The "Grinning Ninny" box is so named because of the stamp's
image, a face with big round eyes and a big toothy grin.
Difficulty: medium, mostly on trails, round trip from parking area is
1.3 miles.
Location:Brooksvale Recreation Park, Hamden, CT. The park is on the
West side of Brooksvale Avenue. Enter the driveway with the sign that
says "Veteran's Memorial Building". Drive all the way to the end, and
park in the small parking lot. Before (or after) going to find the
box, you may want to visit the geese at the pond just East of the
parking lot. To the East of the pond, there are sheep, goats, etc. in
fenced in areas (goats! awesome!). On the South side of the red barn,
weather permitting, ther may be rabbits on display (rabbits! Way
cool!).
But the real action is in the forest to the West. From the North
end of the pond, go West through the open area to the hilltop. Follow
the trail North-West. It runs roughly parallel to a small stream.
Whenever you get to a junction, keep to the left to stay near the
stream. When you have gone about 1/4 mile, the trail crosses the
stream. You climb a long hill (going South-West), and on reaching the
top, another trail cuts accross. Turn right (North-West). (Turning
left is a short cut back to the parking lot.) Walk down the gentle
slope to the place where you cross the stream again (yes, the same
stream). It may be dried up, but you will recognize it by the
decrepit concrete pipe cutting across the trail. Where the trail
curves toward the South-West, cut into the woods and go due North
(magnetic) some 200 feet or less to a stone wall. When you get to the
West end (where it turns right), continue at 293 degrees up the
hillside to where two stone walls form a corner. There is a gap in
the wall just North of the corner. About 19 feet from the corner,
direction; 313 degrees, there is a tree about 8 inches in diameter.
The box is under a rock about 5 feet before the tree. This rock
sticks up about 3 inches higher than those surrounding it. Remove the
smaller rocks from it's South-West side to expose the Grinning Ninny
box.
You should have no trouble finding your way back to your car from
there. And, you may as well go straight back because this forest is
so uninteresting, except for Brooksvale Stream, 1/3 mile to the North-
West.
P2F2