Airline Trail (Chaplin to Pomfret)

Today I decided to head north on the Airline Trail starting from where I had turned around back in 2023 and ride up to Pomfret. I didn't get started until late afternoon but it was nice and sunny and not brutally hot (for a change!).

At The Start

I started in the middle of nowhere near Chaplin. The reason? This spot was close to where I rode to and turned around on a previous airline trail ride back in 2023. Details >

Ths was the site of the Hampton Train Station

^ Source: Tyler City Station

Nice scenery!

At Pomfret

Informative!!

Where I turned around

Truth be told, I could have kept going on to Putnam but I was really bored at this point! :-)

The ride back....

Stonework

I thought for a second this was an old abandoned caboose, but on closer examination it appeared to be an old horse trailer :-(

Back to where I started

Airline Trail - north from Willimantic

 It was a beautiful day: sunny and not too hot, so I ventured over to Willimantic to continue riding the Airline Trail. I had ridden other sections previously so this was still on my bucket list. 

I had planned on stopping somewhere along the ride to have lunch but it turned there was literally nothing at all anywhere - just wilderness and the occasional rural road to cross. Truth be told it was pretty boring after a while - I wasn't that tired but I turned around finally to find food - even rode off the trail to North Windham but there was nothing nearby! (I ended up chowing down way back in Willimantiic)

It was a barely perceptible climb going north but a blast when I headed back south so I bombed it as much as possible :-)

Highlights from the Ride

Start at Willimantic

Marshland 

Kiosk along the way

Singletrack for a change!

Going under Rt 6

Rough riding - glad I was on the mountain bike!

This next section was rocky...!

I stopped here at a bench and decided to head back

Embankments

I always marvel at how much work was need to build railroads - the embankments were frequent and some were quite high!

Video Summation

The tread changed from pavement to gravel to dirt and then to stone.

Portland - Abandoned Airline RR

Today I decided to hike the abandoned railroad bed in Portland, CT. This stretch was part of the Air Line built way back in 1873 as a more direct route between New York City and Boston.

I parked at the Golf Shop on Rt 66 and hiked up the short hill to get to the flat raised embankment.

Surprisingly, it was well used - probably a favorite of local ATVers.

There were still plenty of railroad ties in the ground!

I even spotted a couple of dinosaurs! <wink>

railroad ties

Ah - a rock cut!
Overgrown for sure but still cool...

There were numerous off shoots of ATV trails. Some of them were apparently old farm or logging roads.

(The trail/rr went straight)

Looking uphill (to the right)
Side  trail offshoot...

Another overgrown rock cut

End of the line

On the way back...

railroad tie

on the side... ?

"snake" vine

I believe--from the amount of chiseled  brownstone boulders strewn along the short climb up from the road--the incline here was much less and tapered possibly with a bridge as well...