If you live in a big city, ever wonder where your water supply comes from?…read more Well, if you happen to live in the Hartford, CT metroplex, your water comes from the Saville Dam and the Barkhamsted Reservoir. We first saw this gorgeous area when we were driving home from a college run up to Troy, NY and took the back roads home. Suddenly, we were in the middle of jaw dropping beauty, with spectacular water views everywhere. We returned today on an unexpectedly wonderful 70-degree sunny Saturday in November. There were lots of families strolling around enjoying the pretty views. There are a few parking lots sprinkled along Route 318 and you can stroll on the grass to follow the waterline. Be careful, because we saw some depressions and protrusions along the way that might twist an ankle if you aren't careful. There were lots of photographers out today, and I smiled when I saw a young lady posing in her purple cap and gown for a graduation picture. The grounds were impeccably well maintained, and the people we interacted with (masked and socially distanced) were all pleasant. Dogs were all leashed and diligently cleaned up after. It was an outstanding visit with great weather, beautiful Fall foliage and scenery, and nice people.

5 stars for the magnificent beauty. I had to deduct a star because the paved trail was closed. It…read morelooks like an awesome trail but I think it's closed due to hazardous water conditions based on the sign. There are three parking lots total. However, there are no sidewalks across the dam. You can walk on the grassy part of the dam, it is high and there are no railings; you can either fall into the street or down the dam face, which would probably hurt a little lol. If you bring small children, hold onto their hands. So many people are there on a nice day to gaze at the wonderful views of the reservoir and hills. Now please open up the trails, it would be an awesome place to take a walk in nature.

Beautiful place! Trails are amazing. If you pay to go inside the money goes to support wildlife. We…read morehad an excellent afternoon hiking and playing in the brook.

We went on a Monday but the nature center was closed. This was fine because I wanted to walk on the…read morered trail (Werner Pond Trail); this trail is half a mile long and it's flat. The walk was very easy with some roots and rocks. There were views of the brook which was peaceful and the sound of flowing water was lovely. There were information cards everywhere detailing which wildlife lived in these woods. There were a couple of small bridges; one was on concrete and fenced in. We also walked over to the butterfly garden. They did a great job with maintaining this land. I can't wait to go back to check out the nature center and the other trails. Since it's early spring, there were no vegetation; I'm sure in the summer this place gets super lush greenery. They also offer many programs and activities; The Children's Museum in West Hartford is also affiliated with them.

If you're looking for an easy paved trail, this is the one. The trail is wide and goes around the…read morereservoir. Many joggers, walkers, dog walkers, and people pushing strollers. Dogs on a leash are allowed, it's wheelchair accessible, and kid friendly. If you bring your dog, signs says to pick up after them. The Nepaug dam has a beautiful waterfall with serene sounds. It was built between 1914 to 1916 and created the 951 acre reservoir about 35 feet deep. There is a parking lot; on nice weekend days, it does get full. Overall, it's one of my favorite trails because I can take a stroller/wagon to lug my babies. Also, the view is amazing!

One of the good things that happened to us from the Pandemic was it got us out of the house on…read moreweekends to visit so many of the parks and hiking trails in our area we had never visited before. We must have hit 30 different venues in 2020, and we started 2021 by visiting another new place that turned out to be a terrific find. The Nepaug Reservoir Trail is a mile long and is wide, paved, flat and about as easy to walk on as any trail we have visited. We parked at the main parking lot on Route 202, walked through a chain link gate, and found the start of the trail to begin our scenic walk around the reservoir and across the historic 100-year old Nepaug Dam. The 600-foot long dam has a concrete spillway in its center. The spillway is over 100 feet tall and is quite spectacular. The trail around the dam has a few cutouts that serve as observation platforms to take you out over the top of the dam. You will love the view ! We saw quite a variety of folks out there today -young families with strollers, couples of every age, joggers, lots of leashed dogs, and even a few hoverboard operators. What a great way to kick off the New Year.

This is a .5 mile trail and if you make it a loop, it will total to 1 mile; it's on yellow and red…read moreblazed trails. This short trail connects to the longer West Mountain Trails. The parking lot was spacious and it could fit a few vehicles. There was a kiosk and right next to that, a trail that forks; one is yellow and goes down the stairs and the other is red. We took the yellow trail which brings us down some rock stairs, and it was flat and easy after that. The trail was blazed nicely and it had some roots but it wasn't too bad. We got to the wooden bridge that goes over Hop Brook; there was an old stone wall and remnants of a dam. There is another other set of stairs and a picnic area if you do the loop back to the parking lot. Overall, it is definitely one of my favorite short trails. I look forward to going back and hiking this short trail again; as well as the West Mountain Trails, which is connected to this.

This was one of the best hiking experiences we've had…read more The scenery is absolutely beautiful, you are deep in the woods and the quiet solitude and gorgeous views are quite a combination to behold. The trail is a one-mile loop so its not very challenging at all. There is a moderate incline on the way back to the parking lot, regardless of how you start the loop, and you do have to be pretty careful on the stone staircases, and you have to be quite vigilant and look out for stones and roots on the path. But the path is very well marked and for the most part level and easy to navigate. There's a stream, a picnic table or two, a one-person-at-a-time wooden bridge, an old and very cool stone wall, but mostly there is beautiful forestry and serenity all around. This was one of my favorite hikes to date.

This Bog trail is part of the Simsbury Land Trust. It's located on North Saddle Ridge Road in…read moreSimsbury, CT and parking can be found on street. There are two stone pillars and a sign, it can be easily missed if you drive too fast. The trail is 1 mile out and back; one of the shortest and easiest hikes I've done in a while. At first, the walk is in between two houses, continue to walk on the flat and wide esker (glacial stone), you will notice the bog on both sides, which is down the hill. At the end of the trail, on the right side, there is a steep hill going down towards the 150 ft boardwalk made of wood. We went in November, so the leaves were plentiful and slippery. There are educational signs on the boardwalk. The bog is 40 acres and is usually found in England and Canada. The bog water is acidic so there are only certain species of plants and animals that can live there; from the sphagnum moss to Gartner snakes, to name a couple, those species are highly adaptable in that environment. Other animals just passes through for food and shelter. It was a peaceful and relaxing walk, and there were views of West Mountain. I saw some dragonflies, which is a natural habitat for them. If you're looking for a short and easy hike, I recommend it!

"Under the boardwalk, down by the sea" (The Drifters)…read more Mix equal parts of a hike in the forest, a bog, and a boardwalk, and you have one very cool trail to explore. The entrance to the trail was kind of hard to find. We knew from the Simsbury Land Trail book to be on the lookout for two stone pillars on North Saddle Ridge Drive, but even though we were looking for them, we missed them. Turns out the pillars are very small and set back from the road a bit. But we did find the entrance, and soon we found ourselves walking on a beautiful forest trail, under a canopy of tall green trees. The trail was wide, pretty flat for a while, and relatively free of obstacles except for some tree roots that you have to be careful to avoid. About 1,500 feet into the trail there's a right hand turn that leads to a very steep descent. Some well placed railroad ties acted as stairs to make the downhill trek easier to manage. Soon you will pop out of the forest and see a very cool sight- a long elevated boardwalk that will take you out into a 39-acre bog. You'll be thisclose to all sorts of vegetation on both sides and you'll also see a series of informational signs describing the plants and animals all around you. At the end of the boardwalk, there are three benches where you can relax and take in the beautiful views of the trees, the bog, and a pretty view of West Mountain. You enter this trail from a typical suburban residential street, and it just blows my mind that these gorgeous trails are all over Simsbury, pretty much hiding in plain sight.

A beautiful trail in Collinsville! The plant garden is along the trail which used to be a railroad…read moretrack. The objective was to create a native plant garden. This project is for pollinators and wildlife that is local to the area. Canton residents and organizations such as Cherry Brook Garden Club, etc. were the ones that made this happen. The goal is to remove invasive plants and put native plants in, such as shrubs, trees, and other pollinators. We were walking the Farmington River Trail and stumbled upon this pollen trail. The trail was clean and lovely. There is a small river down the hill with steps and trails in the woods. There were benches, garden beds, and an information sign; they even labeled all the plants that were planted. I think this is a great conservation area for a good cause. Also, a lovely spot to take a stroll!

Burlington Falls is a horse tail 15 ft drop waterfall in Burlington, CT. The trail is less than 0.1…read moremile one way; it's very short and sweet. You can see the waterfall from the street too. I am a fan of waterfalls, so I had to check it out. It is private property and you can't swim in it. It's just amazing to view, I gave it 4 stars because it's not the most grandest waterfall but still worth a visit.

Unfortunately ran into a hiking group (probably a meet up group) and tried to be friendly and sorta…read morejust join in. Very hard to make friends when new to CT. Was a rough group of folks that couldn't crack a sole if their life depended on it , it seemed. Thankfully the tail was extremely short, as one dude in particular that was very rude to me-even after I departed onto my own way. Even shouted at me-I guess to make the clique feel manly. Hopfully others can avoid this weekly (?) homing crowd as being called a see ya next Tuesday wasn't particularly welcoming having just moved here. Watch out for a guy I think named Jerome or Jeremy. Scary guy, weird hiking clique....never returning.

This trail used to be a rail trail back in the day. The trail is paved and easy to walk, bike, and…read moreskate on. It has gorgeous views of the Farmington River. I've walked the trail in the Collinsville area in the Autumn and it was amazing seeing the foliage. Before crossing the street, there is a crosswalk and button to alert traffic to stop; beware though, some people will just go through the yellow light while you're waiting to cross. There is a little free library and bench once you get across. Once you walk up further, there is a flower bridge; when in season, the flowers are beautiful. Overall, a great trail that connects to the larger Farmington Canal Heritage Trail that goes through multiple towns.

The Canton to Collinsville portion of the Farmington River Trail accounts for about 4 of its 18…read moremiles. The paved trail is level and flat and very easy to walk on. It was clean and free of debris and dog poop. There were quite a few bicyclists out today, so keep your ears open for "on your left" when they come up behind you. The trail hugs the Farmington River and winds through a park with picnic tables, benches, a gazebo, a flower bridge, and gives you some very pretty views of the river. We didn't see any geese or wild birds today, but we did see something odd. I noticed some kind of splashing or commotion in the water, and when I looked carefully, I saw it was a guy swimming in the river! I wonder if he was training for an Ironman or something?

Sweetheart Mountain Trails is on 63 acres and it used to be the Canton Ski Club. The ski club was…read morein operation from 1948 to 1975. There was a good sized parking area. The trailhead has an informational kiosk as well as an old ski lift. There are multiple trails totaling 2.5 miles at different difficulty levels. My family and I went on a balmy autumn day in October. The fall foliage was at peak season and the leaves were piled up on the trails. Since it was warm, there were some mosquitoes. We hiked the blue with white dot and a little bit of the blue trails. The trails were easy to navigate. The trails had quite a few ascends and descends. There were some stairs and remnants of the old ski club throughout (electric pole, ski trails, concrete structures, rock walls, even an old car bumper, etc.). Houses can be seen from parts of the trail; it's not a completely isolated hike, we heard some traffic at some parts of the trail also. We even hiked to the entrance of the Sweetheart Mountain housing complex. We enjoyed stopping at a couple of the lookouts; you can see the hills from a distance. I highly recommend using the AllTrails app. We did walk onto a private trail by accident but AllTrails helped us get back on track. Overall, a fun trail to get your sweat on and enjoy nature.

Bunker Hill Trails are owned by Canton Land Conservation Trust (CLCT). The trailhead is on Bunker…read moreHill Road in Canton. There was parking on street, on the shoulder; maybe one or two cars can fit, tops. There was a sign showing where the trail starts. There were two trails; red and yellow (Scout Trail), 1-mile out & back and easy, based on their website. There are 54 acres with three parcels; Sweeton Pasture acquired in 2006, 4-acres donated by the Goodwin family in 2018, 12-acres purchased by CLCT in 2020. We went on a weekday evening and it was quiet. The bugs weren't too bad, I think because we had bug spray on. The trail was hilly, rocky, with tree stumps; some spots were overgrown. A pair of good hiking sneakers and a walking stick would've made this walk a little bit better. I am not a professional hiker by any means, but they labeled this trail as easy and in my opinion it was more moderate. There were steep inclines and declines on the trail; I wore my baby so that added an extra element. The woods were peaceful and the brook was exquisite. There was a brand new looking wooden bridge that goes over it and takes you through the yellow trail. Overall, an okay trail that needs more blazing in some spots. If you like a little bit of a challenge and sweat, I recommend it.