This week, Deb and I met my brother Rich and his daughter Ashlyn at Salmon River in Colchester.
After our morning greetings and donning our water and backpack/hiking accessories, we headed across the Comstock Covered Bridge. For your pleasure, here's some history about the Comstock bridge in Colchester.
Comstock Bridge served travelers on the main road between Colchester and Middletown for nearly sixty years, until a new concrete bridge was built downstream in 1932. Now situated in a public park, Comstock Bridge is a well-preserved example of the Howe truss, an innovative design patented in 1840. The Howe truss combined vertical iron rods and diagonal timbers and was widely used in railroad construction as well as for highway and factory bridges.The 30'-long east span is significant in its own right as the only remaining example in Connecticut of an enclosed wooden pony truss, that is, one with no overhead roof or other bracing. Generations before any covered bridges were built, bridge builders protected trusses from the weather by covering them with boards, and the technique continued in use for shorter spans such this one throughout the 19th century.
In the 1930s Comstock Bridge was extensively renovated by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal program that put unemployed young men to work improving parks and forests. Among the changes introduced at that time were the present wooden gates and new siding salvaged from an old barn. In the early 1970s the bridge was again renovated. Steel gusset plates were added to reinforce the original wooden joints. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The Salmon River Trail follows Salmon River up a fairly steep incline, and continues towards the intersection of the North and South Loop. We have recently hiked this trail going a bit faster when Rob was with us, but we did keep up a good brisk pace. We stopped and snapped a few shots at the first overlook, as you can see here.
Sunday was a very nice day, and we took in the outdoors as much as we could. Here, we stopped at a good picturesque spot overlooking a stream rushing by from the rain the previous day.
We eventually reached Day Pond and snapped a few shots there as well.
On our way back, we talked about where to have lunch, and we decided to travel out to Windham, CT and mingle with the bikers at the Back Door. There must have been 200 - 250 Harley Davidson motorcycles out front, with everyone wearing matching black tee shirts and blue jeans... except us. But lunch was only $2 for a double serving of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and corn. An Amstel light topped it off, and we all had a grand time of it.
Deb and I headed to the nearest Starbucks afterwards, and called it a day. It was a very interesting adventure indeed.
ok, see everyone next week!
And don't forget... Next week we have plans with Bill and Becky to hike Mt. Monadnock!
Joe
