238 acres in East Haddam, CT
Parking: Medium sized lot near 81 Mill Rd, East Haddam, CT
Trail Map Trails: 5 miles Rating: ★★☆☆☆
On my first visit to Cave Hill I met Stu, a member of the East Haddam Land Trust, who happened to be sitting at the overlook and as we chatted I asked if he had any recommendations for my next visit. He suggested the Hatch Lot so I made that my final stop of the day.
I headed out on the red trail from the parking lot quickly reaching the remains of the former Parker Rd. A No Trespassing sign is directly in front of the path, but really just warns not to go off the trail beyond it. It soon met up with the blue trail and I decided to take that straight up to the overlook.
The blue trail is wide and easy walking. Though the contour lines on the trail map appear intimidating the trail is actually fairly gradual up to the overlook over a half mile. The overlook is a wide clearing with views south. There are standing stones arranged as part of a Franklin Academy Capstone Project dating to 2016. There is also a small firepit and picnic table.
From the overlook I headed into the Dean Easement before taking a combination of the white, green, and red trails back to the trailhead parking. These trails weren’t as well maintained and not as easy to follow but blazes kept me on track and there was a killer hill on the red section.
The Hatch Lot was preserved in 2013 when it was purchased from Mauricio and Patricia Pages by the Town of East Haddam.
Peter Marteka – Hatch A Plan to Visit East Haddam Preserve (2015)
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