Nipmuck Trail Section
Posted By auntie on May 1, 2017
10.06, Ashford and Union, CT
Wow, killer hike. My friend Stacy and I planned this as part of getting another TSTLC photo, which we did first, then slogged through this intense section from Ashford to Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union. Whew. Lotta ups and downs, and very taxing.
Pretty View
This is at the very beginning of our odyssey, not far from our Sky’s the Limit Challenge photo site. This is Mashpaug Pond in Bigelow Hollow State Park.
Juvenile Eastern (Red-Spotted) Newt
(Notophthalmus viridescens)
There were lots and lots of these little guys all through this hike. We seriously had to watch where we were stepping to avoid squishing them!
Danger!
Some nice stairs in the Yale Forest. Most of this hike was through the Yale Forest.
Red trillium (Trillium erectum)
We came across a very large, nay, spectacular patch of these trillium flowers.
A small section
I have never seen such an abundance of these gorgeous wildflowers. This is only a small section of the very large patch.
Massive Reishi Fungus
I have also never seen such a HUGE Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) fungus. We were, at the time, passing through a very large old hemlock forest, and old (last year’s) reishi were everywhere, but this one was at least 12″ across.
Thanks, Tom
Nice bridge by Tom.
Mileage Sign
By the time we came across this 2-mile sign, we had already hiked 8 miles, and this was NOT easy hiking. Many hills and rocky sections seriously exhausted both of us. I was totally into NO NO NO territory every time the terrain started back uphill, and was wondering if it would be a bad thing to call 911 because I was TIRED! SO TIRED! (Turns out it’s a very bad thing to do). But we soldiered on and finished the hike.
You can find out more about the Nipmuck Trail from the CT Forest and Park Assocation’s website, ctwoodlands.org. And as always, click on the above image for details of the hike and to download the GPS track.
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