Walk Through Geologic Time Letterboxes

Two (2) easy letterboxes placed on April 21, 2001 at Dinosaur State Park
in Rocky Hill, CT (Hartford County) by S.Pike and "Frogger".

Information: The park maintains two and a half miles of nature trails.
The trails are open year-round from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Pets are
not allowed on the nature trails. This is a perfect walk that all ages
can enjoy. Trails are well marked and often gravel-lined. These trails
appear to be heavily traveled, stamp in and re-hide secretly.

Directions: Dinosaur State Park is located in central Connecticut,
approximately 1 mile east of Exit 23, off I-95 in Rocky Hill.

Clues: Park in the designated lot and "walk through geologic time"
toward the 40-foot geodesic dome of the Exhibit Center. The Exhibit
Center houses part of an actual dinosaur trackway, unearthed in 1966
while excavating for a building. The tracks remain as they were made
over 200 million years ago. While no skeletal remains of the maker of
these large three-toed tracks have been found, the fossil tracks have
been named Eubrontes and designated Connecticut's state fossil. You may
also wish to visit the outdoor casting area where you can make plaster
casts of real negative dinosaur tracks (although you must bring your own
casting supplies).

To the left of the Exhibit Center is a large trail map and information
booth where portable trail maps may be obtained. (Ask for trail maps in
the Exhibit Center if the booth is closed.) As this was our first visit
to the park, our clues take you along a circuitous route through the
trails. With the help of the trail map, one may find a more direct
route to these letterboxes.

Our trek begins at the information booth behind the Amphitheater.
Follow the Red Trail for a short way, passing a right-hand turn-off to a
swampy observation platform (kids will want to stop and look for frogs),
and bending right to pass over a bridge over a swampy stream. Continue
to the intersection of Red and Yellow marked by a large fallen tree and
choose Yellow. Follow Yellow to the three-way intersection of Red,
Orange and Yellow, marked by large broken chunks of basaltic rock.
Follow the Orange Trail on the left. Eventually, Orange will cross an
access road and you will cross with it and proceed up the stairs. When
Orange comes to a "T", continue to the right and pass through an open,
grassy meadow. When you reach a "Y" in the trail, choose the left fork
and walk along with the flow (when running) of a swampy stream through
another open meadow. Shortly after rounding the bend on this
counter-clockwise Orange loop you will notice a "nooning tree" to the
right of the trail and it's large severed limb lying beside it. At this
tree, proceed approximately 15 steps off the trail to the left (240),
keeping the wood/brush pile to your right, to a small group of flat
rocks. In a crevasse behind one of the larger rocks, the Trilobite
Letterbox is hidden.

After stamping in, return to the Orange Trail and continue along your
original heading. At the "Y" that began this loop, choose the path to
the left and stroll back through the grassy meadow. Shortly, you will
encounter the familiar "T"; take the right leg (340). This branch of
the Orange Trail ascends slightly, back to and across the access road.
When you return to the Red, Orange, Yellow intersection, take the Yellow
Trail back to it's intersection with Red at the fallen tree. Follow the
Red Trail to the left (320). The Red Trail passes through a more swampy
area; this section of trail may be wet, seasonally. Where Yellow joins
Red at an intersection marked by a clean-cut stump and an identified red
oak, continue straight on Red. The next trail junction is that of Red
and Blue. If you are hiking with kids, they will probably want to
detour over the Red Trail's 300-foot boardwalk through the red maple
swamp; our journey, however, is along the Blue Trail. Pass by the
Yellow Trail on your left and continue for a time along the Blue Trail
which parallels a traprock ridge. The basaltic rock here is evidence of
the hot lava that eventually covered the watery habitat of the
dinosaur. (When we planted these boxes, this ridge was covered with
beautiful drifts of wildflowers - bloodroot, trout lillies, and
Dutchman's britches.) Soon you will come to a bench overlooking a
valley with a rocky drop on the right side of the trail. Approximately
20 steps from the bench is the head of a stone wall. Continue along the
rocky outcrop on Blue as it bends to the right to meet and pass thorugh
that same stone wall. In the wall, on the right side of the trail where
it passes through the stone wall is hidden the Eubrontes Trail
Letterbox.

Stamp in secretly as you may be seen from the bench overlook above or by
those approaching from the opposite direction. Return to Blue and
continue on to complete a clockwise loop. This section of the trail
takes you over a planked walk through a swampy area to a grassy orchard
close to West Street. Stop and check out the bat shelter! The Blue
Trail continues over a small bridge and past a bench before entering
another open, grassy meadow and branches left to lead to the butterfly
and native plant gardens.