Hartland - Falls Brook Trail

Date Hiked:  Thursday, July 12, 2012
Number in Group:  5
Estimated distance round-trip: < 2 miles
Weather:  Sunny and warm, 91°F
Resources:  Connecticut Walk Book: West put out by CT Forest & Park Association
Highlights of the trip: Stream with falls

We had a small group on a day that was a little more humid than I was expecting.  We headed down into the woods with the kids in the lead.  (The kids are now timing us to see how long it takes us to catch up with them.  Hey, if that makes the trip more interesting for them and gives them a little something to bond over, then that's okay with me!  To my son I'll say, Just remember who is carrying the water.)

From the map in the Walk Book, we could see that this was a loop trail, but I must admit we had some trouble with that.

Heading in.  Blue blazes clearly marked.

Pretty little stream.

Ferns, and I am not sure what the plant with the long, thin leaves is.

We kept following the trail down and along the stream until we came to the falls view point and this kind of funny sign.  Funny to me because it had an unofficial look to it.  Verboten Trail?  Really?

Is it:

Closed. No.        Anything Allowed. 

Or is it:

Closed.  No Anything Allowed.

I suspect it is the latter.

Alles erlaubt.  Nein!

Where the blue trail circles back at the top of the falls, it is supposed to connect to a white trail that leads to a better view of the falls down below.  The sign was telling us not to go there, I presume because of damage left from the October snowstorm.  I will admit I went a few steps down the trail just to see.  I also looked for white blazes without success.

Sure enough, trees across the trail.

So we went to the falls view point.  There was not much water flowing, but the moss covered rocks were pretty. 

Looking down over the falls to a pool below.

Moss covered rocks at the top of the falls.

So, we never made it to the bottom of the falls.  We also missed the return on the loop.  The funny sign seemed to indicate a crossing, and I think there may have been another sign that said something about a crossing without a bridge, but we got sidetracked.  We started back on a different blue trail, but very shortly came back to the trail we had been on on the way in.  My guess is that we were supposed to cross the stream, but we somehow missed that.

As we headed back towards the car, we saw where the loop came back in and a small bridge over the stream.  We had completely missed seeing this on the way in.

Small bridge near where the loop rejoins the trail in.

In the final stretch back to the car, we ran into some other people and I asked them if they knew where you were supposed to cross the stream to do the loop.  Apparently, they had done it only once before and had had the same problem.  Today, they were going to reverse direction and see if that made it easier to figure out where to cross.  Those had been my thoughts, too.  Next time, maybe in the fall when there aren't so many mosquitoes, I'll come back and try the loop in the other direction.

On the way home, we stopped at the overlook for the Barkhamsted Reservoir.  A nice view, but I bet it is really stunning in the fall.