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| Hiking | 34.29 Miles |
6,681 AEG |
| | Hiking | 34.29 Miles | 3 Days 3 Hrs 47 Mns | | |
| 6,681 ft AEG | | 25 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Two of us took a 4 day, 3 night backpacking trip on the Mohawk Trail / Appalachian Trail loop in western Connecticut. The Mohawk Trail was at one time the Appalachian Trail, but the AT was rerouted in the late 70s to its present alignment west of US 7. It makes a nice backpacking loop, with multiple camping opportunities on the way at reasonable intervals, somewhat rare in Connecticut. The first 4 miles or so are all on roads, mainly due to an abandoned section of trail in Cornwall Bridge. This trail is in places being rerouted off roads by the Connecticut Forest and Parks Association.
While camping on the AT is first-come-first-served, the backpacking sites on the Mohawk Trail are supposed to be reserved by sending in your request to the CT-DEEP two weeks ahead.
We parked at the intersection of US 7 and CT 4 in the town of Sharon, just across from a nice bistro, seemingly open weekends only.
The route crosses the Housatonic River on CT 4, and then shortly turns off to the left on Brook Road, and then begins to follow Popple Swamp Road for several miles. About 1000’ before the east end of Popple Swamp Road at CT 4, the trail turns off the road. We missed this turn and continued via road until picking up the trail again at the Cathedral Pines Conservancy. I’m planning to go back and add this section before publishing a guide for this trail.
Leaving the Conservancy, the trail follows Essex Hill Road and Great Hill Road briefly, before turning off on a farm lane where there is water, and up into the forest. Farther up the hill is another stream with good water. Near the top of the hill, the trail intersects the end of the Mattatuck Trail (42 miles long), a short distance from parking and a sign for restrooms. Shortly beyond, it comes across the top lifts of the Mohawk Mountain ski area.
Just before crossing CT-4, we came to Mohawk Shelter #2, where we spent the night. There is a pond with stagnant water in the picnic area nearby. Better water can be found a couple miles north at a spring along the trail.
Day 2: Heading north from the shelter, we climbed up to a good lookout point at Red Mountain (1646’). The trail comes out at Johnson Road and follows it for a bit. A reroute is in work in this area.
North of Ford Hill Road, the trail may be brushy.
The trail continues north, passing out of sight of Cream Hill Lake where there is a town beach at Lake Road. Further north, the trail has been routed away from an unnamed pond near N41.91205, W73.29573. It is a shame. It looks like the pond is quite pretty. The trail turns west, following, then crossing, a stream with very good water.
The trail becomes Wickwire Road, a closed dirt track that is easy walking. Eventually the trail turns off of Wickwire Road and becomes a brushy mess. It would be better to stay on Wickwire Road to the point where the trail crosses it again. That crossing is just a short distance from the Wickwire Shelter, where we spent our second night. The shelter wasn’t much used by people, but apparently more by bats, so we chose to stay in our tents out front. Reed Brook is nearby and might be a good source of water.
Day 3, we headed North from the shelter. There is a small peak labeled “Music Mountain” (1251’) on our map, and we took a short cross country scramble to get to its forested, rounded summit. I’m not sure, but the more notable Music Mountain is a small concert hall just north of there on Music Mountain Road.
Continuing west, just before crossing Music Mountain Road, the trail crosses a little wooden bridge with good water. There is an excellent view of a waterfall on the same creek from the road, and there is a nearby trailhead parking lot. After crossing the road, the trail descends along Dean’s Ravine with more views of a lower waterfall, although you have to detour off the trail to get to them. Soon you arrive at the large camping area at Dean’s Ravine.
The trail continues rolling up and down for a while and then begins a very aggressive ascent of Lookout Point (1201’). The trail climbs to this viewpoint almost directly up the fall line, and then descends the same way, in that annoying fashion of New England trails that predate the invention of the switchback.
Finally, the trail crosses US 7, passes a small stream with good water, and the Mohawk Trail terminates at Warren Turnpike, which becomes the AT.
We continued south on Warren Tpke., following the white AT blazes, then right on US 7 to cross the Housatonic River. Soon there is an AT trailhead, with a trail leading off to the left to follow the river a ways, before heading up to a small lump called Belter’s Bump. The Belter’s Campsite (with a spring and a toilet) on the AT is soon after, and we decided we’d had enough for the day and camped there.
Day 4: We continued south on the AT. Passing the Sharon Mountain Campsite, we encountered good water in a stream just a little beyond.
After Sharon Mountain, the trail goes over the shoulder of Mount Easter, not quite reaching its summit of 1392’. On the AT, we encountered more hikers than we had on the Mohawk Trail. We had only seen one day hiker on the Mohawk just leaving the trailhead at Music Mountain Road. We only met one long-distance through hiker on the AT (“Doc”), and a few people out for a few nights like us.
As we passed the spur to Pine Swamp Brook lean-to, it sounded like a big party there, but we didn’t see anyone. Passing over a couple of peaks, we then experienced a fairly steep, rocky descent to West Cornwall Road, with a major stream just beyond.
We carried on a little past the stream, but decided we had had enough, and returned to the road, with the idea of walking down to US 7 and getting a short Uber ride to our car. We hadn’t gone far when a local woman stopped to offer us a ride to our car, which we gratefully accepted.
We’ll go back for our grudge match with the sections we missed of our planned loop, and then I’ll complete the HAZ guide to the Mohawk Trail. |
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