Mattabesett Trail • Hike • Connecticut • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Mattabesett Trail and Mount Higby

Middlesex, CT

Hiking		Aug 13 2025
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Hiking	4.84 Miles	990 AEG

Hiking	4.84 Miles	3 Hrs 47 Mns		1.74 mph
	990 ft AEG	1 Hour Break	10 LBS Pack

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In August of 2025, I organized a Meshomasic Hiking Club trip on the Mattabesett Trail, a portion of the New England Trail (NET) Connecticut Section 12 in Middlefield and Middletown, Connecticut. Our party ranged in ages from 3 to 68, although the youngest was in a backpack. We met at Route 66 and 147 and then shuttled a couple of cars to the Wesleyan Woods trailhead on Country Club Road where we started the hike. Although I was the nominal leader of this trip, as it turned out, most of the other adults in the party had hiked this trail before.

This section of the blue-blazed NET starts out on an old road, before evolving into singletrack among tall grass. Our seven-year-old did a great job of spotting the blazes as we climbed up toward the summit of Higby Mountain. Just a little short of the summit, we took a cross-country detour to an overhanging rock, almost a cave, where the “Old Leatherman” would spend nights as he made his 365 mile loop every 34 days in the 1880s.

Upon leaving the cave, we kicked up a nest of ground bees that stung a couple people. In our haste to leave the bees, our track wavered a bit as we aimed for the coordinates of an old plane crash. While I thought this was the crash of a Cessna 172 from 1966, it turned out that this was the remains of a twin-engine Beechcraft 18 that crashed in 1954.

Following the visit to the wreck, we headed to the top of the mountain, back to the blue-blazed trail, and enjoyed the rest of our hike at a leisurely pace. The hike finished up at a small restaurant near where we parked the cars that has a walkup window selling ice cream, which several of us enjoyed.

Jun 08 2025

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Mattabesett Lone Pine Loop, CT

Hiking		Jun 08 2025
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Hiking	11.96 Miles	1,968 AEG

Hiking	11.96 Miles	6 Hrs 2 Mns		2.22 mph
	1,968 ft AEG	39 Mns Break	10 LBS Pack

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Lone Pine Trail - Braemore Preserve

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For National Trails Day, 2025, I joined a hike led by the Connecticut Forests and Parks Association, the maintainers of the Blue Blazed trail system in Connecticut, for a classic Connecticut hike. The trip forms a lollipop loop involving the New England National Scenic Trail, here called the Mattabesett Trail, and the Lone Pine Trail through Braemore Preserve, which has, you guessed it, one really big pine tree.

We started at the Stage Coach Road Trailhead just off CT-17, and followed the Mattabesett Trail generally south and east to the large Bluff Head parking lot. West of CT-77 the hike is along rugged blocky basalt ridges known locally as traprock. We continued across CT-77, which is a fault line separating the basalt ridges from the older Paleozoic metamorphic basement rock, mostly gneiss and schist, hiking through the "Broomstick Ledges", which are a series rugged ridges on which the trail makes a concerted effort to follow the hardest and most interesting path through.

Entering the Braemore Preserve, we eventually intersected the Red-Blue Blazed Lone Pine Trail, and began our westward journey back toward the starting point. When the Lone Pine Trail reaches CT-77 again, it jogs left along the road, eventually picking up below the Bluff Head Ridge and following along the base of it. There are a couple ways back to the National Scenic Trail. We took the Blue-White blazed North Slope Trail back up the hill to the Mattabesett Trail. The North Slope Trail is an easily walked two-track that climbs the hill steadily.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Eastern white pine Mountain Laurel

Nov 18 2024

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Middlesex, CT

Hiking		Nov 18 2024
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Hiking	11.82 Miles	1,574 AEG

Hiking	11.82 Miles	6 Hrs 24 Mns		2.01 mph
	1,574 ft AEG	32 Mns Break	5 LBS Pack

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We headed south on the Mattabesett trail from the parking lot at Millers Pond State Park. To get to the point where the blue-blazed trail enters the park on Foot Hills Road, take the Red Trail, then the Yellow Trail southeast from the parking area, until intersecting the Mattabesett. Make a sharp right turn and follow the blue-blazed trail down to the white-blazed trail and the lake. The park map indicates the blue and white trails are the same for the next half mile, so we missed that actually the blue trail follows the shoreline for a while.

Two-thirds of the way around the lake, the Mattabesett turns south, leaving the park a while, and about a mile from the lake, switchbacks up a cliff, and then arrives at Bear Rock with nice views to the northwest. There is a steep chute off Bear Rock, or you can take the gentle blue-red blazed route around the chute. The chute was full of leaves so we opted for the bypass.

Continuing South, pass Harvey Road where there is parking, and Higganum Road, where there is parking, then enter a long stretch south toward Madison Road (CT-79). We didn’t quite make the road before our hard 3-hour turnaround time, and headed back north. Once again, we stopped for the view at Bear Rock. On arriving at Millers Pond, we enjoyed a sunny lunch on the first levee, and then continued clockwise around the lake back to the parking lot.

Although our GPX track with all the GPS noise recorded 11.8 miles, the smoothed track suggests we hiked 9.9 miles.

Autumn Foliage Observation None
All the leaves are on the ground.

Nov 16 2024

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Middlesex, CT

Hiking		Nov 16 2024
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Hiking	5.87 Miles	1,195 AEG

Hiking	5.87 Miles	3 Hrs 2 Mns		1.99 mph
	1,195 ft AEG	5 Mns Break	5 LBS Pack

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On a pretty fall day in November 2024, I did the next section of the Mattabesett Trail. I’m finally getting back to this little project. I parked at the Aircraft Road Trailhead. There is room for 3 cars there adjacent to the paved highway, but a post in the middle can be tricky to get around. Be careful if you park in the middle.

I headed north on the trail. I had a mile to go to link up with my previous section, so that was my turnaround target. With all the leaves on the ground, I depended upon the blue blazes, which were good except for one corner on the return trip, where I got off track a little.

I was out and back to my car in about an hour, and then headed south. At first the southbound trail is a pleasant woods path, but then it goes over some big granite outcroppings in the most difficult way possible. The trail scrambles up and down the outcroppings to no particular objective except to be fun, I guess. About a mile from Aircraft Road the trail crosses, then follows, a major powerline right-of-way, finally dropping into the woods and following along a pretty brook across the way from a picnic area and parking at Saybrook Road. I turned around when I got to the road, getting back to my car in 3 hours.

Autumn Foliage Observation None
All the leaves are on the ground.

Jun 30 2023

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Middlesex, CT

Hiking		Jun 30 2023
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Hiking	10.74 Miles	1,702 AEG

Hiking	10.74 Miles	7 Hrs 3 Mns		2.00 mph
	1,702 ft AEG	1 Hour 40 Mns Break	20 LBS Pack

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Bear Hill Loop

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To do the next section of the Mattabesett Trail, I parked at Bear Hill Road and headed north to complete the section among the Asylum Reservoirs. At Reservoir #2, it is tempting to follow along the dam, but but I found the trail downhill on Brooks Road a bit, where the trail turns right at a small parking area. To propel a sense of adventure, the trail goes on top of every granite outcropping, whether it is scenic or not. Some of these are easy if you don’t have a pack, but would be treacherous when wet.

There are some good views of Reservoir #1 from the rocks above. At the last crossing of Reservoir Road, I headed back toward the water on the unused road, and walked a little way out onto the causeway to take pictures. There are threatening “No Trespassing” signs, but generally these seem to mean to stay out of the water. From Reservoir #1, I followed the Reservoir Loop Trail, tagged on the trees with blue-yellow blazes, back to Brooks Road.

Returning to my starting point, I then continued south across Bear Hill Road. The trail heads up into the Katchen Coley Mountain Laurel Preserve, which is awesome. In mid-June, the trees in bloom would be overwhelming. Now it is past its prime for another year. I climbed Bear Hill, and then continued following the ridge of granite out to my turnaround point, before heading back to my car. With the wildfire smoke today, views were very limited.

Jun 29 2023

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ