Paugussett Overlook to Overlook Hike

Here's a fairly challenging hike:  traveling between the two Housatonic River overlooks along the Paugussett Trail in Shelton. The first overlook is in Indian Well and the other is in Birchbank. On paper, it's about two miles each way, but it feels longer due to lots of ups and downs as well as some areas with challenging footing and a short scramble over 'The Boulders' at Birchbank. (A scramble is where you need to use your hands). It's a nice quiet alternative to the busy trails over at Shelton Lakes.

You could park your car at a couple different places to get to the Indian Well overlook. I started at the end of Tahmore Place and followed the blue/yellow blazes of Tahmore Trail, taking a right turn at the sign to reach the overlook. You could also hike in from the Indian Well Falls parking area or the Beach off-season parking area, but Tahmore is more quiet this time of year. 

Indian Well overlook. The Derby/Shelton Dam and Rt 8 are in the distance. 

From the Indian Well Overlook, you'll head north following the blue blazes and soon reach the white-blazed access trail to the beach at Indian Well. A lot of people do hike up from the beach area to the overlook and continue on to the falls, so this is the area you're most likely to run into people. 

Junction with white access trail from the beach

On busy summer beach days, you may hear a lot of screaming from people swimming down below. Not sure what it is about swimming, but it gets people screaming like it's the end of days. But once you're past that point, the beach sounds fade and you can sometimes walk for several hours on a beautiful weekend day and not pass a single person. As happened today.

Blowdown Brook

You'll go over a foot bridge and continue on for a good ways until you reach what we've been calling Blowdown Brook because trees keep falling on the brook crossing. Over and over again. Of all the brook crossings along the way, this is the one most likely to have water. 

At Blowdown Brook. This was the trail last year. We rerouted.

This stretch of trail between the two overlooks has an amazing amount of tree carnage.  Every few weeks there is another blowdown across the trail. This hike was no exception, with another old hemlock down with it's spikes jutting out.  It would appear that the riverbank was once home to many large hemlocks which died from the aldegid infestation, and these trees are still falling. As the hemlocks died, other fast-growing trees shot up and are themselves now falling. It's a mess. 

Blowdown of the week

After Blowdown Brook, the trail does a steady climb up to the top of what we call Limbo Log Hill. It's the hill with the very big log across the trail at the worst possible height. Too high to chain saw. Too low to easily get under, especially if you have a backpack. This year we built a bypass through the raspberries and have done OK keeping it clear.

The Limbo Log and new bypass trail

You'll then progress to an area that looks like it might be involved in a landslide someday. This is the area above that section of Indian Well Road that's insane to drive and which in fact has had landslides.

Top of the Landslide with glimpses of the river below

The trail squeezes tightly between houses up above and the very steep slope below, with glimpses of the Housatonic River through the trees. Last year while scouting possible reroutes to get the trail further from the houses, I spotted a convenient sort of mini-chasm parallel to the trail and just a bit down the hill and thought about rerouting onto that. Then I started to wonder what had formed that land feature, when it dawned on me that this is directly above the landslide area and this is quite possibly the top of a failed landslide, where the slope began to give way but stopped.

Another dead hemlock, but cool fungi

"Border Brook" is our nickname for the brook that forms the border between Indian Well State Park and Shelton's Birchbank Mountain Open Space. A tree is marked with yellow paint from either the park staff or possibly the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company back when they owned Birchbank, along with an open space marker. A surprising number of people think Birchbank is part of Indian Well. It's not.

Welcome to Birchbank

Shortly after entering Birchbank, the hard part begins, starting with The Boulders. This is a short stretch of trail, maybe 150 feet long, where you need to scramble over boulders. You have to stop and ponder the best route, and some pets may need assistance, although mine did not.

Gateway to The Boulders

The Boulders. See the blue blaze?

Then you quickly cross a narrow clearing which is a big water line going straight down the hill. This is the same clearing you would see going up the hill from the Birchbank Trailhead, so you could just roll down the hill in theory and find yourself in that parking area if you so chose. I would not recommend it.

Water line

The Rock Faces

Right after that you'll get to the rock faces. There is some serious geology going on here and you may be tempted to explore some caves. After that is a long stretch down the hill on a talus slope. Deceptively treacherous to walk on and not recommended when wet. Be careful! I highly recommend a hiking stick or trekking pole. Occasionally a rock can shift when you step down, or may be mossy and slick. All it takes is one bad step to break an ankle. Unless you're like a mountain goat, go slow.

Down the talus slope

After a slow, tedious descent, you'll soon find yourself where the trail was rerouted in 2016. The old route is now blazed blue/white, while the new route gradually ascends to the Birchbank Mountain overlook.

Yay! No more rock!

Section benched in by High School students in 2016

The high school students did a great job and the trail looks so much more natural this year. Last year it looked a bit like a scar upon the earth, but this year it's just a trail.

Stairs to the overlook

When you get to the old stairs, we don't know when those were built, but the Paugussett used to go here back in the 1980's or 90's before it was rerouted due to a pending subdivision up above. The 2016 reroute was partly new and partly a restoration of an older route. 

Trail Register

Up at the top is the new trail register, and there are a few entries in the book now.

Entries in the trail register

Just a few more steps and the view opens up. Yes! That seems like longer than two miles. And it will seem even longer on the way back! But it's a good hike. If you can spot a car, I would recommend continuing north on the Paugussett to Round Hill Road. That would be about a three mile hike. 

Birchbank Overlook