Talcott Mountain
574 acres in Avon, Bloomfield, and Simsbury, CT
Parking: Lots of parking near 560 Simsbury Rd, Bloomfield, CT
Trail Map Trails: 4 miles Rating: ★★★★★
I’ve hiked here, likely, so have you. Talcott Mountain is one of the most popular state parks in Connecticut. The main attraction is Heublein Tower and it is a 1.2 mile hike with a couple views along the way.
Hiking
There are about 4 miles of trails within the Talcott Mountain property.
Far and away the most popular is the yellow blazed trail leading up from the parking to the tower. The trail is a wide path with a couple steep climbs but routinely completed by all and has great views along the way.
The park also contains a 2.55 mile section of the blue blaze Metacomet / New England Trail. Leaving West Hartford Reservoir the trail climbs steadily on a series of switchbacks, boardwalk shelves, through a utility corridor, and then a long rocky climb to reach the state park property and the Metacomet Ridge. The trail follows the ridge passing the picnic pavilion and a rocky overlook. You’ll past the Avon/Bloomfield/Simsbury tricorner and be within view of the tower. The trail passes the tower briefly overlaps with the yellow entrance trail and then diverges to rejoin the ledge above but parallel to the yellow blazed trail for 0.68 miles.
From here the Metacomet and begins a long descent on rocky switchbacks, what must be some old alternate access road. The trail curls south for a stretch to cross seasonal King Phillip brook, then the powerlines again, then down some more to meet Rt. 185 right across from the Penwood parking lot.
Heading north: Penwood State Park
Heading south: West Hartford Reservoir #6
From the DEEP site,
The 165-foot structure was built as a summer home in 1914 by Gilbert Heublein. In the early fifties, two future presidents were guests of the Hartford Times, then General Dwight D. Eisenhower (who was asked to run for office there) and Ronald Reagan, then president of the Screen Actors’ Guild.
There is a cave here along the ridge line known as King Philip’s cave, but I have yet to explore it myself.
History:
Established as a state park in 1965.
Links:
- Friends of Heublien Tower
- CTMQ – Talcott Mountain State Park Intro (2015)
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Last updated October 28th, 2018
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