Posted By auntie on July 11, 2016

3.4 miles; Redding, CT

Our last stop on our odyssey out to the far western reaches of Connecticut took us to the Collis P. Huntington State Park. This leaves us with only 4 more hikes to go to complete the Sky’s the Limit Challenge. I am so psyched!

This isn’t a long trail, as you can see from the mileage above. Or at least, the version of it we did wasn’t that long—if you check out the park map, you could definitely do a lot more mileage. But we were a little beat, as we had hiked the Henry Buck Trail earlier that day.

Wolf Statue

The first thing you see when you enter this park are two stunning statues, one of bears and this one, of wolves. They were sculpted by one of the last private owners of this land, Anna Hyatt Huntington. You can find out more about Mrs. Huntington on the park website. I won’t retype the CT DEEP information on this park—please take a few minutes and go visit. It’s got a fascinating history. Go ahead; I’ll wait.

Weirdly Split Rock

Hi again, glad you’re back. Pretty cool, huh?

The park had some other interesting sights, as well. This particular split rock was marked on the map as a “Geologic Feature.” Um, yeah… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rock that split so cleanly. And to add to the weirdness, this wasn’t the only one, just the biggest one. There were 3 or 4 other rocks near here that looked just like that, with that clean, flat surface. I’d love for some geologist to weigh in on what could have caused it.

Selfie Spot Guarded

When we got to the designated selfie spot on this hike, we decided that close enough was, um, close enough. These geese we so not moving. And they are pretty darned big birds when you get that close, and they start doing a kind of bobbing thing with their heads and giving you the stink-eye. Yeah, we took our pics a little bit further away…

Pretty Pond View

If you really did go read the website, you’ll know that there are five man-made ponds on this property. This is the East Lagoon. I’m not sure if this is the one with the sunken paddlewheel. “Paddlewheel?” you’re thinking. Ha! You didn’t go read the website, did you? Dude, go read the website.

Lighthouse

And here is the little lighthouse. You know what I’m talking about. Since you read the website and all.

So that was our third hike in two days, and we were pretty beat at the end. It was hot, too. Not oppressively, but still. We decided that since there are still 2 more hikes out here on Connecticut’s western frontier, we’d plan another overnight trip for early this fall to finish off the Challenge. In the meantime, there are still two more to do on our end of the state. Stay tuned!

Categories: CFPA Trails, Connecticut, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 2–5 miles, CT, Redding CT