367 acres in Killingly, CT
Parking:
Trail Map Trails: 3 miles Rating: ★★★★☆
The main feature of Old Furnace State Park is Ross Cliffs, a tall cliff edge, rare in eastern CT. With many trails, Old Furnace is a great hiking spot in this corner of the state with great views as well as opportunities for fishing, boating, and rock climbing.
As you’ll see if you watch the movie below, I often treat this park as a kind of choose your own adventure. It is one of my favorite spots to bring someone for a couple mile hike. I’ll ask them if they want to start at the main trailhead and take the longer hike in or start near Ross Pond and take the steep hike right up to the cliffs.
From the main parking area, the trail heads downhill towards Fall Brook. An easy jump over the brook offers trails heading off in several directions but there is a new bridge freshly built in January 2023 for more conventional hikers. I recommend following the brook downstream just a bit below the bridge to catch the small waterfall before following the main trail towards Lower Ross Pond. Though you could follow the stream up a bit for a couple peaceful areas next to tiny cascades.
Well worn trails through this area all lead past a massive old tree and then a bridge, built around 2014. A freshly blazed orange trail winds 0.63 miles gradually uphill past numerous mushroom covered trees to rejoin the main trail just north of the cliff overlooks.
However if you continue straight off this bridge at the next fork you can choose the right fork to walk through high pines or left to get the low pond view. Either will bring you around to the cliffs but there will be a steep climb either way.
The cliffs are about 500 feet of ridgeline with one main viewing area and a handful of smaller spots. The view east looks over the bowl of Lower Ross Pond to the next set of hills over a dramatic 100′ drop. You’ll often have to share this popular overlook with other hikers or increasingly, mountain bikers.
From the Ross Pond parking area or from the pond trails you can also walk the base of the cliffs for a different experience, there are rough, but increasingly well maintained, trails thanks to the spot’s popularity for rock climbing. If you’re feeling helpful bring a trash bag and grab some of the trash thrown from the cliffs.
A CFPA maintained trail also continues to the park’s southern border along Squaw Rock Rd into the adjacent Ross Pond State Park.
There is along history of rock climbing here dating back to the 1950s. The main sport route ‘La Mesa’ was chopped by a disgruntled local after the route was featured in Rock and Ice Magazine in April 2013. Thankfully a number of sport routes have been rebolted and there are plenty of top rope and trad climb options.
Established as a state park in 1918 and expanded in 1963 with the addition of the ‘Ross Camp’ area, it was the site of a furnace along Fall Brook.
Peter Marteka – A Strenuous, But Rewarding Hike At Killingly’s Old Furnace State Park (2015)
New England Mountain Biking Association – Old Furnace State Park
ClimbRI – Ross Rocks
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450 S Frontage Rd, Danielson, CT 06239, USA
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