Sunday, January 16, 2011

Snow Shoeing Point of Rocks Open Space

Since riding is not happening, the next best thing is to either go snow shoeing or XC Skiing. I decided to try and get two for price of one, snow shoeing at Point of Rocks and XC Skiing at Fairfield Hills. I headed over to the Newtown Open Space off of Deep Brook Road (parked at Dickenson Park) around 2 PM, got suited up and headed up the trail. It was all virgin powder.

I lost the trail a few times on the flat section between the Deep Brook Road and the power lines mainly because it's poorly marked, but once at the stonewall I knew the [proposed] trail like the back of my hand. I have been trying to get approval for a modification of the existing trail so that it's sustainable, rather than having the existing trail go up and down a fall line, but the Town Conservation Commission has been having a hard time approving it. I think the mistake I made is including the existing trail in the proposal. Once I take that out of the equation, I don't think there will be any issues.



The climb up the switch backs that I have laid out were nice. Half way up I had to shed a layer and open all the vents because I got really hot.  It was nice coming back and seeing the place equalized by the snow.  Existing trails/old paths really stand out in the snow.  While the Point of Rocks trail from Deep Brook Road to Point of Rocks Road is one 7 tenths of a mile, the idea is that the other 100 or so acres that the town now has rights to can be opened for trails.


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