Just completed a hike at Hubbard Park in Meriden, CT on Sunday. Usually I plan ahead and research trails with best routes to take. This was a little more last minute, picking a new location randomly on a map that seemed to be doable with driving there and back home and a hike for a day trip. Let me say that the hike was pretty awesome even though it was “simpler” in the sense that parts were paved to get to the trailhead. But that doesn’t mean that the hike was easy. It was pretty challenging even on the paved portion as it was completely uphill!
Must say that this was also one of the friendliest parks we have visited to date. Every person we passed enthusiastically said “hello”, “good morning” etc. That honestly helped to push forward on the hike.
Usually I have the trails downloaded onto my cellphone with the Avenza app as I like that it can show your position with the GPS in relation to the trail you’re on. Unfortunately, with such last minute planning I was not able to find a map through the app. I was able to find a map of the park online and used that in conjunction with GPS location on Google maps to try to give an estimate of which turn we had to take next.
The hike started from an unassuming parking lot and passed a water filtration system fed by the local watershed. This path continued on hugging the reservoir lake feeding the system. On this day, it was a gorgeous green/blue color and completely frozen with a few inch layer of ice. It was so tempting to walk or skate on it but the signs said no :).
The paved pathway leads up the side of the mountain for a few miles. Once reaching near the top there’s a fork in the road. You can either stay on the paved road toward the castle or be more adventurous and take the fork to the right that leads you passed the radio towers and to the blue trail.
The beginning of the blue trail has some of the best views of the surrounding town below as well as gentle flowing mountains in the distance. The enjoyment was short-lived; however, because the winds were so strong and wind chill factor was in the single digits that your face got wind bitten with just a few seconds of exposure.
Spent the next few miles on wind blown rocky trails. So windy I started looking siren and actually went off trail having to backtrack in the freezing cold. Imagine the fun and stay that does to your mentality. Fortunately was smart enough to turn around before going too far. The best was waking alongside the cliffs and the streams listening to the babbling water flowing. A few of the ascents and descents we quite steep. The eroded ground and leaves made it more fun.
All in all a great place and visitors even pick up the garbage and sticks off the trail.
-Chris & Ola