It is about time for the most wholesome New England sport: leaf peeping. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have access (as do you) to the CT DEEP week-by-week Fall Foliage Report. This predicts nature’s fireworks show to be at its most colorful from about mid-to-late October in Connecticut.
You don’t need a car to get out and enjoy the views. Here are some of the places you can go without needing license and registration.
Connecticut
Bolton Notch
This is a very choose-your-own-adventure situation. To get here, take the CTtransit 918 Willimantic/Coventry Express bus to the Bolton Park & Ride. At the stop, you can get onto the East Coast Greenway (Charter Oak Greenway segment) that goes alongside I-384 and eventually turns into the Hop River State Park Trail, or, you can head into Freja Park and walk the pond around Bolton Notch Pond, which also joins with Hop River State Park Trail. Either way, you will make it into the 95 acre Bolton Notch State Park and be away from the highway soon enough. There are multiple hiking paths: Shenipsit Trail, Garnet Trail, Mohegan Trail. The Garnet Trail has a scenic view. There’s no bad season for Bolton Notch.
The 918 Willimantic/Coventry Express makes multiple stops in downtown Hartford, but then only more before the Bolton Park & Ride, and it operates every day of the week. Yes, even Sundays. Don’t fall asleep – the last stop is in Killingly, about five miles from the Rhode Island border. The other hitch is that there’s only two buses in each direction on the weekend; there are eight on weekdays, though.
Cedar Mountain
When you want to see a natural kaleidoscope without making a whole day of it, the Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail in Newington is a fine option. Almost a decade ago, we were trying to keep a ridiculous housing development from being built on this wooded section of Cedar Mountain. That plan wanted to take some 70+ acres of one of the few remaining undeveloped areas in town and mar it. This has a happy ending: Cedar Mountain has since become more accessible for outdoors recreation and Newington has added more housing in areas that were already what I would call downgraded environments but others would label “infill”.
The woods of Cedar Mountain is one of those spots best appreciated by those who know how to truly look and find beauty in the small, unassuming things; and, it’s great for those who enjoy scoffing at the unoriginal influencers who stick to their trendy locales. Don’t be afraid to try something different!
Depending on where you enter the trail system, you can have a relatively flat, short, and clear walk out to the DANGER OVERLOOK AREA, or, you can tackle steep terrain to make a longer round trip hike of it. Go the longer, more difficult route and you’ll have a chance to see a stream, and be more likely to encounter deer and other wildlife, while less likely to run into as many humans.
There are multiple ways to approach this trail or trails. Who can know?! The same municipality has referred to it by several different names: Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail, Cedar Mountain Trail, and the one that seems like it belongs in the WPA guide to Connecticut: The Old Cedar Mountain Highway Trail. Official sources will send people to a trail entrance on Mountain Road, but that’s really an entrance for people arriving inside their private little metal boxes. If you’re a rule follower, then sure, take the 144 or 41 bus to the Constance Leigh Drive by Market Square stop and then walk the 11 minutes to that Mountain Road entrance – with some of that route having no sidewalk. For everyone else, the 144 bus stops on Russell Road directly by the Connecticut Humane Society. Behind that building are several clear trail heads which hook into the Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail. On your way to and from the Russell Road bus stop, be sure to pause and read the gravestones behind the humane society; it’s only fitting that there are animal graves here, as the Wethersfield and Hartford section of Cedar Mountain has multiple human graveyards.
Fifty-Foot Cliff Preserve
The Fifty-Foot Cliff Preserve in Mansfield has 1.41 miles of blazed trails which take you to features like a giant ant hill, wetland forest and boardwalk, and the Fifty-Foot Cliff Overlook. Guess what? The overlook is actually more than 100 feet. Enjoy the rural Fenton River valley views from there.
To get here, take the 674 bus to the 195 at Spring Hill stop. It’s not a long walk from the bus stop, but there are no sidewalks or crosswalks, so be extra cautious while making your way to the trail head behind the Mansfield Historical Society. For an area of the state without much going for public transportation, there actually are a few other options in Mansfield. Explore them!
Fox Hill Tower
Sometimes Connecticutians act like we have exactly two towers: Heublein and Castle Craig. There are quite a few others, though most require either a car or feats of strength on a bicycle to get there. Fox Hill Memorial Tower is within Vernon’s Henry Park, and about half a mile from a bus stop, with most of that walk happening on a park road. You can climb up the 72 ft. tall WPA construction (made from granite quarried in neighboring Tolland) when it is open – Sunday through Friday, 8 AM – 4 PM, and Saturday, 1-4 PM.
To get here, take the CTtransit 82/84 bus to Grove Street at Laurel Street in Vernon-Rockville; then, walk up Laurel, left on Cedar, and then right on Stone Street and a left onto Tower Road. Follow that to the top. There are sidewalks on most of those roads.
West Rock
At West Rock Ridge State Park in Hamden and New Haven you have many trail options that will get you a view of the leaves and the Sound.
Find your way to New Haven by train or bus, and then take the CTtransit 274 from New Haven’s Union Station; in downtown it becomes the 241. Another option: use the State Street station and then wander downtown for a bit to stretch the legs and get a snack; then get on the 241 by the New Haven Green.Get off at Valley Street and 113 Valley Street stop, explore that immediate area, and then backtrack to the large parking lot tagged as access to the park – aim for the playground, and then join a trail to the overlook.
Vermont
Should you be dissatisfied with Connecticut’s offerings and want to go to Vermont for leaf ogling, you still do not need an automobile. A train car is plenty!
If you book enough in advance, you can go from Hartford, CT to White River Junction (Hartford, VT) for $36 one way on the Amtrak Vermonter. The clear advantage to this is not needing to keep your eyes on the road, nor worrying about if other drivers are paying more attention to the trees than to who is in the next lane. There are restaurants, a wine bar, and a brewery in walking distance of the WRJ station, along with a hotel and some Airbnb options.
Tips You Didn’t Ask For
While out, look in all directions. It’s tempting to yearn for a very specific type of fall foliage image that we see everywhere — the rolling hills sparkling with auburn and gold. Look at the ground cover changing. Look for what climbs the trees, is washed by brooks, is underfoot on the trails. Nature isn’t some far off thing to be othered or captured, but something of which you are a part — like it or not.
What other spots accessible by bus or train offer nice views of autumn leaves? Leave a comment.
All photos in this post are from Cedar Mountain which cannot be contained by the artifice of municipal boundaries, spanning Newington, Wethersfield, and Hartford. These pics were taken in September, just as vegetation began to change colors; I trust that my readers are bright enough to envision the golden rainbow that will unfold over the next few months without requiring me to artificially provide that through grossly photoshopped images or by using photographs from a previous year.
Fall Foliage, Forget the Car
It is about time for the most wholesome New England sport: leaf peeping. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have access (as do you) to the CT DEEP week-by-week Fall Foliage Report. This predicts nature’s fireworks show to be at its most colorful from about mid-to-late October in Connecticut.
You don’t need a car to get out and enjoy the views. Here are some of the places you can go without needing license and registration.
Connecticut
Bolton Notch
This is a very choose-your-own-adventure situation. To get here, take the CTtransit 918 Willimantic/Coventry Express bus to the Bolton Park & Ride. At the stop, you can get onto the East Coast Greenway (Charter Oak Greenway segment) that goes alongside I-384 and eventually turns into the Hop River State Park Trail, or, you can head into Freja Park and walk the pond around Bolton Notch Pond, which also joins with Hop River State Park Trail. Either way, you will make it into the 95 acre Bolton Notch State Park and be away from the highway soon enough. There are multiple hiking paths: Shenipsit Trail, Garnet Trail, Mohegan Trail. The Garnet Trail has a scenic view. There’s no bad season for Bolton Notch.
The 918 Willimantic/Coventry Express makes multiple stops in downtown Hartford, but then only more before the Bolton Park & Ride, and it operates every day of the week. Yes, even Sundays. Don’t fall asleep – the last stop is in Killingly, about five miles from the Rhode Island border. The other hitch is that there’s only two buses in each direction on the weekend; there are eight on weekdays, though.
Cedar Mountain
When you want to see a natural kaleidoscope without making a whole day of it, the Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail in Newington is a fine option. Almost a decade ago, we were trying to keep a ridiculous housing development from being built on this wooded section of Cedar Mountain. That plan wanted to take some 70+ acres of one of the few remaining undeveloped areas in town and mar it. This has a happy ending: Cedar Mountain has since become more accessible for outdoors recreation and Newington has added more housing in areas that were already what I would call downgraded environments but others would label “infill”.
The woods of Cedar Mountain is one of those spots best appreciated by those who know how to truly look and find beauty in the small, unassuming things; and, it’s great for those who enjoy scoffing at the unoriginal influencers who stick to their trendy locales. Don’t be afraid to try something different!
Depending on where you enter the trail system, you can have a relatively flat, short, and clear walk out to the DANGER OVERLOOK AREA, or, you can tackle steep terrain to make a longer round trip hike of it. Go the longer, more difficult route and you’ll have a chance to see a stream, and be more likely to encounter deer and other wildlife, while less likely to run into as many humans.
There are multiple ways to approach this trail or trails. Who can know?! The same municipality has referred to it by several different names: Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail, Cedar Mountain Trail, and the one that seems like it belongs in the WPA guide to Connecticut: The Old Cedar Mountain Highway Trail. Official sources will send people to a trail entrance on Mountain Road, but that’s really an entrance for people arriving inside their private little metal boxes. If you’re a rule follower, then sure, take the 144 or 41 bus to the Constance Leigh Drive by Market Square stop and then walk the 11 minutes to that Mountain Road entrance – with some of that route having no sidewalk. For everyone else, the 144 bus stops on Russell Road directly by the Connecticut Humane Society. Behind that building are several clear trail heads which hook into the Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail. On your way to and from the Russell Road bus stop, be sure to pause and read the gravestones behind the humane society; it’s only fitting that there are animal graves here, as the Wethersfield and Hartford section of Cedar Mountain has multiple human graveyards.
Fifty-Foot Cliff Preserve
The Fifty-Foot Cliff Preserve in Mansfield has 1.41 miles of blazed trails which take you to features like a giant ant hill, wetland forest and boardwalk, and the Fifty-Foot Cliff Overlook. Guess what? The overlook is actually more than 100 feet. Enjoy the rural Fenton River valley views from there.
To get here, take the 674 bus to the 195 at Spring Hill stop. It’s not a long walk from the bus stop, but there are no sidewalks or crosswalks, so be extra cautious while making your way to the trail head behind the Mansfield Historical Society. For an area of the state without much going for public transportation, there actually are a few other options in Mansfield. Explore them!
Fox Hill Tower
Sometimes Connecticutians act like we have exactly two towers: Heublein and Castle Craig. There are quite a few others, though most require either a car or feats of strength on a bicycle to get there. Fox Hill Memorial Tower is within Vernon’s Henry Park, and about half a mile from a bus stop, with most of that walk happening on a park road. You can climb up the 72 ft. tall WPA construction (made from granite quarried in neighboring Tolland) when it is open – Sunday through Friday, 8 AM – 4 PM, and Saturday, 1-4 PM.
To get here, take the CTtransit 82/84 bus to Grove Street at Laurel Street in Vernon-Rockville; then, walk up Laurel, left on Cedar, and then right on Stone Street and a left onto Tower Road. Follow that to the top. There are sidewalks on most of those roads.
West Rock
At West Rock Ridge State Park in Hamden and New Haven you have many trail options that will get you a view of the leaves and the Sound.
Find your way to New Haven by train or bus, and then take the CTtransit 274 from New Haven’s Union Station; in downtown it becomes the 241. Another option: use the State Street station and then wander downtown for a bit to stretch the legs and get a snack; then get on the 241 by the New Haven Green.Get off at Valley Street and 113 Valley Street stop, explore that immediate area, and then backtrack to the large parking lot tagged as access to the park – aim for the playground, and then join a trail to the overlook.
Vermont
Should you be dissatisfied with Connecticut’s offerings and want to go to Vermont for leaf ogling, you still do not need an automobile. A train car is plenty!
If you book enough in advance, you can go from Hartford, CT to White River Junction (Hartford, VT) for $36 one way on the Amtrak Vermonter. The clear advantage to this is not needing to keep your eyes on the road, nor worrying about if other drivers are paying more attention to the trees than to who is in the next lane. There are restaurants, a wine bar, and a brewery in walking distance of the WRJ station, along with a hotel and some Airbnb options.
Tips You Didn’t Ask For
While out, look in all directions. It’s tempting to yearn for a very specific type of fall foliage image that we see everywhere — the rolling hills sparkling with auburn and gold. Look at the ground cover changing. Look for what climbs the trees, is washed by brooks, is underfoot on the trails. Nature isn’t some far off thing to be othered or captured, but something of which you are a part — like it or not.
What other spots accessible by bus or train offer nice views of autumn leaves? Leave a comment.
All photos in this post are from Cedar Mountain which cannot be contained by the artifice of municipal boundaries, spanning Newington, Wethersfield, and Hartford. These pics were taken in September, just as vegetation began to change colors; I trust that my readers are bright enough to envision the golden rainbow that will unfold over the next few months without requiring me to artificially provide that through grossly photoshopped images or by using photographs from a previous year.
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