Salmon Forest to Grayville and back

Well today started off as any other tuesday would, since it's my day off I was primed and ready for a chance to get out on the bike to ride some new trails. I found myself set and planned to ride Day Pond down in Colchester which is about 30 minutes form my house. I got an decent start from the house which was about 9:00 and I arrived at the planned parking lot 9:35. I got geared up and headed across the river to find the blue trail, which I did find about a minute later and saw not much to my surprise a NO BIKING sign......ughhhhh this threw me way off since where I parked allowed me one decent way into Day Pond. I checked some maps and decided to head back to the car and rethink my strategy. I checked Salmon Forest maps and saw there were some possible routes that would get me into the forest from my location. I pedaled a mile up a hill and at the end of it turned to a double track that looked somewhat promising which a little further down the trail it was. I was heading north towards a rail trail and although I had trails splitting I planned the best route I could figure that looked most traveled. Sure enough about 20 minutes later I was on the rail trail and gained back some of my bearings since I had ridden the area once before. My plan was to do the west side of the loop and drop down the trail that ran just east of it. With some getting lost and trail searching I found myself climbing fast up a nasty muddy wet buggy double track road which lead me to big open fields. I looked at my gps and it was labeled airstrip and I scratched my head but I could see how dead straight this meadow was I was riding in. Which lead me to believe that it actually might have use to have been an airfield but obviously hadn't been for a long long time. The weeds were high and were rubbing quite a bit on my legs so while I was taking pictures I felt things walking on me, sure enough about four were about to have a feast on me but luckily I caught those jerks and ripped them right off. This added to me blowing through the clearings since I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I was cranking fast since the incline was not great and the ground was smooth I made it into the forest and to a familiar trail I had been once before. I headed down and took a few different routes on the way down throwing me into confusion once again but it was no big deal because the riding was soooo good! I ended up back on the rail trail making a pretty quick loop so I looked at more maps and saw that Grayville falls park was not far down the way and I could link through the rail trail. This was great so I pedaled east to Grayville. The rail trail was smooth but welcomed. Before I knew it I was trying to find my way into Grayville and it was a little tricky and I was trail searching once again but when I hit the parking lot I knew where I was since I had been to the area once before. So I sped down the road and went into the woods for a quick loop in the park. I found my way around and rode some really really good trails, I must say that my favorite trails were on the south end of the park which offered some great single track. I got myself stuck on the other side of the river and no great was seen to cross so I decided to simply walk through it in my shoes, it felt great. I felt like going for a swim but I had already been at it 3 1/2 hours so I was looking forward to getting home. Shortly I was back on the rail trail and pedaled back to where I first found it this morning and dropped down another unfamiliar trail which led me to the trail I took in the morning and then to the road and then the ever so rewarding car. This was an awesome ride and I had a great time exploring and riding new trails.

Huge

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Connecticut