Larkin Bridle Trail Letterbox
Another Bike It or Hike It
Will post as both an attachment and copy and paste.

Bill & Craig














LARKIN BRIDLE TRAIL LETTERBOX:

NAUGATUCK, CONNECTICUT


-BIKE IT OR HIKE IT-


Planted: May 22, 2002

Length: Route 63 parking lot to Kettletown Road; 10.7 miles

Route 63 parking lot to Letterbox; 1 mile

Difficulty: Moderate. Flat hard packed surface.

Mountain bike recommended if biking.

Directions: Take exit 17 off of I84.

Westbound; the exit drops you onto Route 64 West. At the junction of Route 63, turn

left onto Route 63 South. After you cross underneath the I84 underpass continue on for

miles. Spot a brown sign on your right that says "Larkin State Bridle Trail". A small

gravel parking lot is just off the road.

Eastbound; At the end of the exit ramp, take a right onto Route 63 South. Travel 2.1

miles. See directions above.

The Larkin Bridle Trail is along a former rail bed. Built in 1881, the New York and New England Railroad ran between western Connecticut and New York. It was abandoned in 1939. In 1943, Charles Larkin gifted the rail bed to the state for use as a bridle trail. Horses, bikers and hikers now share the trail.

The trail runs in a mostly east-west direction for 10.7 miles. Starting in the East at the Route 63 parking lot, a short trail brings you from the parking lot to bridle trail. As you head West, the trail gradually climbs to Towantic Hill, about halfway, then gradually slopes downward to Kettletown Road. The first couple of miles, the trail is a wide, smooth, hard packed surface. It then narrows and has rougher surfaces, best navigated with a mountain bike. It passes through typical Connecticut woodland and rises high above the land where fill was added for the railroad. The Western end is more open, with wetland, a powerline crossing and a nearby small airport. Please use caution at road crossings, as there are no crosswalks.