We had a chance to visit UCONN and decided to check out some of the local hikes in the area including Fifty foot cliff, Coney Rock Preserve and Codfish falls.
We started off the day with a visit to Fifty Foot cliff. In my research this appeared to be the most popular hike in the area. Conveniently it is also located only a minute down the road from UCONN. Parking was a little strange, there is a lot behind an historic building that we missed the first pass.
The trail itself is almost entirely down hill along a gentle grade. Of course this means the return trip is all up hill. That's usually my least favorite kind of hike as you receive your reward before doing the hard work.
Only a 15 minute hike in and you'll reach the main vista. There's a wonderful stone bench and a partial view of a valley. The fall colors were just starting so we enjoyed!
After soaking up the views we began to head back on a different trail. In classic MikeGetsLost fashion we ended up lost and had to cross a powerline trail to return.... almost slogging into a hidden stream knee deep along the way. Moral of the story, be careful when following me in waist high grass!
For our second stop we visited Coney Rock Preserve. This is located a bit further south east but wasn't too hard to find. It begins with a very steep hillside ascent, but it will be over just as your break a sweat. The hike itself is fairly unremarkable but the ridgeline view you get from the top is far superior to Fifty Foot cliff. Definitely worth visiting.
Traveling back north along the same road we finished our day by visiting codfish falls. A small one care dirt pull off in a residential area is the only sign that this is even a trail.
A ten second hike downhill and you arrive at one of the biggest waterfalls in this section of the state. A pretty fall, the moss on the rocks is as gorgeous as it is slippery. We took our photos and left before one of us could slip.
All in all we enjoyed a day hiking around the UCONN campus. We finished by grabbing some burgers at MOOYAH before heading home. The hikes themselves were quick and easy with decent views, perfect for a busy college student. That said, we were virtually alone on all of these trails despite it being a weekend. The parking lots were empty, there was one other hiker per trail and it seemed somewhat strange to us until we realized that the campus itself was flooded with parents that weekend. I'm not entirely sure what was going on but I would wager that these trails are normally rather busy so plan appropriately.
On to the next one!
Comments