Green Falls Pond LbNA #9208
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Nearby Boxes
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Add Location| Owner: | DrewFamily    |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jan 1, 1990 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Voluntown |
| County: | New London |
| State: | Connecticut |
| Boxes: | 4 |
| Found by: | Nairon (3) |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Mar 29, 2014 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFFFFFaFFFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Jan 1, 1990 |
September 2010: These old boxes are in sad disrepair. We'll try and freshen them up soon. Box 4 is likely missing.
Revised 6/15/01 due to trail closures...
This one is a treat! 3½ miles over a captivating section of the Narragansett Trail. Allow 1½ hours for hiking and 2 hours for lingering, for a series of 5 letterboxes. The first stretch involves a spectacular trail that is narrow along cliff edges, loosely rocky, and requires leaping over a stream.
Directions: On scenic CT Rte. 49 in Voluntown, CT, midway between Routes 138 and 216 (just north of the striking and historic First Baptist Church at the intersection of Rte. 49 and Wyassup Lake Rd), turn east on Sand Hill Rd. Follow as it winds through a farm and turns to dirt (we've often walked the 0.3 mile-long dirt portion in winter)1.6 miles. You'll see the blue blazed Narragansett Trail enter from the right and will follow a few blazes to the bottom of the hill where the trail cuts left (north) back into the woods. Park just beyond, over the rise, in the excellent pull out. Cross the road and follow the blue blazed Narragansett Trail heading north along the Green Falls River.
Follow the forest path to a giant cairn. The Giant Cairn Letterbox is wedged in the cliff at 300° behind it. Now continue up the trail , the beginning of one of the sweetest stretches in Connecticut. Cut through the ledges and cross to the eastern shore of the small river to follow the path up the cool, green ravine to the Green Falls Pond dam. This upland pond is a quiet, unspoiled gem.
From the dam, continue briefly with the blue trail to turn right and step uphill. At a rooty trail section, double back south briefly on an unmarked trail above the pond until you are exactly lined up with the wooden footbridge over the dam. There is a rock on the left (east) with veins of quartz, and a little farther up the slope, on a bearing of 070 degrees, is the Green Falls Dam Letterbox, tucked into the southwest side of a balanced rock facing the bridge.
Continue with the blue-blazed trail for a two mile, counterclockwise loop around the pond. The loop trail is inconsistently blazed in blue with an orange dot. You'll cross along another distinctive dam to a three-way intersection. Take the footpath at 300° and soon pass a fisherman's campfire site. A short way further, after a waist high boulder on the right, find another, smaller lookout. Check in a crack down on the south-southeast side a few steps off-trail, behind a heavyish rock, for the Fisherman's Point Letterbox. Rehide well!
Fork left after the point onto a faint path to hug the shore, then left again when the blue trail rejoins. Swing a bit east past a couple of faint coves: the first cove ends in a nice mound of rock for a look out. At the second cove, cross a small stream and bend northwest, passing by some open rock, before coming to yet another lookout. This one is a jumble of rocks cascading down to the pond just opposite a small island. The first dam at the bottom of the pond bears 210° and you can see a swimming beach through the trees at 320°. There is a large, flaky-barked chestnut with roots entwined in rock a few steps in on your left. To the right and behind it, crawl a half-body length into laurel to find the Northern Pond Letterbox. This one too needs most careful rehiding from prying eyes. It has been hard for lots of people to find: if you pass a standing concrete pipe on the trail, you've gone to far and missed the spot for the cascading jumble.
Continue up the trail, passing the concrete pipe on-end, to the dirt road. Turn left (west), and pass the campground before curving southwards past beach and boat launch. Follow the orange-dot trail along the road, passing a wood-gated parking area on the left as road sweeps right, and finally turn left, west again, onto trail. Walk steeply downhill to smooth swimming rocks and turn right at the water to come to the northern tip of a long pretty cove. Make a small stream crossing and scramble a few feet up a steep-to slab of upended stone over the cove. A larger, cascading stream crossing is just ahead. From the rooty path at the upended stone, bushwack about 12 steps northwest along the little ridge to a cleft on the right: the Last Green Falls Pond Letterbox is in rocks to the north-northwest.
Now cross that second stream and walk down to the first dam: head south again, back through the gorge to your car. Hope you enjoyed the new letterboxes at Green Falls Pond!
Revised 6/15/01 due to trail closures...
This one is a treat! 3½ miles over a captivating section of the Narragansett Trail. Allow 1½ hours for hiking and 2 hours for lingering, for a series of 5 letterboxes. The first stretch involves a spectacular trail that is narrow along cliff edges, loosely rocky, and requires leaping over a stream.
Directions: On scenic CT Rte. 49 in Voluntown, CT, midway between Routes 138 and 216 (just north of the striking and historic First Baptist Church at the intersection of Rte. 49 and Wyassup Lake Rd), turn east on Sand Hill Rd. Follow as it winds through a farm and turns to dirt (we've often walked the 0.3 mile-long dirt portion in winter)1.6 miles. You'll see the blue blazed Narragansett Trail enter from the right and will follow a few blazes to the bottom of the hill where the trail cuts left (north) back into the woods. Park just beyond, over the rise, in the excellent pull out. Cross the road and follow the blue blazed Narragansett Trail heading north along the Green Falls River.
Follow the forest path to a giant cairn. The Giant Cairn Letterbox is wedged in the cliff at 300° behind it. Now continue up the trail , the beginning of one of the sweetest stretches in Connecticut. Cut through the ledges and cross to the eastern shore of the small river to follow the path up the cool, green ravine to the Green Falls Pond dam. This upland pond is a quiet, unspoiled gem.
From the dam, continue briefly with the blue trail to turn right and step uphill. At a rooty trail section, double back south briefly on an unmarked trail above the pond until you are exactly lined up with the wooden footbridge over the dam. There is a rock on the left (east) with veins of quartz, and a little farther up the slope, on a bearing of 070 degrees, is the Green Falls Dam Letterbox, tucked into the southwest side of a balanced rock facing the bridge.
Continue with the blue-blazed trail for a two mile, counterclockwise loop around the pond. The loop trail is inconsistently blazed in blue with an orange dot. You'll cross along another distinctive dam to a three-way intersection. Take the footpath at 300° and soon pass a fisherman's campfire site. A short way further, after a waist high boulder on the right, find another, smaller lookout. Check in a crack down on the south-southeast side a few steps off-trail, behind a heavyish rock, for the Fisherman's Point Letterbox. Rehide well!
Fork left after the point onto a faint path to hug the shore, then left again when the blue trail rejoins. Swing a bit east past a couple of faint coves: the first cove ends in a nice mound of rock for a look out. At the second cove, cross a small stream and bend northwest, passing by some open rock, before coming to yet another lookout. This one is a jumble of rocks cascading down to the pond just opposite a small island. The first dam at the bottom of the pond bears 210° and you can see a swimming beach through the trees at 320°. There is a large, flaky-barked chestnut with roots entwined in rock a few steps in on your left. To the right and behind it, crawl a half-body length into laurel to find the Northern Pond Letterbox. This one too needs most careful rehiding from prying eyes. It has been hard for lots of people to find: if you pass a standing concrete pipe on the trail, you've gone to far and missed the spot for the cascading jumble.
Continue up the trail, passing the concrete pipe on-end, to the dirt road. Turn left (west), and pass the campground before curving southwards past beach and boat launch. Follow the orange-dot trail along the road, passing a wood-gated parking area on the left as road sweeps right, and finally turn left, west again, onto trail. Walk steeply downhill to smooth swimming rocks and turn right at the water to come to the northern tip of a long pretty cove. Make a small stream crossing and scramble a few feet up a steep-to slab of upended stone over the cove. A larger, cascading stream crossing is just ahead. From the rooty path at the upended stone, bushwack about 12 steps northwest along the little ridge to a cleft on the right: the Last Green Falls Pond Letterbox is in rocks to the north-northwest.
Now cross that second stream and walk down to the first dam: head south again, back through the gorge to your car. Hope you enjoyed the new letterboxes at Green Falls Pond!