What to do when it’s too hot to be bothered making a fuss over anything?

To Simsbury, it is.

The bus stop is on Iron Horse Boulevard, steps from the Farmington Canal [Heritage] Trail. If you live in the area and own a bicycle, you’ve probably ridden on part of the Farmington Canal Trail — it goes from Suffield to Southington, there’s a gap, and then resumes from Meriden to  New Haven.

You can bring bikes on the bus, or if you’d prefer, just wander down the path. If you enter the bicycle trail near the bus stop and walk north, you’ll soon see the Paw Meadow sign. As a visitor that seems like something to ignore (unless you like to hang out at dog parks without a dog) but quietly above that is indication that there might be something else ahead. Follow the boardwalk. A gravel road, that motor vehicles are permitted on, will cross it. Keep following the board walk.

Like butterflies? Like birds? This is where to find them.

I wasn’t quick enough to photograph the hummingbirds or finches I saw in this spot which feels pretty wild considering the shops and restaurants are less than ten minutes away.

When the boardwalk disappears, the path becomes overgrown.

Bring shears, wear long pants, or prepare to do lots of turning around because this was a theme in town.

When you return from the nature conservation area (the map calls this Drake Hill Park, but who can know) you can meander around the dog park or continue north on the bike trail and come upon:

This is like the holy grail in our age of “we’ll take your money because Covid is over but we won’t let you into the restroom because Covid is still here.”

Why?

This is where you’ll find the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center where there is a cute ticket booth and a nearby playground.

There’s a place to lock up by that playground, another public bathroom, and a bicycle repair station.


There’s some art in this area.

If you’re on foot, you might want to see something different than the bike trail sooner than later. Walk off the path to the west, about five minutes, and you have your pick of restaurants.


The Coffee Spot had its grand opening in April 2021.

If it looks familiar, that’s because it is the same Victorian house which was previously The Storyteller’s Cottage. There is indoor and outdoor seating, and a menu that includes lavender lemon scones. They probably have many other things, but I stop looking when I know what I want.

Coffee in hand, what next?

You can walk up and down Hopmeadow Street, contemplating how a “free library” is different from a “public library,” looking at the old buildings, and musing about what it means — and doesn’t mean — to be a “Bicycle Friendly Community.”

You might even poke around the library grounds, checking out their gardens.

After recently reading a lot about “new growth realness,” I remembered old growth — that is, I had the Belden Forest, inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network in 2019, on my list of places to see.

Every description I’d read of the trailhead seemed off to me, partly because if you look up “Scout Hall” what the map shows is not the street address given.

What you can do is enter the driveway that is across from Drake Hill Road, and head toward the building pictured below. The trail head is to the right (north) of this building.

The sign was easy enough to find.
The trail? Not so much.
I mean, I could see it, but only beneath the various plants that had overtaken it. I tried moving them aside with a stick. This only got me a few feet in. After that, I could see poison ivy. Not far beyond that, I could see a pretty clear path. I stood there for awhile, weighing the risks against reward. Ultimately, I decided to try again another day.

, if you walk a little bit more to the right (north) of the building, you will see a paved path connecting to the public library lot. In that direction, there is what starts out as a more accessible trail. I walked that for awhile until it, also, was covered over.

And then, because I couldn’t leave well enough alone, I went up a hill on what was maybe a trail, maybe not a trail.

This ended when I walked into a large spider web.
The spider wasn’t large. The web was.
Fine, nature, I can take a hint.

Feeling a little defeated and mosquito-bitten, I turned back toward Drake Hill Road.

I knew where I could go to lick my wounds:

In its previous life, the Old Drake Hill Flower Bridge was a one-way lane bridge for vehicular traffic. Because everything has to be bigger, better, faster, more, it was retired to vehicles in 1988. It was maintained as a pedestrian and cyclist Farmington River crossing. Restoration efforts began a few years later, and in 1996, drawing inspiration from The Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne, MA, members of the community began beautifying the spot with flowers.

Currently, there are 72 flower boxes, 32 hanging baskets, and 14 column baskets on the bridge and in the park.


Park?
Park.

The last time I was here was pre-pandemic. While I thought the bridge was pretty, it felt like after crossing it. . . that was all.

After my Belden Forest and other poison ivy trail-related let downs, what I expected from the Flower Bridge would have been enough.

This was a delightful surprise.

(Yes, there was news coverage which I am seeing now. Sorrynotsorry, I don’t have alerts for everything that happens in Simsbury.)

What does the addition of this park, opened in late 2019, mean?

There’s a path leading to Hop Brook, where people can launch their kayaks into the Farmington River, or kayak-less, can wade directly in.

There are sturdy picnic tables and benches, some in the shade. There are receptacles for trash and recycling. They even had three portapotties in the parking lot area.

With the addition of this park, the experience feels more cohesive, and the Little Free Library makes sense because it’s a great spot for reading in the shade with a great view. (Thanks to whomever left the Douglas Adams books)

What about when you’re done sitting still?

It’s worth being curious.

Look at the bridge from different angles.

Cross it and see what’s around the other side on Riverside Road.

There is no sidewalk, but if you can manage walking on lawn with a slight incline, travel south on Riverside Road for one minute and you’ll come to Warner Nursery. After spending time on and around the Flower Bridge, you might feel like your house and yard need more color. There are overhead luggage compartments on the express buses.

Or, just pause and watch which insects visit which flowers. If people can spend hours watching soccer games, why would there be anything strange about standing and observing nature at work?

Occasionally, you might even see a car that you would pardon.

This is the kind of trip that gets you lots of bang for your buck in that once you arrive, you’re there.

From the bus stop, this is how long it will take for you to get to any of these places, directly:

  • Farmington Canal Trail: 1 minute (if you’re willing to hop a railing); 5 minutes if you want to use a crosswalk
  • Old Drake Hill Flower Bridge and Park: 5 minutes
  • The Nature Conservation Area boardwalk: 8 minutes
  • The Coffee Spot: 6 minutes
  •  Simsbury Public Library: 5 minutes
  • Belden Forest trail head: 6 minutes
  • The field of portapotties: 10 minutes [I make no promises that the toilets will be as plentiful or there at all when you visit]Those times are all according to Google Maps, which in my experience overestimates walking times.

To visit: Take the 912 Simsbury-Granby Express on a weekday from Hartford’s Union Station area or one of several stops in Asylum Hill.

Get of the bus in the Iron Horse Boulevard parking lot. This is the same place you’ll board to return to Hartford. A bus schedule is posted at the stop.

This is a fancy express bus. There is no yellow cord to pull. To request a stop, press the red button overhead that says “STOP”. It seems urgent, like an emergency brake, but I promise it’s a standard stop request and it won’t break the bus. There are USB outlets, reading lights, seatbelts. The express buses are also fare free through at least December 2022.

Look at the bus schedule before making the trip. This area is only served by the 912 bus, which (at time of publication) runs only on weekdays with the last bus returning to Hartford around 6:30 PM.

Caution: Riverside Road has no sidewalks and drivers treat it like a speedway. Stay on the grass. This was, in all honesty, far more appalling to me than the poison ivy situation.

Note: I’ve never heard anyone call the Farmington Canal Trail the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. Who has time for that?