Previous years: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022
Seventh annual review, inching closer to a decade of work now. Your ongoing readership, unwavering support, questions, and shared tales of adventure really enrich this whole journey for me. Thank you for being an integral part of this growing guide.
My top recommended hikes of 2023:
- The deep woods pond and cabin at Dismal Brook
- The quartz cave at Hidden Valley
- The south end of the Mattatuck Trail
Stats
I’ll be honest, this year amidst all the other goings-on of life my focus shifted away from exploreCT, which meant a fair bit less work on the site this year.
Despite being a step back here are some notable stats:
- I’m at 24.3% of the state explored, that’s 483 out of 1,984 locations
- 100% of Windham County
- 82% of Tolland County
- 37% of New London County
- 22% of Middlesex County
- 21% of Hartford County
- 10% of Litchfield County
- 6% of New Haven County
- 2% of Fairfield County
- Explored 100 locations exactly this year, 53 new to me and 47 I’d been before
- Added 88 locations to the map. Every town has at least a barebones Town Page and about 60 of 169 have fairly complete exploration lists.
Looking Back at 2023
What Went Well
Oof, slim pickings here for the first time since I started the site. I’d say the modest win here is that the site stayed on trend. Sure, no major leaps forward, but also no major setbacks either. This is a marathon not a sprint and I’d say we’re holding strong.
What Didn’t Go Well
I had a lot of big plans at the end of 2022. Fresh off a year of heavy exploration, completing Windham County, imbued with feedback from that summer survey – I had every intention of diving head first into every idea I had for exploreCT. I expected to launch my Community platform, finish Tolland County, and really put a dent in making this guide more complete.
I’ll give myself a half point on the dent, but basically proceeded on a linear trend. I hiked, I wrote, I trimmed some code, I published a couple movies and a couple newsletters. But, all way short of my ambitions. Lets chalk up the disparity between ambition and achievement as a lesson on the balancing of aspirations and practicalities looking forward.
Looking Forward to 2024
We’re bringing exploreCT back into focus for 2024.
Maybe just a little sprint 😉
I commit to finishing Tolland County, hiking the Connecticut section of the New England Trail, and publishing twelve movies. The Community platform is ready to go live for all to use. I’ve set up a subscription service at $12 a year for those looking to really dig into all the state has to offer with me. I’m also testing out an AI powered chat that runs off my exploreCT database to help pick hikes and answer questions about them.
Time for me to sign off and turn this talk into action, let’s see where 2024 can take us, follow along. Happy New Year and happy exploring!