Dates visited: 6/22/2020 & 10/11/2020

The Hockanum River Linear Park consists of a number of trails that follow the Hockanum River through East Hartford, Manchester, Vernon and Ellington. They are not all connected, but they are all very interesting. I love these trails, they have so much unique character. These are not your typical "escape to nature" trails. Some of them pass under highway under passes, and near water treatment facilities, behind shopping plazas, apartment complexes and landfills. They are not for everyone, but I like how different they are from your typical trails. I decided to give these trails their own pages, so go here to read about them.

Dates visited: 10/14/2021 & 10/31/2022

It's getting harder to find places close enough to take the dogs after work before it gets dark this time of year. Arbor Park is a park in the center of town that features a very short walking trail, a couple of nice bridges, some picnic tables, and a few gazebos. It's nice enough for a quick walk, but it really is pretty small. I decided to walk them over to the town green. We passed the town hall, and the fall colors really provided a sense of small town charm! There is a scarecrow contest at the town green, where local businesses have put out their displays. Some were very creative, but I couldn't really take pictures of all of them because they were kind of close to the road, and I didn't want to get hit by a car. I also didn't want to be accused of favoritism by giving free advertising to one business, and not the other! So I only took pictures in front of the Dunkin display, and the local woman's club display. The last picture was across the street in front of a vet's office, which just happened to be Lexi's original vet that she went to with her previous owner as a puppy. We returned the following year to take a picture with their Halloween Costumes. They were cats for Halloween.

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Date visited: 6/22/2020

This is a short, unremarkable wooded trail in Ellington.

Date visited: 11/25/2020

This Nature Preserve is located in the Ellington pan-handle (you know what I mean if you are familiar with the shape of the town). The main trail here is called the "Balanced Boulder Trail". As you can see from the 2nd picture below, it wasn't very exciting.

Date visited: 8/16/2021

This spot is less than 20 minutes from where we are located, so it's surprising we had never visited here before. Charles Batz, a notable Ellington resident, donated the land upon his death to the town of Ellington with the stipulation that it never be developed. There's a community farm area in the front of the property, and some wooded trails in the back. The trails are nice. They feature some stone walls along the border of the property and also include a steep hill that we climbed. We stumbled across the geocache and Mandy and Lexi signed the guest book, along with the URL for their page. Maybe someone will see it and take a look!

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Dates visited: 12/23/2021 & 1/1/2023

This was part of our Soapstone Mountain Hike on New Year's Day 2023. Part of the loop trail briefly dipped into Ellington, and the pictures below are from that part of the trail. There's also a picture we took from a previous visit at sunset, but we didn't hike all the way up the mountain on that day, like we did on New Year's Day. You can read more about our Soapstone Mountain Hike on the Somers page.

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