I'm taking a break from city photography posts for today. In late October Grandpa, several grand kids, and I piled into the van and headed for the hills of Eastern Central Connecticut. One of my coworkers had described hiking on the Salmon River Trail in Colchester, CT and I was curious to see it. My kids love to hike our local nature trails and they really enjoyed this longer hike with it's steeper hills and scenic views.
The trail starts at the Comstock Covered Bridge, one of only a handful of historic covered bridges remaining in Connecticut, which is currently closed for renovation. For a short distance the trail follows closely along side the broad and shallow Salmon river which appears to be perfectly suited for fly fishing. Then the trail gains altitude until it eventually crests the edge of the river gorge, offering panoramic views of the colorful forested hills and rapids in the bend of the river, now far below. We could hear ATVs in the hills across the river, and smoke from a camp fire rose in stark white contrast against the darker woods.
We hiked a couple of miles and only turned around when it became apparent that we were going to be hiking back in the dark. We watched the sun dip over the horizon from the overlook. The ATVs had by then gone silent but the boisterous and festive voices of the riders carried clearly in the crisp evening air. The flash of fireworks created distant silhouettes on the smoke that still hung over and through the trees next to the river. We resumed hiking through the descending darkness, arriving back at the van just as the last remnants of light faded from the sky.
We'll have to come back next season to hike clear through to Day Pond State Park.
The trail starts at the Comstock Covered Bridge, one of only a handful of historic covered bridges remaining in Connecticut, which is currently closed for renovation. For a short distance the trail follows closely along side the broad and shallow Salmon river which appears to be perfectly suited for fly fishing. Then the trail gains altitude until it eventually crests the edge of the river gorge, offering panoramic views of the colorful forested hills and rapids in the bend of the river, now far below. We could hear ATVs in the hills across the river, and smoke from a camp fire rose in stark white contrast against the darker woods.
We hiked a couple of miles and only turned around when it became apparent that we were going to be hiking back in the dark. We watched the sun dip over the horizon from the overlook. The ATVs had by then gone silent but the boisterous and festive voices of the riders carried clearly in the crisp evening air. The flash of fireworks created distant silhouettes on the smoke that still hung over and through the trees next to the river. We resumed hiking through the descending darkness, arriving back at the van just as the last remnants of light faded from the sky.
We'll have to come back next season to hike clear through to Day Pond State Park.
Salmon River, Colchester, CT
Mushroom City
Rapids
Kids in a row
Light on the trail ahead
Sepia Sunset
This hiker loved being on the trail
Grandpa and his troop of hikers
This was about the last light I could capture with the camera
