The time had come. No longer would my New England Trail adventures be confined to one state. For only the third (and fourth) time in my life, I was hiking across state lines.
I arrived at the trailhead a tenth of a mile north of the Massachusetts-Connecticut border at about 14:30. The last storm of the winter had passed through that morning, covering the world in a fresh blanket of snow thick enough that I questioned my car’s ability to leave the parking lot when I returned. Fortunately, the snowing had stopped before I arrived, and the temperature was only slightly below freezing, so I was comfortably warm once I got moving.
It wasn’t long before I reached the “Welcome to Connecticut” sign, and continued on past. By the time I got back to the car, I would have doubled the number of state lines I’d crossed on foot!
Fresh snow festooned the tree branches, giving the land a magical wintery feel. The small valley through which the trail passed blocked signs of the surrounding population, so it was easy to imagine myself alone in the wilderness, rather than just in a patch of woodland between towns.
It was nearly 20 minutes before I discovered my first signs of humanity, tracks in the snow where a pair of hikers coming the other direction had turned around. Until then I’d been breaking my own trail through the freshly fallen snow. Branches which would normally have passed above my head were weighed down to block the trail, forcing me to go around or knock the snow off. The reach provided by my trekking poles helped me avoid most of the snow I removed, but some found its way down my back despite my best efforts.
The trail began climbing out of the valley and onto a short ridge. The snow from the storm may have passed, but the winds had not. Gusts blew up fine clouds of crystalline powder, covering parts of the trail in lightly packed snow like sand on a windy beach. Even with shelter from the trees, I felt cold and wind-blasted. But that couldn’t stop me from enjoying the views.
Further along the ridge, a powerline cut revealed the best views of the hike, while simultaneously exposing me to the worst wind. I wanted to wait a while and take in the views, but the relentless wind drove me onwards and downwards, towards shelter in the trees beyond the ridge.
Once I dropped off the ridge and escaped the worst of the wind, the magic winter wonderland of earlier in the day returned. Paths in the snow, yet untouched by human feet, wound away from the NET and into the mysterious, pristine woodland. White snow blanketing the trees and other vegetation contrasted beautifully against lonely red berries still holding on near winter’s end.
The trail’s end was an unremarkable road crossing, but rather than simply turn around and retread the same route back to the beginning, I decided to spice things up a little. I headed off along a second trail which, based on earlier signs, I suspected would join back fairly directly with the main path. My adventuresome instincts were rewarded in short order with the discovery of an old stone chimney, sitting alone in the forest. I briefly contemplated building a fire, but it seemed unwise, and like too much work besides.
Not long after the chimney, I found myself back on the NET.
The rest of the return journey was rather uneventful. My tracks on the ridge were already covered with freshly windblown snow, enabling me once more to experience the joys of traveling on unbroken trail. However, that also meant more effort, and I could feel my legs beginning to tire. Like during my adventure on the Pemi Loop, walking through snow was taking more out of me than I was used to. Fortunately, unlike the Pemi loop, I had fewer than two miles left to go, and most of it was downhill. Still, I was happy to see the sign welcoming me back to Massachusetts and signaling the hike was nearly done. I returned through the small valley to my car, and managed to get it out of the snow-filled parking lot without too much difficulty.
Over the course of a few hours, I had doubled the number of state boundaries I had walked across. It almost felt like cheating after having worked for months on the PCT for the first two crossings.
Hike Details
- Date: March 12th
- Distance: 5.3 miles
- Route: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/connecticut/ct-net-section-21
Pokin' Along 