Somers: Complete! Somers Pizza and Family Restaurant Here is the CTMQ Guide to Somers with my list and stories about everything I’ve done there! After a decade of writing CTMQ, I decided to try to “complete” towns. In that decade of traveling and writing, I had already done a lot of stuff in many of our … [Read more...]
Whitaker Woods
I Do Care a Whit Northern Connecticut Land Trust: McCann Farm Nature Preserve, Somers August 2023 & May 2024 The Whitaker Woods Trails are contiguous with McCann Family Farm Trails... and are also contiguous with the Forest View Trails... which are contiguous with Shenipsit State Forest and Soapstone Mountain … [Read more...]
Bald Mountain Loop Trail
Bald Faced Lie Bald Mountain Loop Trail, Somers December 2023 Things are about to get really confusing around here. This page needn't exist and frankly, the fact that it will in a few minutes when I push the publish button will do more harm than good. Somers' and Bald Mountain have a long, sordid history. … [Read more...]
Forest View North & South Trails
Hike, Forest, Hike Forest View North & South Trails, Somers May 2024 Firstly, how cool is this? I'm not sure I've seen this signage anywhere else in Connecticut other than on Routes 341 in Kent and 7 in Salisbury for the Appalachian Trail. Of course there are many others around the state... I'm just not … [Read more...]
McCann Family Farm Trails
You McCann Do It! Northern Connecticut Land Trust: McCann Farm Nature Preserve, Somers August 2023 The McCann Farm Trails are contiguous with Whitaker Woods Trails... which are contiguous with the Forest View Trails... which are contiguous with Shenipsit State Forest and Soapstone Mountain Trails... so I've … [Read more...]
Monticello in Somers
Thomas Jefferson Would Not Approve Monticello Replica, Somers Before we get going, let's get some background on Thomas Jefferson from Monticello.org. The real Monticello. While Jefferson was a firm theist, the God in which he believed was not the traditional Christian divinity. Jefferson rejected the notion … [Read more...]
Bald Mountain Preserve
Falling Into Winter Past an Old Spring in Somers Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Bald Mountain Preserve, Somers December 2023 Bald Mountain in Somers, the highest point in the town and the highest point along the Connecticut River Valley in the state, is worth your time. No, not because it's the highest point in … [Read more...]
Scantic Riparian Area
Scant Indeed Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Scantic Riparian Area, Somers December 2023 At some point I decided to "hike" everywhere that some entity told me had a trail to hike. That's fine. It's the "then write about them all" part I still question myself about. But here we are. Underneath a powerline on a … [Read more...]
Schlaf Farm
The Sun Also Rises in Somers Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Schlaf Farm, Somers December 2023 The winter sun had risen a mere two hours before. The pale yellow ball glowed low in the eastern sky, hinting at some possible warmth later in the day. The December fields of corn, their dead stalks chopped down to the … [Read more...]
Stevenson Woodlands
Skip It Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Stevenson Woodlands, Somers December 2023 In my thoroughness, I visit any property that purports to have a trail. Sometimes, they don't. Sometimes, they don't when I visit and then years later, they do. That might be the case here at the Stevenson Woodlands in Somers... I … [Read more...]