Old Kings Highway, Buddington to Mill Street

Junction Old Town Road and Buddington

The "Old Kings Highway" between Buddington Road and Mill Street is unmarked but easy enough to follow. The entire route is public property, and the old road certainly dates back to the 1700's if not earlier. There is no designated parking, so it's mostly neighbors who hike it. Old Town Road, a dead end, does link up with other nearby open space and we have the potential for linkage with the Rec Path someday in the future.

View of Old Kings Highway from Old Town Road

From Buddington Road, the Old King's Highway isn't super obvious, but you can find it going straight across from Old Town Road (the name "Old Town Road" suggests this is an old intersection). The Paugussett Trail used to go down Old Town Road in the 1960s, and then follow Old Kings Highway.  Look at the really big oak in the middle of the photo above. If you look really closely at the big oak, you should a couple of small flecks of blue paint.

Remnants of a really, really old blue blaze

That's an old blue blaze from several decades ago. Back when they probably had long-lasting lead in the paint!

The trace of the old road with a modern paved drive to the left

From Buddington, the old road bed squeezes between homes and private property, but the road itself is owned by the city.

That "posted" sign is facing the wrong way. The road is public property. 

Before long, you're completely in the woods. Probably not for long though, because the property on the left is part of the Shelter Ridge site slated for development. There was bright orange survey flagging along the border, and blue wetlands flagging as well.

Clubmoss (lycopodium)

The area around the stream crossing is scenic. If the season is right, you can hear the water cascading down the slope below. There are interesting rock formations and the beginning of the long stone walls.

Near the stream crossing

Old Kings Highway fords a small stream

The old road goes right through a stream, and it's helpful to have waterproof boots and a walking stick to get across. To the left, the stream moves slowly through a vernal pool. To the right, it falls sharply down the slope through an open space property called the "Old Kings Highway Open Space."

The stream plunges down the slope . 

It's possible the old Paugussett Trail diverged from Old Kings Highway at this point and followed what is now an unmarked trail or old road. We don't really know.

Road junction

Right after crossing the street, there is a junction with some old farm roads that come out of the Wells property known as Shelter Ridge. The Wells property isn't posted, so it's still possible to follow the farm roads, now completely wooded and lined by stone walls, to the distinctive remains of some old building.

Old foundation

Back to Old Kings Highway, continuing south towards Mill Street, the road runs through the most scenic stretch, line with old stone walls. Imagine old stagecoaches and farm wagons heading down this road during the Revolutionary War.

Tragically, some heartless mason has been stealing rock from this historic wall. The theft has been reported to the police and we were told that it constitutes larceny. Weathered stone like this has economic value.

Most of the rock in this wall has been stolen recently. 

We believe the thief is a professional mason because some of the rock was chiseled and trimmed as only an experienced mason would do. This occurred late fall through winter. If anyone has any tips, please let us know.

The stone wall used to be much larger

The old road descends and suddenly becomes a narrow paved road that is often confused for a common drive. There are a few homes on either side before you get to Mill Street. A wrack of mail boxes on Mill Street marks the spot. 

Indian Well Reroute Planning

Unmarked trail to the falls. 

For years there have been discussions about rerouting the Paugussett Trail at Indian Well State Park near the famous falls. It's been rerouted before. In the photo above, the big wide trail that leads to the falls might actually be the original Paugussett Trail, as shown in some older maps and even the state park map.

The falls

For years, however, the Paugussett Trail has followed the road instead, crossing Indian Hole Brook via the roadway before hopping over the guardrail and heading up the hill. 

Reroute alternatives in pink.

The current route has three bad spots. First is the hazardous road walk, where pedestrian are squeezed between the walls of a bridge and passing cars. Second is short steep section that is eroding and that is slick in the fall if you're heading downhill on fresh leaves. 

Hikers follow the pavement across the bridge

And third is the butt slide near the top. It's a steep, eroded section of bare rock and tree roots that tends to collect leaves in the fall. It's so slick that some hikers either bushwhack into the surrounding hillside to descend at an angle or just slide down on their butts, especially in the fall. 

The butt slide. It's steeper than it looks. 

Unfortunately, a lot of people on this section of the trail are not prepared for this type of hiking and are only searching for the falls, which they aren't going to find on this trail. There's no sign for the falls. We get a lot of people at Birchbank, over a mile down the road, walking down that trail looking for the falls. 

Cross the stream here?

Members of CFPA have been mulling over the rerouting options for years now. One option is to create a new stream crossing below the main bridge on Indian Well Road (a scenic WPA project from the Great Depression). This would probably be a rock-to-rock type of crossing, and during high water hikers can cross the stream via the main bridge. The Paugussett would then form a "T" into the Falls Trail, making the falls easier for people to find.

The Rock. Mossy and slick and continuous. 

The biggest challenge is finding a better way to the top of the big mossy ledge that caps the river bluff near the falls. The ledge runs for quite a ways and there is no really good route up it.

One reroute option follows the base of the ledge

The most southerly option manages to flank the Big Ledge, but in doing so approaches the boundary of the park and an ugly fence. The most northerly option is the longest, but there's some interesting views and ledge before arriving at one short but very steep section that would probably need steps. 

Northern option

Once up that steep section, though, you arrive at one of the seasonal overlooks. We hope to have this overlook cleared out so there's a view of the Housatonic River Valley even during the summer.

MOONLIGHT HIKE CANCELLED

You probably saw this coming!
Due to the depth of the recent snow, the expected extreme cold, and the probable absence of the moonlight (which was the theme for this hike in the first place!), we find it necessary to cancel this trek for now. We do hope to try again sometime in the months to come. Sorry for the letdown, again! We are looking forward, however, to our annual Marshmallow March next month. We'll keep you posted.