Headed into the Litchfield Hills of northwest Connecticut this afternoon to try to catch some lingering fall foliage at beautiful Macedonia Brook State Park, located just over the state line from NY. I parked in a small pull off along Macedonia Brook Road(Elevation 640 feet), with the sounds of rushing water greeting me as I stepped out of the car. 50 degrees and no mosquitoes-how I love November hiking.
From the car, I immediately headed west into the woods on a well marked trail, crossing a small tributary stream on a foot bridge, ascending up past stone walls.
After a few minutes of climbing steadily west, the ridge trail turns right, north, soon coming to a very scenic south facing vista.
To the east, the view takes in the nearby hills and ridge lines, with the last of the fall colors holding on.
After the nice vista, the trail continues north on the ridge, rolling along with barely noticeable ups and downs.
After losing a bit of elevation, there is one last push up towards the summit, which opens up quite nicely.
Just below the summit, a nice view back to the south opens up. This view is similar to the earlier view, but from a couple hundred feet higher up.
The 1365 foot summit of Cobble Mountain is wooded, but good views are only a few yards away. To the SW, a passing shower obscured a fine view towards the nearby ridge just across the state line.
A few steps past the first view spot, an open area of rock provides an even broader west facing view into rural Dutchess County in NY. The Catskills are even visible on the very distant horizon.
After enjoying the nice views atop Cobble Mountain, I continued north/ northeast on the trail, dropping down steeply to a green marked trail, which was going to be my descent route. Before dropping all the way down though, I continued north for just over another 1/10 of a mile, steeply climbing up to one more viewpoint. To the south/ southwest, the view takes in the hills that make up the state park, with the cut of Macedonia Brook in between.
East views, with dark clouds quickly moving back in once again.
From the last viewpoint, I turned back, retracing my steps, steeply descending to the green trail and then back down to an old road, which heads south along the brook.
Utilized a pair of park roads to form a loop hike back to the car, stopping by to soak in some pretty nice views of Macedonia Brook along the way.
A beautiful area to be sure. I'm assuming this park draws lots of folks in the summer, but it was a ghost town today.
Got back to the car with daylight fleeting, reminding me that the days are quickly growing much shorter-and that process will be hastened with the upcoming end to daylight savings time. Oh well, at least I didn't have any ticks on me today! Oh yeah-and oddly enough had the woods to myself all day as well. 3.9 miles RT with just under 1000 feet of combined ascent.
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