Don’t forget your boots!! Or hiking Soapstone

Early this morning we decided to go do a short hike in Somers, Ct up to Soapstone Mountain.  It is about a 45 minute drive from our house.  Thirty minutes into the drive, I realized I left my hiking shoes at home.  A big oops. I just hopped in the car on the passenger side with my socks on and made sure we had everything else such as after-hike coconut water, snacks, flip-flops and the most important item ice cream money with us.  Guess my mind was thinking more about after hike than the actual hike.

After turning around, picking up the shoes and returning to the road we made it to the trailhead about an hour and half later.  The hike starts in the Shenispsit State Forest off of Gulf Road.  It has a nice sized parking lot.   We started on the blue blazed trail, then connected to the yellow marked trail.  This was a nice easy trail with informational signs scattered throughout.

We left the yellow and returned to the blue and followed the Shenispsit trail until it crossed the road.  At this point we turned left on the road and continued on it for a short bit.

We then turned left back on the blue which would lead us up to Soapstone.  The trail for us was fairly easy.  We were missing hiking the White Mountains and lamenting how this trail was not a challenge for us.  Well that soon ended.  A quarter-mile from the tower at Soapstone, we hit the part of the trail that seemed  White Mountainish.  We rejoiced.  This section had a steady incline and even a bit of rock slab. We hiked up 300 feet in a quarter-mile.

After that we popped out at the tower.  The tower had beautiful views.  Glad we turned around to get my boots and didn’t abandon the notion of hiking here today.

We didn’t continue the way we came up, instead followed the trail down to the parking lot.  This way down was easy and not nearly as fun as the way we went up.  If you want a straight shot up to the Soapstone tower this is the way to go, it is about .4 miles and not a taxing hike.

Overall we completed 3.4 miles in an hour and 27 minutes with an average speed of 2.3 miles.  If you are looking for a short hike with a rewarding view and not terribly strenuous, I would recommend this one. And remember don’t forget your shoes!!