Bigalow
Hollow State Park, in Connecticut, part of Nipmuck State Forest, is a great place for easy to
moderate hiking.
Many short loops can be
walked. For a more moderate and long hike, you could choose the Ridge Trail. From this trail, you can make a 6 mile or more loop back to the parking areas.
Ridge Trail offers easy walking and then
moderately steep inclines and descents along approximately 3 miles of ridge.
The Ridge Trail had some challenge to it with quad activating hill climbs. The scenery was diverse with rocky ridges, hard packed trails, shirt muddy stream crossing, dead wood marshes, long grassy hilltops and clear ponds.
We spotted a Blue Heron or two
taking off from the marsh. The birds were active and we saw many toads on the trail.
Some locations along Breakneck Pond gave picturesque views of much of the length of the pond.
The park is located in Union,
Connecticut in northeast corner near the Massachusetts boarder.
The horse flies and mosquitos were ever present. They found us and seemed to stay for the entire 6
miles. You may want to bring whatever preventative measures work for
you. My chosen method was to use the end of pine branch for waving,
swatting and disrupting the flies and mosquitos. I managed to walk the
entire route with less than half dozen bites, although the harassment by them
was nearly constant.
Bigalow
Hollow State Park is over 9,000 acres and offers 3 large bodies of water
- Bigelow Pond, Mashapaug Pond and Breakneck Pond. Swimming and
boating are allowed at Bigelow Pond and Mashapuag Pond. You can get away
from the crowds by hiking and walking around Breakneck Pond.
We found a party atmosphere at the picnic and swimming area at Mashapaug Pond a short walk north of the boat launch. This was a very hot July day.
The website for the Bigelow Hollow
State Park is below.
https://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2716&q=325174&deepNav_GID=1650
The map for the Bigelow Hollow
State Park is in the link below.
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