Great Day to Have Off

    Last night i got home from work and saw that today was going to be really nice.  Everyday this winter has been nice, but today it was to fall on my day off.  Since Thanks Giving i have had about 5 days off.  On those days i was unable to enjoy myself, mainly due to DMV Emissions testing.  Today, I had to get out and ENJOY IT

The Hearth

   A good buddy of mine and i decided to head up to Collis P. Huntington State Park.  I was there with my wife in the summer and was wanting to make a return trip.  We Got to the park around 10am slung our packs and headed out.  We wanted to check out the ponds in the park first.  To our surprise they still had some ice, amazing!  I was really looking forward to ice fishing their this year but with the weather i am doubting it will happen.  I guess I can look forward to fishing the lake system out of a yak in the spring.  We followed the trail into the hardwoods and started making our way to the ruins of an old house.  The Ruins were marked on the park map in the north end of the park. When we finally found the ruins i could not help but imagine the house that was there years ago.  The location was perfect overlooking a ledge with and area behind it that i am sure was a field.  The Hearth and chimney was still there. some beer bottles littered the ground.  It was a great place to stop and rest after an hour of hiking. 

recent damage to the quarry

    On we went to the next point of Interest.  Down the trail a short way we found an old quarry.  The old quarry was used to mine quartz and mica.  Even today there was evidence of people cutting rocks out.  The State of CT enacted legislation to protect the geological features in the state parks.  Signs were posted explaining the law.  Today it would be against the law to try and take rocks out of the quarry.  We found 2 quarries that were about 40 feet deep and pretty neat.  Chips of rocks were all over and we found some pretty neat stuff.  We soon turned back to lot and headed back to the cars.
 

Mining scraps

     I Highly Recommend Collis P. Huntington State Park.   With in it's 833 acres visitors can hike, fish(5ponds), Canoe, Mountain Bike, Horse Back Riding, and Cross Country Skiing. If you want to do a little exploring there is also some geological features and ruins on the property.  Check out some more pics from my day below.   

I wonder if people sat around this at one time?