Category Archives: hiking

Hiking in Vermont

Rob and I drove to Vermont yesterday to drop off Amanda at camp. She’s a junior camp counselor this summer for two separate weeks and each week requires two 8 hour round trips to VT. So we decided to take a detour and go for a hike while we were up there in beautiful Vermont.

Rob scouted out some trails around our route and we settled on the Chases Mountain trail in Middlesex, VT. We hiked around 6 miles and 1500 feet of elevation in 3 hours and 30 minutes. I’m a slow hiker…Rob gets lots of rest time waiting for me. It was warm and humid. We were soaked in sweat. Another hiker reported seeing a mama bear and 4 cubs, but we didn’t see any bears. Maybe we should carry bear spray. We got home and I had a 90 sleep score last night. All good.

We have been talking a lot lately about what we enjoy, the future, and what we should continue doing. We constantly debate the size of our goat herd, fitness goals, wanting to ride the horses more and compete, and having some more white space in our schedule. Hobbies should be fun and not feel like work. Stay tuned as we find the right answers.

Hiking at Old Furnace State Park

Yesterday Rob and I went hiking at Old Furnace State Park in Danielson CT. I have been making an effort to go hiking more to build some fitness and get off Facebook. Winter is typically the slow season around here, but with the mild weather in the past week, I have been getting some hikes in.

We had plans to go up to Running’s in Killingly, so Old Furnace State Park was an easy detour, being located right off 395. I’ve been there before and the park features a reasonably short hour-ish hike around the pond. Neighboring Ross Pond State Park features some more trails if more mileage is wanted.

Rusty came with us of course, and took advantage of the many water options and got really wet and muddy. Good thing we have a crate in the car for him.

Rob got me a new fitness watch for Christmas, a Garmin Fenix 7S and I used it to navigate around the pond, although the markings are pretty decent. We only took one wrong turn.

The hike was 2.6 miles and took us about an hour. There is a little bit of elevation going up the trail to above the cliffs overlooking the pond. The cliffs are a popular spot for local rock climbing.

So where to go next? Thinking about a longer hike at the Sprague Land Preserve this coming weekend. With Rob also currently running the border patrol challenge courses, Rusty is in exercise heaven. Do you have New Year’s Resolutions that involve more physical activity? Go check out a State Park or nature preserve close to you!