John Takes a Hike: Chatfield Hollow

Hike: Chatfield Hollow
Location: Chatfield Hollow State Park
Nearby Town: Killingworth, CT
Elevation (Max): 350'
Elevation Gained: 200'
Mileage: 2.6
Difficulty: Easy
Trailhead: From the north on Route 9: take Exit 9, head south on Rte. 81, turn R on Rte. 80, park will be on the R. From the east or south on Route 9: take Exit 5, head west on Rte. 80, park will be on right shortly after intersection with Rte. 81. From I-95, take Exit 63, follow Rte. 81 north, turn L on Rte. 80.
Fees: The website says it is $14/$20 for residents and non-residents respectively on weekends/holidays. On weekdays it's $10/$14. However, when E and I did the hike, we paid no entry fee because we parked at the lot right off the road, which is outside the gate.
Website: http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2716&Q=325182

E received a beautiful antique table from a store in Chester, CT as a graduation present, and I helped pick it up and load it into her family's van. E and I had decided to do another training hike while we were out in a different part of the state so I looked up state parks in the area beforehand and settled on Chatfield Hollow. This also would serve as a good final GPS training outing before our big Presidentials adventure. By the way, I own a Garmin eTrex Legend H, which was a most generous graduation present I received. I intend to do a post on my gear in the future, probably when I catch up with my backlog of hikes, so stay tuned. It was a very hot day in late May, and on our way to Chatfield Hollow, the clouds started thickening and rising, an ominous sign of afternoon thunderstorms, but we figured we had some time before the weather arrived where we were, so we set off on our hike anyways. If worst came to worst, we wouldn't be exposed, and we were planning a short hike, so hopefully we would be able to hightail it back to the car before being soaked or getting into dangerous weather.

We found two parking lots directly off the road at the entrance to Chatfield Hollow, so we parked in there, with a lot of other people enjoying this late spring day. We sprayed ourselves with bug spray, gathered our water, fired up the GPS, and set off down the entry road to the park. To our happy surprise, we passed a gatehouse on the way, where we would have had to pay an entry fee, but thanks to our willingness to walk, we avoided that expense. I would highly advise this approach to anyone going to this park to hike, since your purpose is to walk anyways. It is only worth it to pay that fee if you are planning on having a picnic, of which we saw many--some very large. It was about a third of a mile walking along the road before we got to the trail we intended to hike. Along the way, we passed by what appeared to be a very large Italian family reunion, which smelled delicious, and the pond at the center of the park where kids were swimming and running around. We couldn't help but be in a good mood in this park.

The trail we took was the Ridge Trail (red on the park map), which hikes up and along the ridge on the east side of the hollow. It ascended pretty quickly, but then is generally flat with small ups and downs. It is a pretty rocky hike, though, which can make footing tricky in parts. While we were hiking along the ridge, the sky darkened and we began to hear thunder rumbling in the distance, so we picked up the pace, and quickly completed the Ridge Trail. After hiking the 1.28 mile Ridge Trail we hooked up with the Covered Bridge Trail (purple on the park map). Before turning left back to the parking lot, though, we went right on the Covered Bridge Trail a little bit to see the covered bridge which crosses the Chatfield Hollow Brook that flows through Chatfield Hollow into the man-made Schreeder Pond. We didn't dawdle, though, with the thunderstorms coming, and E's mother's propensity to worry, we knew we should get back to the car as soon as possible.

We followed the Covered Bridge Trail for a quarter mile until it first joins the main, paved road, when we left the trail and did the rest of our walk on the road. At the fork, we went right to walk along the far side of the pond (yes, we were sort of rushing, but the thunder's approach seemed less imminent). The walk was pretty nice, and we went by a handful of picnics along the pond--this place really seemed like picnic central. Take the left that goes across the dam of Schreeder Pond, and then take a right to return to the car. Just as we approached the car, the rain finally started falling, and we escaped unscathed. All in all, the hike was pretty uneventful. Chatfield Hollow is a pleasant place of which families certainly make good use, and the hiking is enjoyable, but nothing extraordinary--no views, no remarkable geologic features. Below is a map I loaded onto Backpacker.com from my GPS of the hike. Also, I am sad to say I, once again, did not bring my camera on the hike, so I have no pictures (but don't worry, the next couple of posts about the Presidentials will include dozens of photos). So, below the map are some photos from Flickr that I found of Chatfield Hollow.