National Take a Hike Day!

Today is National Take a Hike Day and I was inspired by Cotopaxi, to join in by sharing one of my recent hikes. Cotopaxi is a company that creates innovative outdoor products and experiences that fund sustainable poverty relief, move people to do good, and inspire adventure. One of their products that helps to provide the most funding for poverty relief is their Adventure Backpacks.

This weekend we spent two days exploring Tillinghast Pond Management Area. The area is also open to hunting in certain sections, so be sure to read the guidelines for proper clothing in hunting areas. It is a wonderful place for hikers of all abilities and with four different trail systems, you can go for a shorter hike around the pond, or explore all of the trails for a 10 mile day hike.

It is not only a wonderful place for hikers, but for those who love historical sites. The road to the main parking area can be found by taking a right at the West Greenwich Church, founded in 1750.

Our first day was on the shorter trail around the pond. There is ample parking and a bathroom at the main parking area, which also gives access to all of the trails in the area.

The view from the lot affords views of the pond and a boat launch for those of you who love to paddle.

The pond offered several viewpoints and it is also great for the pups, who love to play in the water. Another bonus to hiking at Tillinghast, the trails are dog friendly.

The deck offers views and a place to fish. This area is well stocked, as well.

Looking back at the deck, fall is a wonderful time to enjoy a hike at the pond, color abounds.

One of the largest glacial rocks in the area.

The conservancy has done a wonderful job on the trail system, the paths are clearly marked and maps at the junctions.

An area with a grassy section and table for those who want to enjoy a family picnic at the pond. The views are stunning at every area.

The path ends along a stone wall, which are scattered around the area, as well as fields, which are leased to the local farmers. The conservancy has offered a beautiful place to hike, along with sustainable conservation of the land. 

So, what does Take a Hike Day mean to you? Even if you do not have a major hiking area you can spend the day or even an hour, exploring trails in your area. Hiking lowers your blood pressure and your stress levels, a great way to stay healthy and enjoy the beauty of nature.

Since we saw so many beautiful sites along both trails, I will be doing part two tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed hiking with us and I would love to hear about your favorite hikes.

Mount Misery!

We had quite the weekend with Bill having three days off. Two days we went to the same place and did two different trails. I will be posting about those hikes on Thursday as part of National take a hike day.

Sunday I knew I should rest, but I am a glutton for punishment and we went to Mount Misery. It is over the border in Connecticut, so a nice little drive and as we found out, a beautiful place to hike. A lot of the names in Connecticut have strange names, another place close by is called Hell Hollow. Why these names? Because the farmers found out that the land was no good for farming and left the land for more fertile areas. They were very superstitious in those days, so a lot of ill fortune was blamed on the devil.

The park has a wonderful picnic area with lots of parking. The trail starts on an old dirt road and then into the woods and up hills, then a ridge and then a steeper climb, so I got another good workout.

It was well worth it for the views from the top. It was hard to take photos to show how beautiful it was since the trees blocked the views and we could see them, but interferes with camera shots. The nice thing was, I took a different trail down, less steep and it led to another dirt road so easier hiking and plenty of room for Bean to run back and forth.

One thing we found out was, there is a campground there. Most campgrounds in Connecticut do not allow dogs but the national park does. There are only 22 sites but they are large and mostly private, we will definitely have to camp here and there is a private camp right down the road, so we can camp there and ride our bikes in the park.

This site is big enough for a family gathering.

On the way home we stopped at the pond that crosses into both states. There is a short hike and climb and I was hoping to get a view of the foliage from the cliff. Unfortunately it wasn't high enough, but still a nice hike and views.

We got home and Bill ran out to get dinner supplies and then we headed to the dog beach to get views of the moon. I picked the wrong place, the moon rose over the ferry, but it was still amazing to watch it come up.

I did find that it was a nice place to watch the sunset, so as the sun went down, the moon was coming up.

And to top off the day, we had the kids over for dinner. Of course Nick was full of energy and Alex finally warmed up to me and started smiling. It was nice being able to hold him without getting screamed at. A wonderful day but very tiring so today was spent sitting in my chair. I did get another needle felt stocking kit and plan on giving them to the kids.

Friday Foibles!

This week I was scanning in slides that my sister had given me. It is fun to see the old photos but sad that most are blurry or washed out. I found one of an old car and my brother gave me the story behind it and his memories. So, I thought, why not do a pillow of the car and send it to him and the others for Christmas.

Well, the idea was good but the execution did not work out as planned, so back to the drawing board. I wanted to fit it on a pillow so I changed the size to make it taller and not as long, but that changed the look of the car, it is supposed to be a station wagon, now it looks like a clown car. I also think the windows need to be indented instead of standing out, and the colors get lost on the tan velvet.

Here is what I ended up with, I will fix it up, I think some thin black or silver piping under the window areas might be a good fix and I can always outline if needed. So, now the plan has changed, I will do it in a punch needle piece and add to it to make it nicer. I think it will be a fun Christmas pattern and I know a lot of you have memories of the old woodie style station wagons from your childhood.

Bill had the day off today, and I have the flu, but I had big plans to go on a new hike today. We went to a pond sanctuary and did the smaller hike which was wonderful, and when I got a little tired, we rested a bit. I will delay showing photos since I have been asked to participate in a national hike day posting, so once I get more details, I will write it up for next week.

We did take some new back roads and found a wonderful old cemetery. I got some photos of some of the stones and ideas for new patterns, as well as the meeting house on the hill. Here is a peak at the cemetery we visited. I also found another but I was getting tired, so I can go back another day. It was a larger one and it looked like it had some wonderful old stones.

I had hopes for some more small hikes, but the drive was enough and I wanted to stop at a pond I had seen last time. It was smaller and the drought had dried it up, but still a beautiful place. The fun thing was, I noticed a side road and we drove down and found a campground and hiking area. I will definitely be coming back, the hike is another climb, but a short one to some cliffs, and there is still some color to enjoy, so hopefully we can get back this weekend. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with adventure and joy.

Weekend Wanderings: Part Two

On Sunday we went to Connecticut again and this time we went to Lantern Hill for a hike up to the cliffs. It was almost straight up, most of the way, but a shorter hike, so well worth the climb. On the way, we took a new route, back roads are fun to explore and it was a beautiful drive along the way.

This farm had a backdrop of foliage.

The trail we hiked is on the grounds of the Pequot reservation but the trail is open to the public. On the first vista we had views of Foxwoods, it has a casino and hotel, as well as a shopping outlet. You can see how high we are, compared to the hotel, and a spectacular view of the area and foliage.

There are vistas, all along the trail to the top. Here I am getting a shot, while Bill takes one of me. 

At the top the views are spectacular, you can see the old quarry, the ponds and all the way to the atlantic ocean. 

On the other side, are views of unending trees, the landscape is a mix of full foliage and old growth, so no foliage on those trees. Bill was taking photos of me again. It was quite the climb for my legs and going down seemed harder since the paths were covered with leaves. We also got a few rain bursts, but it was all worth it for these views.

On the way back we stopped at a park called the Ledyard Up-Down Sawmill. There were a group of church goers on a picnic so it was hard to get shots without a lot of people, but this is the building for the sawmill and I found out that they do tours where you can watch them cut wood using water power. If you click on the link, you can read about it. This is a fun place to come back to when they are operating the mills. 

And if I didn't do enough over the weekend, we hiked 3 miles around the pond on Monday and yesterday we hiked along another old mill site. It is just too nice out, not to enjoy walking while we can, but i think my body has had enough, it let me know today, so resting up until this weekend. This is a waterwheel alongside a home at the end of the trail. 

Weekend Wanderings!

Another two days of adventures so I will put day one up today and Sunday will be on Wednesday. A few weeks ago we went to the castle with Nick and he is too young to do much hiking, so we decided to go back and enjoy the day, just at the castle.

We always start out with the castle, the views are spectacular from the balcony area and I was looking forward to seeing the foliage from that viewpoint.

Bill enjoying the views, Bean is people watching as usual. The hills were alive with color, harder to see with the distance but I think I could live here, just love the views and the river.

As we headed to the paths, we went through the picnic area where you can see the cats on the top, the owner loved cats. If you would like to learn more about William Gillette, click on his name for some fun information about his life.

From there we headed down the path which used to be the old railroad trail. The owner built a small scale rail that ran through the property and he took his guests on rides. Covered bridges and train stop platforms, are along the path.

We followed one trail that led to a dead end. I guess the years took their toll on this cliffside, so we had to turn around.

Coming across the road bought us to the other side of the rail trail, some areas are closed, and I don't think I would trust walking across this bridge.

The trail led to the tunnel, it goes under the hill, the owner's guests must have loved staying with him.

It is pitch black inside the tunnel, but my camera has night vision, but spooky, none the less.

We passed by the pond, the drought has really effected the ponds here, but still beautiful with the fall foliage.

Crossing over the bridge by another pond, the grounds are so beautiful.

We decided to head back and enjoy another look at the river and Bill and Bean were having fun exploring the castle alcoves.

As we headed down to the cars, Bean got the attention of a group of sisters. He loves all the attention and I think half the time was spent stopping, to let people pet him. It took 10 minutes for the father to notice his girls were talking to an old guy with a dog, lol. I will never understand parents who spend more time on the phones than enjoying the time with their kids, every moment is precious.

It was a wonderful day and wonderful to spend more time exploring the castle grounds. We headed home and stopped in Norwalk by the river to enjoy the views for a rest break. There were a few families and the kids were feeding the birds, so there were hundreds of birds flying about and swimming around the docks. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and some adventures of your own.

Friday Finish!

A new month means a new design from Kathy Schmitz's, One Stitch at a Time club.  Be sure to click on the link, she also has a free pattern this week. I decided to make two smaller pillows to decorate for fall. I like to keep some halloween things out that work for fall, but it is nice to have something less Halloweeny for the rest of fall.

I used tea stained muslin and one piece had a nice streak in it, then I added a bit of walnut to tone down the brightness of the other fabric. For the back I used an orange colored fabric with a fall print, including acorns. I may see if I can find some acorn buttons to add to the corners.

 I am enjoying the nicer weather. Yesterday we went for a walk on the bike path, we start in the middle, which is a nicer section with views of the cove. The trees are turning here, always wonderful to walk along paths in the fall.

And since we got an earlier start, we were able to walk to the end and along the beach. No people around so we could let Bean off leash and let him play on the beach. The sun was in and out and the bay was covered in fog, but so peaceful. I love walking off season, hopefully we can do more hikes this weekend and catch the end of the foliage season.

I wanted to take a photo of the pilings, and was thinking, it would be better if there was a seagull at the end. And just as I walked up to shoot, a seagull came, he made my day;) I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Weekend Wanderings: Part two

On Sunday we went for another Drive in Connecticut and into Massachusetts. There are so many scenic roads and old towns, you never tire of exploring. This time we went on a familiar route to revisit some places we had been to before. I was hoping to catch the foliage before it was gone, but most areas in the upper areas, was already fading away.

We started with a stop at a North Grosvenordale Pond to enjoy the views and go for a walk. The foliage was turning nicely here and watching the kayakers, makes me want to come back next year to paddle on the pond, which continues on into rivers.

We walked along the pathway and enjoyed a good hike, views of a hidden pond and found this old fireplace from a home, long forgotten.

Our destination was Southbridge, a town just below Sturbridge Village. The town was fun to explore and we enjoyed views of the dams and waterfalls around the old mills.

You can't help but see Spires from all the old churches in the area. You can't walk a block without running into one. I wish we could have gone in this Catholic church, I can imagine how beautiful it is inside.

This one was across the street, as well as a Dunkin Donuts and we were due for a coffee refill. So while Bill was getting coffee I was able to get a shot of this church. Just love the architecture of the old churches.

And while I was waiting I spotted a fun house across the street. Talk about bright colors and the birds seemed to enjoy making it their home.

As we headed down the road, I spotted this church. It was massive and this is just the front, and it had signs for no trespassing, so I couldn't walk around to the back.

Our final destination was the graveyard. I had gotten some beautiful shots last year with the foliage and I wanted to try it with my new camera. Unfortunately, the foliage had faded but it was fun walking around and looking at the gravestones.

On the way home I had planned a different route but we took so long in town, that it started to rain on the way back, so that was the end of our exploring. It was getting late and we were getting tired and hungry;)

Yesterday I went to our old town, Wickford, to take photos of the church. There was a little color, but we have not gotten full foliage here and it is spotty, so not sure if we will get a full array before it is gone. No matter what, the church grounds are always beautiful and peaceful.

Today I tried my video on the camera. Bean likes to do flips and funny things when I throw the balls, but of course he would not cooperate and it is hard to throw well, while holding a camera. I put them in the computer to view them and guess who decided to hop up and watch them, lol. Izzy heard the birds in the background, she still doesn't get that they are not in the computer. I hope you enjoyed my photos and maybe you can explore your own areas, and always fun to get lost in the backroads of america.