Barkhamsted - American Legion State Forest

Date Hiked:  Thursday, May 31, 2012
Number in Group:  8
Estimated distance round-trip:  Henry Buck Trail - 2 miles, Turkey Vulture Ledge Trail - 0.8 miles
Weather:  Sunny, 81°F
Website:  American Legion State Forest
Highlights of the trip: View to Ski Sundown, flowers, West Branch of Farmington River

After a couple of days of yucky, humid weather, we were treated to a day that was perfect for hiking.  Parking on the side of West River Road just past Legion Road, we headed into the woods on the Henry Buck Trail.

The first part of the trail is a relatively easy walk through a hardwood forest.  There were lots of ferns and wildflowers on the forest floor.  While we unfortunately seemed to be a week or two too late for the trillium, we did see some other wildflowers that I had never seen before.

Using the Connecticut Botanical Society's website, I think I have identified the following plant as Virginia Waterleaf.  It is considered rare in CT.  Makes me wish I had taken a better picture.

Virginia Waterleaf

The trail then becomes much more rugged, and steeply sloped.  If it were wet, I would think the footing could be tricky.

Ferns are cool.

So are mushrooms.

A little way up the trail, we came to the remains of an old cheese box factory.  Here is a description from the DEP Letterboxing website:

The trail turns sharply up hill following a streambed. Notice many steps in the trail that were created when the C’s did the construction.  After about ¾ of a mile, the trail somewhat levels out and you will notice an old “cellar hole” and a large stonewall just behind it.  This is not a cellar hole!  It is the remnants of the old cheese box factory that operated in the early 1800’s.  They made wooden boxes to store and ship locally-produced cheese.

The stonewall is actually part of the foundation and the factory extended out over the ‘cellar hole’!   Water was directed into what looks like a stairway into the cellar hole via a sluiceway.  The water turned a paddle in this ‘cellar hole’ that was connected to a gearbox that, in turn, provided power up to the factory! The wooden sluiceway must have been in the area where the trail proceeds to an old, washed out earthen dam. The small reservoir that was created by this dam provided the water necessary to power the cheese box factory.

"Cellar hole" now has a birch tree lying across it.

"CG" couldn't join us this time, but it appears she left her mark!

The Mountain laurel were in bloom.

One of the things we were supposed to see as we walked along the "Tremendous Cliffs" was a plaque honoring Henry Buck, the person for whom the trail is named.  Perhaps I was distracted by the youngest member of our group, who was thinking of the "cliffs of insanity" when she started quoting Inigo Montoya.  "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."  Or, more likely, I was spending too much time with my eyes on the ground, so that I didn't end up on the ground, and I missed things.   Like the plaque.  Anyway, we eventually came to an overlook with a nice view of the valley over to Ski Sundown in New Hartford.

Ski Sundown in the distance.

We continued our hike back down toward the road, passing quite a few glacial erratics and this rather odd looking tree trunk.

When we got back to the road, we crossed over to the other side and walked along the West Branch of the Farmington River.  The views were spectacular.

Looking south.

Fisherman.

Mama duck and Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack,...

Remnants of an old bridge.

We got back to our cars and headed up Legion Road to the trail head for Turkey Vulture Ledges.  Legion Road is a dirt/gravel road, but was in pretty good shape.  The sign for the trail head was down, but there is a fairly obvious pull off and the blue blazes are easy to see from the road.  A quick 0.4 of a mile and we were at the ledges, again looking over toward Ski Sundown.

I really enjoyed these two hikes.  While there were some more strenuous areas, they were interspersed with flatter areas that allowed us middle-aged folks to catch our breath.  I'd like to come back next spring and get a look at more of the wildflowers on the Henry Buck Trail.  Across the river is People's State Forest which has a much larger trail system and is on our agenda for future hikes.

If you would like to read more about these trails, you can look at the website for American Legion and People's State Forests.  There is a good trail map online.  I also recommend reading Steve Wood's humorous and informative account of his hike at his website Connecticut Museum Quest.  (That's how I knew about the cheese box factory and the plaque that I missed).  Jim Colleran has a nice summary of his hike on his blog A Walk Across the Giant.