Troop 54 returned to Pachaug State Forest in Voluntown, Connecticut, for our first time since March 2011. This backpacking trip was our first since December 2016.
After a late start (almost 10:00 AM) we hiked about seven miles in on Saturday, following the Pachaug Trail most of the day and the Nehantic Trail toward the end. We camped at the Dry Reservoir shelter. On Sunday, we followed the Nehantic Trail until we got to the Nehantic Quabaug Connector Trail and then stayed on Breakneck Hill Road until it reached Hell Hollow Road, less than one mile from where the cars were parked (next to Hell Hollow Pond). See our actual trail as recorded by Joshua Froimson:
My Maps -
map uploaded into Google My Maps
GPX file
We had four Boy Scouts and two leaders participating in this trip.
The temperature started at about 22°F when we hit the trail, rising into the 30's on Saturday. It hit a low of 21 overnight and then warmed to about 46 on Sunday. The best thing about the weather was that it did not rain.
Water from the stream near our camp site was a bit brown with tannin from leaves, although not the worst we have seen (and tasted). We remembered to dump out our water containers before going to bed to avoid ending up with blocks of ice to carry out.
The Scouts cooked macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner (roasting the hot dogs over the camp fire). The Scouts slept in the trail shelter, and the leaders used their tents.
This was the troop's 107th consecutive month with at least one overnight camping trip.
Page updated 6/5/21
J. Froimson
