March 15th 2014 Hike to Lion's Head on the AT in Connecticut

First Hike up to the AT, This is late March in Connecticut!  We decided to get an early start and went up to the Lion's head.  Instead of using the Short cut, we did the full AT from Route 41.

Trail head sign at Route 41

At the start of the trail

Playing at the stream

Our trip was a spring hiking, but the entire trail was covered with snow this late in the year.

Getting a bit higher up

View from Lions head summit

Summit view @ Lion's Head

Selfie @ Lions head


When we were on the summit, we encountered "snail"  (our word for a combination of snow and hail),

Returning through the hemlocks

A job for you!

In Reverence, by David Tolk

Thougth that this might be a nice piece of music / video

Today, we climbed Bear Mountain in Connecticut.  It is not the highest point in Connecticut (that is on a shoulder of Mount Frissell in Massachussets), but it is the highest mountain peak.  We did this as a shake down hike to next week's climb of Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire.

The trail head:

A dedication along the way:

Reflections on a mountain pool

Mountain pond south of the summit

On the trail

A stone wall

Today, we hit two locals during a play date.  Here is Paul at New Preston falls with a friend.

Friend with the falls in the background

Paul with friend and falls behind

Cheesy self 

 Off to Maricosta preserve for our second cache

The corn field before the grass comes up

 Friend across the fields of gold

Paul with Friend crossing the field

White's Wood Monday Jaunt

Paul really wanted to go out again today, so we did a quick after dinner jaunt out to white memorial and found "you've got mail:" .  This was one of the most interesting geocaches that we found - a great late evening trip!  Amazing and highly recommended.

A nice Easter day jaunt.

Today, we celebrated Easter.  Began our day at 6:30 with Sunrise Service at the Stone Church on New Preston Hill.  It was cold, but not as bad as in previous years.  Anne Marie Davenport gave a great sermon and lots of folks from all three churches attended.

Afterwards there was the early morning nap with a quick egg hunt and then off to the main service at 10:00.  Paul accompanied me and we brought empty plastic eggs for an impromptu hunt after church.  John delivered a fine message about "the end" (vs. the beginning).  Was a bit sad not to sing with the choir, but was invited to do the last minute thing if needed in the future.

After a  nice Easter dinner, we went out geocaching.  Weather was a bit sketchy, but we made it out and had a good time.  We were able to  find the above all, but could not find the Steep Rock Pinnacle (we found the letterbox, but not the geocache).  Here is the proof:

Paul at the start of the trail (still some snow up in Warren!)

The Radar installation at Above all

The Above All geocache

 Bench mark at Above All

The steep rock pinnacle

Great Day Geocaching with Paul.  We went to Paugussett State forest in Newtown (0ff Hanover Road).  This was a good time of year to go as the lake was very quiet.  Found two of Al's trail geocaches on the way.

Paul Opens the first Cache found

A view of Lake Lillinona through the trees

Fire ring with benches near the lake

 Home of one of the caches

Lake Lillinonah

Looking up is the key!

 This was a great way to start the Spring.  It was especially nice to do this hike before the lake gets busier.  We only saw one other group hiking and only one group on the water.  Otherwise we had the place to ourselves!