Higby Mountain is a popular hiking spot located in Middlefield, Connecticut. Watch our trail video and then read more about our trip below:
Growing up only 10 minutes away from here, I must have passed the parking for Higby Mountain 1,000 times without realizing how popular this trail was. The small lot is located on the shoulder of a highway between Meriden and Middletown and may be full on a nice day. The first section immediately after the parking lot is a continuous rise to the top of the ridge line. There are several fun rock scrambles along the way but nothing that children and dogs can't handle. A few nice views also exist on the latter half of the first climb, especially if you take the left at the fork in the road!
We noticed most families with children turned around at the first peak which consists of a pile of rocks at the center of a grassy field. I highly encourage everyone to move beyond this for the real views though. After a dip into a small valley, you will climb rapidly along a ridge line absolutely full of breathtaking views. There is no end to the stunning vistas and plentiful rocks to climb. This is easily one of the most enjoyable hikes I've taken in some time. This ridge line will end with a fairly sizable drop into a much larger valley. It's important to note that the vast majority of people turned around by this point.
After the valley is a long ascent up to the actual peak of Higby Mountain. The view from the top is good, though it feels underwhelming compared to the first half of the hike. You do get a great spot to see the quarry on the backside of Chauncy Peak though! A special note is to look off the path to the left [while ascending] just before the peak. You will find a fun little natural stone archway that you can admire... or climb through.
During our trip we had an awesome run-in with 3 hawks. Sometimes they approached as close as 15 feet away! These are no doubt the hawks from Chauncy Peak that we couldn't quite photograph due to the timing. I took the chance to take hundreds of photos but here are some of my favorites:
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