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Thursday, October 31, 2024

Welcome to the West Rock Trails website


West Rock Ridge State Park is located in Hamden and New Haven, Connecticut (with small portions in Woodbridge and Bethany). West Rock Ridge is the second largest state park in Connecticut with 1,815 acres of land (and growing).* 
There are many recreational opportunities available at West Rock.
This website has pages arranged by topic. Click on the web page name below or the links at the right to access the page that interests you.

 (This website was started on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010. The most recent update took place Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. Despite the domain name, this an informational website, not a blog.)

This zoomed view of the West River Memorial Park, off Route 1 in New Haven, beautifully displays the south face of West Rock. The New Haven Park Department created this channel along the river, likely in part to highlight the view. What the view actually looks like can be seen below.


Be Aware of Wildfire Risk at West Rock

As the fire at Lamentation Mountain in Berlin and Meriden showed recently, fire danger is high in Connecticut due to the lack of rain. The Lamentation Mountain fire was blamed on an illegal campfire.

Be careful not to do anything that might cause a fire to start in the woods. West Rock is so dry that even the invasive plants are looking shriveled.

As I walked out from invasive clearing on the Blue-White Trail on Oct. 31, someone walked past me smoking a cigarette. Seeing as I was alone and it was dusk, I chose not to confront him. Please respect how dry the woods are and don't smoke in the woods, build campfires, or do anything else that might trigger a fire.



Main Gate and Regicide Drive Closed Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024

The gate to the main entrance at 1134 Wintergreen Ave., New Haven, closed for the season on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. This means that people who are walking, running, or bicycling along the road can enjoy a car-free experience until the road reopens next year on Saturday, May 24, 2025. When it reopens, it will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

There are five parking spaces outside the gate for those who wish to start their activity from that point. 

Regicide Drive, leading to the South Overlook, was repaved in spring 2023, but the spur to Judges Cave was not, as state officials are considering what to do with that section of the road.




Paradise Avenue Red Trail Page Posted, Oct. 14, 2024

Details about the rehabilitated Paradise Avenue Red Trail have been posted to the latest page on this website:

https://westrocktrails.blogspot.com/p/paradise-avenue-red-trail.html



Trail Reblazing Complete: Red Trail, Red-White Trails, White Trail, Yellow Trail, Green Trail, Westville Feeder Trail, Purple, Purple-Orange, Purple-White, and Blue-White

The reblazing and pruning back of the Red Trail and the two associated Red-White Trails started July 2, 2024 and is complete as of Aug. 21, 2024. Most blazes are painted with Rustoleum, so they are bright and clear to follow. The previous blazes had been there for six years and had faded to a muted pink color. The Red Trail is 6.8 miles long. The northern Red-White Trail is 0.6 miles long, while the Red-White Trail along Lake Wintergreen is 0.35 mile long.

The three trails have been pruned back, but some sections near Farm Brook Reservoir remain narrow because there is so much growth along there, both native and invasive. These plants grow quickly in this area because the trees are less dense and the area is more sunny than shady, which fuels plant growth. Another narrow section is about two tenths of a mile south of the northern part of Mountain Road, a section that is heavily infested with invasive plants.

A third narrow section is between Lake Wintergreen and Mountain Road where there is endless invasive multi-flora rose and plenty of invasive autumn olive. I have cut these back where I can, focusing on the thorny stems projecting out into the trail.

A fourth problem area is the final ascent to the South Overlook where privet chokes off the trail, despite being heavily cut back every couple of years, as volunteer hours permit.

The Blue-Yellow Westville Feeder Trail was reblazed in one afternoon on Aug. 27, 2024. The project included cutting back and uprooting invasive plants along the trail.

The White Trail was reblazed and pruned back in three sessions during early September. This trail was relatively quick to finish due to the almost complete lack of invasive plants, so pruning back did not take that long.

The Yellow Trail was reblazed and pruned back the afternoon of Sept. 16, including reblazing along Mountain Road to guide people from the Yellow Trail where it descends off the ridge to the nearest trailhead at Mountain Road, which is a third of a mile away to the north.

I reblazed the Green Trail on Sept. 19, and did a light pruning back. Portions of the trail have extensive invasive plants along the edges, primarily winged euonymus (burning bush) and privet) and will take many hours to cut them yet again.

Reblazing has been completed on Purple, Purple-Orange, and Purple-White Trails on Oct. 4. The new shade is a dark color that is fresher than the previous one, but a bit more challenging to see. The orange and white tails on those connector trails are easy to see.

The Blue-White Trail from Lake Wintergreen to the Regicides Trail was reblazed on Oct. 22, depending on the weather. The other trails have been reblazed in the past two to four years and do not need reblazing at this time.




A dull old blaze and a bright new blaze can be seen on the Red Trail, a short distance south of Mountain Road, July 30, 2024.


Spotted Lanternfly Has Arrived at West Rock

While cutting down and girdling the invasive tree of heaven tree on the northern side of Mountain Road on July 22, I saw about 15 to 20 spotted lanternflies in the nymph stage: some were the early stage, which are black and white, while others were late stage, which are black, white, and red. I tried to crush them, but they hopped away too quickly.

When I returned on July 30 for more work on the tree of heaven with another volunteer, we saw about half a dozen nymphs, and one adult. She may have crushed a couple of them. There are a few smaller trees of heaven to cut down, but we targeted most of them.

I girdled five more trees along the first stretch of Baldwin Drive where I also spotted one adult lanternfly on Aug. 13.

I saw two spotted lanternflies on the Teal Trail near the apartment buildings. The two adults jumped off a resprouting tree of heaven that I was cutting.

I saw about 20 on a tree of heaven that I cut down on Sept. 19 near Judges Cave.

This is the first I have spotted the spotted lanternfly at West Rock. I had previously seen the adults at Sherwood Island State Park in 2023. I also started seeing them in Milford this month, noticing a handful at the Housatonic River boat launch along I-95.

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) has information on its website, plus a form for reporting the sightings. I submitted a report on what I saw using the form.

Website: https://portal.ct.gov/caes/caps/caps/spotted-lanternfly---slf

If park users see the spotted lanternfly, please try to crush them, and hopefully have better results than I had.

Tree of Heaven details: https://ipm.cahnr.uconn.edu/invasive-species/invasive_plants_tree-of-heaven/



A spotted lanternfly nymph crawls on a tree of heaven near Mountain Road, July 30, 2024.


Cut tree of heaven are piled near Mountain Road, July 30, 2024.


Find Trails Information on Connecticut TrailFinder
Connecticut Trail Finder is a relatively new website operated by the UConn Extension, providing information on trails for outdoor recreation. What makes this website different than others is that the information is provided by the trail managers, as opposed to crowd-sourced websites.
I worked with the website to refine the listing for West Rock.
The website is a work in progress, so there are still areas not listed. As of Oct. 14 2024, the Naugatuck State Forest, West Block and East Block properties are not on this website, but the Mt. Sanford Block of the NSF is on this website.


Lake Wintergreen Parking Options

If the parking lot at Lake Wintergreen is full, these are some nearby options:

The closest option is to park on Valerie Court, located only 0.1 miles away toward Wintergreen Avenue. Walk carefully along the shoulder of Main Street back to the Lake Wintergreen parking lot.

The state has an overflow parking lot located on Wintergreen Avenue, a right turn when coming from the Lake Wintergreen lot. From this lot, follow the wide path down to the Red Trail by the lake. This lot is supposed to be open weekends, but the state has almost no staff for the park, so it has been closed the times I have driven by it.

A third option during non-school hours is to park at Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School at 670 Wintergreen Avenue, Hamden, near the turn for Main Street, which is a 0.25-mile walk. From the school, walk through the overflow parking lot and follow the path down to the Red Trail along Lake Wintergreen.

These are better options to park for cars along the narrow shoulder of Main Street because there is no risk of being clipped by a passing vehicle trying to squeeze past. For the people exiting the cars, they are not standing in the brush on the passenger side, or in the travel lane on the driver’s side.


For those planning on hiking to the South Overlook or Judges Cave, there is plenty of parking behind the New Haven Montessori School, 495 Blake St., New Haven, at the south end of the park by the footbridge.


People who park at the main entrance may wonder why the parking lot there is always blocked by a chain. That parking lot is owned and operated by the City of New Haven for the West Rock Nature Center. The city keeps the lot closed because when it is open, miscreants will dump items there, rather than bring them to the transfer station. The city had blocked access to most of the other parking lot with jersey barriers for the same reason, but in August 2021, pushed back those barriers to allow more parking, and then in October 2024, moved the barrier back toward the road, so there is little to no parking there.



General Information
Trail Descriptions for West Rock
Information for Specific Activities at West Rock
Natural Features at West Rock
Historical Information for West Rock
Trail Maintenance
Hiking and Bicycling Beyond West Rock

The trail descriptions are spread across so many pages to make the information easier to access.

State Parks by Size
* West Rock is 1,815 acres of state owned land, but there are also parcels that are next to the state owned parcels owned by Hamden, New Haven, and the Hamden Historical Society. If these parcels are included, the park is 1,897 acres.

The largest state park by area is Macedonia Brook State Park in Kent with 2,302 acres.
Sleeping Giant is third in size for state parks with 1,673 acres of property. Gay City places fourth in size with 1,569 acres. 
All these state parks are dwarfed Pachaug State Forest in northeastern Connecticut with 28,804 acres, Cockaponset State Forest with 17,186 acres divided among multiple properties in eastern Connecticut, Centennial Watershed State Forest spread over 15,370 acres of current and former watershed land in Fairfield County, Housatonic Meadows in Litchfield County with 10,894 acres, and Meshomasic State Forest, east of the Connecticut River with 9,026 acres.
There are numerous other state forests larger than any state park.

The state of Connecticut continues to add land to West Rock Ridge as it comes on the market (or is donated) and as funds are available for purchase. The legislation that created the park legally requires homeowners within the park's legal boundaries to give the state a right of first refusal for purchase.

What is the difference between a state forest and a state park? There are two basic differences. The state actively manages state forests for both lumber and habitat, cutting areas of trees on a regular basis. The state also allows hunting in state forests, except where they are close to roads and buildings. Hunting is generally prohibited in state parks. One exception is a limited deer hunting season at Colis P. Huntington State Park in Redding/Bethel. The park name is a coincidence, as it was named for its wealthy donor.
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