is safe and in view.





Not allot happened this week. We basically hiked about 4.2 miles, and then turned around and hiked back. There were a few alternate trails that we took to keep us on our toes, but that was about it. The trail started out being a very pleasant, very lightly traveled rocky path that is starting to be littered with colorful leaves. At about the 2 mile mark or so, we came across terrain that was broken up a little by dirt bikes and logging equipment so there wasn't much scenery to snap pictures of. Because it was so hot, once we turned around at the 4 mile mark, we rushed out of the woods and decided not to do lunch. We all just wanted to jump into Sof's pool. That we did. And after a few hours of rest and relaxation by the pool, everyone enjoyed themselves under the fireworks at Bob and Jody's.





Looking forward to next week's hike everyone.
Talk to everyone then,
Joe

Welcome to the September 4th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures.

Welcome Happy Hikers!

Here we are back again at work starting a new week. A short week at that... But our weekend wasn't short. It was adventurous and filled with surprises. Here's what happened...

On Saturday morning Deb and I decided to meet everyone at the trail head, so we had a little extra time to fuss around the house before we left. Undo pressure in the morning, especially before I have my coffee, is not a good thing so I was a happy camper.

Deb and I eventually arrived at the Chatfield Hollow State Park a little early, so we decided to venture off a bit. I took some pictures nearby while Deb went to the potty. When we got back to the parking area, everyone had arrived and were applying bug repellent and basically getting ready for our adventures. It wasn't long before we all were on our way.

The trail head was not far from the entrance to the Chatfield Hollow State Park, so we decided to walk up the road to find it. We then ventured down a dirt road and across a well built bridge thinking we were on the right path, but later we noticed we were on private land. We then back tracked and found the entrance to our hike a few stretches further up.

The trail we choose this week was very rocky. So much so, the rock formations we saw made this hike one of the most interesting this season. Most of the blue trail we followed lead us up, over, and under the best rock formations in the area. This hike is definitely on our repeat list. Most of our pictures are using rocks to frame us in all our glory.





After we snapped a few group shots in and around all these rocks, the trail ventured off towards a number of dry, rocky stream beds. It really hasn't rained all that much this season, so all the streams and lakes have significantly less water in the them, if any at all. While we were crossing one of these dry streams, Deb and Sof started screaming and shouting. At first we didn't know what was happening, but it didn't take us long to figure out that we were getting attacked by bees. One of us must have stepped on a bees nest. The girls then ran past us, screaming as they went. Rob, Bob, and I chased the girls to try to help, but once we tried to stop and swat the bees away, we found out we didn't run away far enough. We eventually were able to run out of their reach to stop and apply some medication, but not after a very trying experience. We also rested to contemplate our next move.



All in all, both Deb and Sof probably received about 10-15 bee stings apiece, mostly on their backs. I got stung once in the back of the head, behind my right ear. We then hiked a bit further until we reached a small wooded bridge where we rested a bit while we were counting our wounds. Later, Sof mentioned that she was worried about what to do if we had to get out of the woods quickly, like I'm sure everyone else was. At this point we were about 4 miles away from our cars. None of us are allergic to bee stings, thank God, but if someone like Christina was with us, we would have had a major problem on our hands.





Our plan was to hike about 4.1 miles to the end of the trail and then turn around and go back. On our way back we decided to avoid the dry stream beds and go around all those bees. About at this point Bob got stung on the elbow, so that left Rob the only person without wounds. We were able to finally get back to our hiking again, at which point we were greeted by some people on horseback. We warned them about the bees, and then we finished the rest of our hike by snapping some more group shots, and then eventually eating lunch at Cafe NV, then we had our Starbucks fix. What an adventure!



ok, that's all for this week.
See everyone next.

Joe