Like Hike Hike? Sike.
Worthington Vineyard Nature Trails, Somers
August 2023
This place is a lovely place to stroll around when the weather is nice and the flowers are in bloom. In fact, it’s one of the best places. However, if you want to actually hike, like hike hike, this is not the place to do it. While there are “nature trails” (per the winery’s website, hence their inclusion on CTMQ), you wouldn’t really consider them as such.
But here’s the kicker: you can, like, hike hike here. And in fact, I did exactly that. Somers owns the former Aya-Po YWCA camp property that borders the winery to the east. There are a few miles of nice trails there and I think it’s really cool you can stop at a winery mid-hike – or hike mid-wining – if you time your venture properly. But this page is about the so-called nature trails at Worthington Vineyards and Winery.
After hiking next door and downing some wine at the winery, I set out to enjoy the property. And it is definitely a property to be enjoyed. I made my way up the dirt path amongst all the fancy picnickers and bridal showerers to the covered bridge and former model train yard. The bridge is a surprisingly nice touch here and
the terraced area beyond the pond here serves as a sort of de facto border between the winery doings and… nature.
This is where the view towards the winery from the Aya-Po access trail
I entered nature.
I didn’t have any sort of trail map, and I’m not sure one exists. A couple trails headed north from the pond and I first went straight. This is an old woods road that likely goes to nowhere. It may loop back around left or right or both right back to the pond area. You go ahead and find out for me.
I then took the left branch towards the TENTRR site. It’s a lovely TENTRR site – TENTRR is an outfit that provides “luxury” camping accommodations. This one is pondside at a winery in Somers, Connecticut. Unfortunately, the town disallows this sort of arrangement and it wasn’t an option in the summer of 2023. I assume that will get sorted out at some point however.
From there I hopped across an inlet stream into a hewn field to a “BIRD WATCHING AMPHITHEATER.” I got the feeling I was the first person to brave the mosquitos and uneven ground to reach the amphitheater in quite some time. (Because, like, I was looking for a hike hike.) I assumed that there would be a trail to circumnavigate the lake, but could not find one. Maybe some day. So I trudged back across the field, across the stream, past the tent, past the pond and the covered bridge, and then down the farm road near the other pond and towards the vineyards.
I could have walked down by the other pond, but you know what? That’s not like a hike hike. More suited for a bike, which I like, but I didn’t have one with me.
I curled back around the front of the tasting room, up through the parking area, across the grass past the old cemetery plot, and into the woods of Aya-Po and its green trail.
drops the mic
Worthington Vineyards and Winery
CTMQ’s visit to the Winery
CTMQ’s Somers’ Town Trails
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