Connecticut Section Hike - number of days?

[redseal]

4 nights should be fine. I recommend staying at Riga. It has some nice views. Watch out for rattlesnakes! I did not see a single rattlesnake in the usual areas (i.e. MD, PA, NJ) but did see them in CT.

[Old Grouse]

It's worth remembering that the AT station in Pawling is only served on weekends. On weekdays you need to go to or from the Pawling station a couple of miles south of where the AT crosses Rte 22.

[BillyGr]

One thing I didn't see is that while you can access the CT/NY line fairly easily via the Hoyt Road parking area just on the NY side, there is no such "close" road access to the CT/MA line (being it's in the Sages Ravine area and seems to now be demarcated by the stream and the welcome to MA just after crossing it - I thought there used to be a sign further south before entering the ravine?).

Assuming you are going Northbound and using the stream as the line, you'd have to backtrack 2 ish miles to the Paradise Lane (to Undermountain) Trail or continue on to Race Brook Falls Trail (probably 4ish mi) to get out. Either of these takes you to 41. Obviously if going south, you'd have to start from one of these points.

So unless the extra 2 miles is an issue (the side trails are probably similar in length), it might make sense to start/end with Race Brook rather than backtracking (and enjoy that trail/falls as well).

Just as a P.S. - we've had a several Scouts do a 20 mile (long day into darkness) day hike on the southern portion of this (NY to the end of the "flat" section) if that helps any - figure teenagers with some hiking experience, but not necessarily having done lots of "training" hikes recently before the 20 mile one, and only day packs.

[AngryGerman]

24hrs! From my experience the CT challenge is harder, IMO, than the 4 state challenge because you are forever walking up and down those blasted hills rather than spending a bunch of miles up on the ridges! The last 20 miles or so to NY is a breeze and if you are in shape you can smoke it. Unfortunately you will not be site seeing a whole bunch however there is a beautiful spot to take a nap above the Limerock race track!

[Another Kevin]

One thing I didn't see is that while you can access the CT/NY line fairly easily via the Hoyt Road parking area just on the NY side, there is no such "close" road access to the CT/MA line (being it's in the Sages Ravine area and seems to now be demarcated by the stream and the welcome to MA just after crossing it - I thought there used to be a sign further south before entering the ravine?).

If you can arrange a shuttle, there's about a half-dozen cars' worth of parking at the snowplow turnaround on Mount Washington Road just north of the state line by the AMC camp. It's a short blue-blaze on the state line trail from there to a junction very close to Sages Ravine, or you can take the beeline trail up to the summit of Bear Mountain. Those trails are open to the public. AMC and the YMCA have posted where you're not supposed to go.