Saturday April 7, 2018

This date is one for the books. We woke up at 7:30 AM before our alarms even went off, grabbed our packs/gear, fed ourselves and were on the road by 8:30 AM. Now, why is this so significant? Because it never happens! It’s no secret that we are not morning people and if you’ve been keeping up with our previous hiking trips, you’ll know that we generally never start our hikes before the midday mark. This time, for a change, we arrived at Devil’s Den Preserve in Connecticut around 9:30 AM and started the hike at around 9:45ish. We brought with us one of our friends and I think it’s safe to say she could be the reason for our punctuality.

Devil’s Den Preserve is a span of 1,756 acres made up of woodlands, wetlands, streams, a few scattered swamps and has a rich biodiversity for both plant and animal life. It took us roughly 3hrs to complete the 6 mile hike. We mapped out a loop trail for us to complete that began with the Laurel trail and came to an end at the Pent trail. Check out the map below to see the exact path we completed.A little past junction 31 we came across the Godfrey Pond. There is a small path that leads down to an overlook where you can see the pond water escaping through the rocks creating a small waterfall.  In an attempt to get a bit closer Anna accidentally stepped into the stream. It really gave us a good laugh as we had only been on the hike for 10 minutes and now had to complete the rest of the hike with her one foot slightly wet.

We took the Perry Brook Trail that later transition into Aspetuck trail at junction 66. This section was quiet with some maneuvering around fallen tree limbs that came across our path. Here we also passed some sections of swamp land that alternated from the left and  right of the trail.

At junction 64 we proceeded west on the Bedford Trail and then south from junction 52 to 44. This stretch was one of our favorite sections because the trail appeared to come to life with low plants and trees that were still green which gave the appearance that the forest was full. This was a significant contrast to the previous sections of the trail where you were able to see straight through the trees with almost no obstruction.

At junction 44 we headed west again onto the yellow blazed trail that gave us views of the Ambler Gorge and two Vistas. We made our way to junction 10 after spending our fair share of time at the gorge and the vistas. The blazes turned back to red at this point and we continued on the Pent trail until we reached the parking lot completing our loop.

This trail has easily become one of our favorites to date. While most trails can get monotonous after some time, this loop kept us busy and mentally stimulated by both the varying terrain and the consistently changing scenery. Being that it is still on the colder side, the preserve was virtually empty which was nice because it felt like we had to place to ourselves. Another huge plus to this preserve is how well and accurately the trails/ junctions are marked and the fact that they had the junctions numbered made it so easy to find on the map where exactly you were and which path you needed to take to get to where you wanted to go. We highly recommend you visit this preserve and as always with any park we encourage everyone to be respectful of the land and all its inhabitants.

Thank you for reading!

Be sure to leave a like or comment if you enjoyed the post and feel free to leave suggestions of places you think we should visit next.

Till next time,

The Traveling Trash Pandas