Winter Hiking Bear Mountain Reservation in Connecticut
Thanks for stopping by to check out our winter hiking Bear Mountain Reservation adventure! In this adventure we go on a little winter hike in about 10 degrees Fahrenheit weather. Needless to say it was a bit colder than optimal hiking conditions, but we can say we didn’t really work up a sweat. 🙂
NOT SO SMALL AFTERALL
Once getting to this reservation, the parking lot is a decent size. However, on this chilly winter day, we were the only ones there when we arrived. We first headed down the red trail from the parking lot and then took the first left towards the meadow. Very glad we took this route because with the recent snow, the area was just beautiful.
–> BEAR MOUNTAIN RESERVATION TRAIL MAP <–
We decided to get to the highest peak first, thus we kind of cut across the meadow rather than taking the loop as initially discussed in the video.
THE VIOLET TRAIL
The violet trail was the most challenging as far as elevation gain we came across. The yellow still has some elevation gain to get to the peak of the park, but it seemed like the violet trail contained most of the work.
One of the coolest parts about hiking in the winter time is all the extra vistas you get at high points now that the leaves are gone. We could see for miles thru the treeline and surrounding hilly terrain.
FROZEN CANDLEWOOD LAKE
Deanna got some cool photos of a frozen Candlewood Lake just below the hillside. If you go in person the trees seem like they are spread out a bit more and you can see the lake a bit more clearly. It really is a beautiful sight, although I do recommend going on a slightly warmer day if at all possible. 🙂
The peak of the park doesn’t really offer much of a vista unless you do hike in the winter time. I didn’t see any rock clearings to see over the surrounding area. It is all pretty much overgrown at this point, so one more reason to hike during the winter time!
TESTING OUT THE GIMBAL
This was also the first hike I was able to use a gimbal I got around Christmas. Hopefully you noticed a bit smoother footage compared to previous videos, I certainly did. For the most part, I wouldn’t say these trails are incredibly challenging, but there are a few ones here and there with a steep climb or descent.
One of the trails we didn’t take on due to that reason was the orange trail down to Candlewood Lake. I’m sure it would have been a gorgeous view, but with the recently winter weather we wanted to be able to get back up the hill back to the truck. There are portions of the trail where rock can get slick due to any accumulating ice, so be careful!
SUMMARY
Overall, we had a blast exploring Bear Mountain Reservation. We definitely want to come back and check this out in spring or summer in the coming year. If we do, I’ll post a link to that season’s post in this blog post. 🙂 It is always cool seeing different places during different seasons. Sometimes the landscape can do a 180 and totally surprise you with how beautiful it becomes!
OTHER NEARBY HIKES
NOTE FROM WRITER
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Adventure On!
