I'm thinking of heading out to the Chestnut Street entrance sometime in the near future (if I can get someone to take care of Noel). I just got a pair of spikes (they're for Men's boots though, so I hope they fit me... I take a Men's 9 in Keens, but an extra wide 9 in women's shoes). They're for sizes 8-14 in men sizes. Hope they fit!

Anyway, I'm hoping to do some of the trails from the Chestnut Street entrance that don't have any boxes on them (or that I need anyway). I'm thinking about going on Violet trail from the entrance to red square, then go down to Mansion Road, backtrack up Red Square to green, the backtrack on Red Square to blue and then down blue to the car.

That way when I come up next, Ill try to park at the southern end of Red Square, go all the way up to Green and down green to Chestnut, then up Yellow or Orange from Chestnut Street, and back to Red Square. I will do this once the snow is gone, as I need quite a few boxes in this section.

Anyone know what the terrain for blue is East of Red Square? I don't think I've ever hiked that section of trail.

Thoughts?
Pam

I'm hoping to do some of the trails from the Chestnut Street entrance that don't have any boxes on them

There are trails at Sleeping Giant without boxes??

Not relevant to your topic at all, but I have a daughter named Noelle! It's not very common and it's nice to hear the masculine version as well!

Not necessarily trails that don't have any boxes, but they may have boxes that I've already gotten ;-). This isn't my first time at the Sleeping Giant rodeo, as I had all but 4 boxes in the park at one point. I haven't been to SG since approx. 2006, so I'm merely plotting my conquest of the park and it's boxes....

BB

Today (March 1st) I went to Sleeping Giant because my boyfriend and his friend wanted to attend an event at Quinnipiac University. My BF dropped me off at the Chestnut Lane kiosk. From there I embarked on a one-way hike to the Quinnipiac campus. First I went west on the Violet trail; when I got to the Red Triangle trail I took Red Triangle south until it met up with the Tower Path. Then I took the Tower Path to the tower; after hanging out at the tower for a little bit, I retraced my steps on the Tower Path until I came back to the Red Triangle trail, and continued heading south on Red Triangle to the Orange trail. Turning west onto the Orange trail, I followed it all the way to the picnic area and left the park through the main entrance on Mount Carmel Avenue.

I wore my winter boots, although I had my hiking boots and a third pair of boots with my Stabilicers attached (my Stabilicers are too small to fit either my hiking boots or my winter boots) tied to my pack too, in case I wanted to change my footwear. This might seem excessive, but I figured it was better to bring along the extra boots, especially since I expected to be alone for hours and I didn't know what the trail conditions would be like.

I was at the Chestnut Street entrance yesterday and did not have spikes or coils on my boots. I walked for a few minutes and then gave up. I was going to my own box and couldn't figure out where it was due to the deep snow. The parking area there was barely cleared and very icy, most people were parked on the street. For a tough walking day there were still 8 cars parked there! I did see a couple walking in snow shoes. The snow on the trail was mostly hard packed but the top layer was pretty difficult to walk on with out spikes, and stepping off trail put you in knee deep snow.

Trailhead Tessie and DevilinDog are right about the snow on the trails--it was packed down and had turned to ice. Despite the slipperiness, I actually didn't feel the need to change out of my winter boots, but I did have my trekking poles with me. No way could I have made it through the park without my poles. I went really slowly--it took me around 1.5 hours to reach the intersection of the Violet trail and the Red Circle trail from Chestnut Lane, for example. If I felt that an ascent or descent was troublesome, I went off the trail onto the untrodden snow, which was crunchy but friable and much easier to get a foothold in than the ice in the middle of the trail.

The Tower Path is very icy. For the most part I stayed on the shoulder of that trail.

The most hazardous ice was inside the tower on the ramps leading up to the top. I have no idea how anyone could go down those ramps without some kind of metal on the bottom of their feet, but people were.

Fortunately for me, almost all of the ice was gone from the ramps inside the tower, although I still held onto the railing on my way down.

As for letterboxes... I looked for 4 boxes. The only one I could actually collect was "Aurora Borealis." (Those footprints I saw heading to the boulder must've been Trailhead Tessie's!) The first three boxes I searched for--I was able to locate them, I could see them and touch them, but they were frozen in place. No matter how much I dug around with my trowel or went "UNNGGHHH!" trying to pry them loose, there was no hope of budging them. So close and yet so far...

How much snow pack is there right now?

Here in Marlborough, we still have a foot or so of hard packed ice/snow. But only five miles south of here in Colchester, it looks more like 4-6 inches. I'm just wondering how much chiseling I would need to do to get down to boxes with my whammy bar.

BB

Lots if packed snow on trails in pequonnock river valley park in Trumbull, but I got my pixies planted today, so I got something done, woohoo!

How much snow pack is there right now?

Just got back from the Tower Trail...there is definitely less snow than a week ago, although the remaining snow is denser. The Tower Trail is really packed down now and pretty icy. Up around the tower most of the snow was only maybe 4" deep and I found a box without clues just poking around. Was able to walk on top of most of the snow up there, breaking through occasionally.

I'm just wondering how much chiseling I would need to do to get down to boxes with my whammy bar.

Wait, ummm...isn't a whammy bar a device on an electric guitar? How could that help you dig?

Right now it's not digging through SNOW I'd be concerned about. I think the ground's too frozen to really get at anything. On Sunday my boyfriend and I went to Crandall Park in Tolland to look for a letterbox. We were able to locate it, but we just couldn't lift the small stone that was covering it out of the ground. Guess I'll have to come back when the ground's thawed out--which will be when, May?

Tried for Charlotte's Web Hitchhiker Hostel yesterday, but I couldn't even see the four rocks mentioned in the clue, let alone trying to find the box. Will have to go back another day, when I do Friends of the Giant.

I was able to get Cheers for Red, White and Blue yesterday. No snow cover on the rocks on the box, so it was extremely easy to find.

We took Blue Trail from Chestnut Lane, up to Red Square, down to Mansion Rd, and then backtracked back to Violet, and back to Chestnut Lane. There was only one box on this section that I needed (Cheers for RWB), so it was a good choice for a very snowy day! Yaktrax or shoe spikes are essential for hiking right now on the Giant, as is a hiking stick so you can be sure of your footing. It was still a little icy (especially on Red Square on the north side of the park), even though it was over freezing and the icy snow was softening up a little bit.

I'm not sure if we will be able to get any boxes for another few weeks or so (though this weekend's 50 degree temps should help a lot!). Stay tuned! I am putting our conquest of the Giant up on my blog if anyone wants to see how we're doing it.

BB

I went to that box the other day to drop off a HH and even I couldn't find it. It's MY box! stepping off the trail to hunt around got me buried up to the knee in ice crusted snow which cut my leg right through my pants. I'll go back in a few weeks.
Kathy

Well I plan to try Friends of the Giant Saturday starting around noon, will head for 2nd box of Add 7 in Dog Years and depending on success and trail conditions will decide what next, may head back to Chestnut St and migrate to main entrance to take tower trail up to the Tribute box.

which cut my leg right through my pants

I think people who are dismissive about the snow icon are from areas that do not have this type of snow. If you live in an area that is further north and gets mostly powder, it's no big deal to just go out and explore looking for boxes. If you live further south, you just wait a few days for it to melt. But if you live in Connecticut, you have to go months with the ground covered in icy concrete.