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Waterfalls Three (A SERIES RESTORED) LbNA #68216

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Mar 17, 2015
Location: East Rock Park
City:Hamden
County:New Haven
State:Connecticut
Boxes:3
Planted by:Skip & TJ
Found by: mattyfungos (3)
Last found:Nov 14, 2015
Status:FF
Last edited:Nov 15, 2015
(This hike is certain to provide you with waterfowl sightings and wonderful views. But you will enjoy them most if you visit before or after the mosquito season!)

DIRECTIONS:
RT 15 (Wilbur Cross Parkway) to Exit 61. Head about 3 miles South on Whitney Avenue, looking for the Eli Whitney Museum and Water Workshop on the left.

CLUES:
From the Museum parking lot, make your way through to the Covered bridge. The first thing you will see is a stone building with red windows. But don’t go there. Take your first right path along the river. There are information boards about songbirds and watersheds. Soon you will be walking on a long berm. Keep going until you cross a short wooden bridge. Take your first left soon afterwards and turn NE. This is the running trail, and you will see runner signs with numbers. Stop just before a split rail fence on both sides. Then head up a side trail to the right just before the fence.

See the roots on those beech trees on your left, neat huh? Next you will find yourself at an intersection. Turn left and head up paralleling a street on the right. When you go through the guardrail to the street, head toward the pile of stones and stone wall on the left, and go down another path to view the Whitney Falls. As you return up from the falls, look up at the guardrail and count four of the upright stanchions, starting from the right and counting to the left. Below the fourth stanchion, hidden in the rock rampart is the WHITNEY FALLS LETTERBOX. Hide it again completely.

Now head back to the road and CAREFULLY cross to the other side, going up the stairs to the blue trail (which is also blazed yellow). Climb up the winding trail. Soon you will come to a T intersection with a 6-foot stump ahead of you in the woods. Remember this stump because it is your turn for the way back down. Turn right 10 paces to a Y intersection, and continue ascending to the left. When you come to the next intersection, look to your left to see a stone rampart supporting the trail as it climbs and curves. Walk along the base of the rampart, counting three thin trees. Just before the third thin tree, hidden in the rampart wall, you will find the EAST ROCK LETTERBOX. Hide it again completely.

(Here is where the original Waterfalls gave you an option to continue climbing or return to the beech trees at the beginning of the trail. But the view from the peak is 360 degrees and well-worth the climb. And so we have relocated the last box up there.)

The interweaving blue and yellow trails are a little tricky here. But you are OK if you continue to climb rather than descend. You are aiming for the peak of the ridge, and it is very visible. Get to the top and enjoy a rare panoramic view. When you are ready to descend, look for a trail on your right that you probably missed because you were anxious to get to the peak. It curves and descends around to the other side of the summit. As you start to curve on this trail, you will see a stump on your right. And to the left of the stump, a SPOR (suspicious pile of rocks). The COVERED BRIDGE LETTERBOX is hidden in a shallow cave behind the rocks. Please hide again completely. Turn around, and hike back to the real covered bridge and the Museum Parking lot.