2021

2021 Year in Exploration

Other Years: 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Stats

• 65 locations explored
• 156,419 views to the site
• 1285 hours of my movies watched on YouTube
• 3 TV interviews for WFSB
• 1 podcast on Backyard Road Trips
• Several hundred pages delisted from Google Search and a few hundred brought back

The story of ExploreCT’s 2021 falls into two halves.  The first half was firing on all cylinders exploring new places, updating the site, writing newsletters, making movies, and befriending new people.  The second half saw the site be delisted by Google for not loading fast enough according to their updated ‘Core Web Vitals’ and a resulting massive drop in traffic.  It was technical to fix and I don’t think fully resolved but Google’s algorithms have made connections back to my site.

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January

• Pequot Trail
• Halls Pond
• Boston Turnpike Trail
• Nathaniel Lyon State Park
• Read Connecticut Woodlands
• Read Boundary Disputes of Connecticut

February

• Bigelow Hollow
• Legend Wood

March

• Pigeon Swamp
• Kongscut Mountain and Phillips Cave
• Schmid Overlook
• Rock Spring Preserve
• Kinne Preserve
• Manship Park
• Spignesi WMA
• Beaver Brook State Park

April

• Benton Homestead
• Luce Conservation Area
• Schindler/Schmidt Conservation Area
• Soapstone Mountain

May

• Mamacoke Island
• Scantic River East State Park
• Windsor Meadows State Park
• Penwood State Park
• Quaddick State Park and Forest
• Hollister Preserve
• Goodwin Trail

June

• Mansfield Hollow
• Halls Pond
• Bear Den
• Knowlton Hill Preserve
• Macricostas Preserve
• Steep Rock Preserve

July

• Talbot WMA
• Pease Brook WMA
• Bear Hill WMA
• Zemko Pond WMA
• Nehantic Trail

August

• Paddled the Mystic River
• Two Sister’s Preserve
• Rock Spring
• Narragansett Trail: Green Fall Pond
• Hoffman Evergreen Preserve
• Whitney Forest
• Spiderweed Preserve
• Scovill Loop Trails

September

• Paddled Bigelow Hollow
• Moss Sanctuary
• Old Furnace State Park

October

• All hikes outside CT

November

• Hyde Park
• Boothroyd Preserve
• Crystal Peat Conservation Area

December

• Lombardi Ridge Preserve and Bobcat Woods

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