I’ll post more on our Big Bend hikes soon, but I wanted to share our day on the Connecticut section of the Appalachian Trail. Followers of this blog may remember that we are doing day hikes on the trail, hoping to finish at least the Connecticut portion although a goal to finish the entire trail seems out of reach for us at this point in our lives. This time we did CT AT Section 2, a ten plus mile stretch of rolling terrain from Lime Rock to Salisbury. It was a perfect day for hiking, little wind, sunny, with temperatures in the mid-50s. I never heard so many Veeries and Ovenbirds! My official e-bird estimate was 50 Veery and 40 Ovenbird although there were probably even more than that as their songs accompanied us the entire way. There were also migrating warblers and many other birds just returned from their wintering grounds. I particularly enjoyed the exuberant trilly songs of the Winter Wrens and the sight of Scarlet Tanagers. The trail followed the Housatonic River for part of the way including the Great Falls. It’s not Yosemite, but for us here in Connecticut, it was beautiful.
The wildflowers were our gentle companions. Little patches of blue and yellow Violets, pink and yellow Columbine, Jack in the Pulpits, deep ruby Trillium, Cranesbill Geraniums and Anemones dotted the sides of the trail. Sad to say the abundant invasive Garlic Mustard and Barberry were also in bloom. Some traveler before us had noticed morels along the sides and had kicked three of them into the trail. They weren’t badly damaged so we took them home and made a tasty pasta sauce for dinner.