5 mile hike with mix of sun and clouds and chilly start.
Me and my Father started up the blue trail above the parking lot and visitor center and climbed a steep rise. Three large military cargo planes flew maneuvers overhead and veered off as if taxiing to a runway.
There are a large network of stone pasture walls. I spotted a lady slipper along the trail. We hiked up several rocky mounts before coming to the Indian Chair in which we sat in to take in the sights and take advantage of the photo op.
We climbed a steep hill and arrived at the legendary Wolf's Den cave. I am currently reading "War On The Run" by John F. Ross the story of Robert Rogers and the conquest of America's first frontier. In it he describes Israel Putnam a farmer in Pomfret, CT who would become a hero of the Revolutionary War. In the spring of 1743, when Putnam was 25, him and his neighbors tracked a she-wolf that had devastated farms for years in Northwestern Connecticut and even killed 70 of his sheep and goats in one night at his farm. Put and his neighbors tracked her paw prints through the snow to a narrow cave. Eventually they killed it and dragged it out of the cave by its ears. A placard marks the spot.
We hiked to table top rock to Wolf's Den Drive and then continued on the blue trail. At this point the landscape changed to a more rolling bottom land hike past pastures and farmland. I noticed hoof prints from horse tracks along the trail. We came down to Mashamoquet Brook and some ruins of dam works along the yellow trail. The blue trail continued down to the entrance to the park with just a short walk to the lot. The 5 mile loop ended up being more of a hike then we bargained for but the history of the place was worth it.
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