Rand's View

My New England Hiking Guide calls Rand's View, a hilly spot in the northwest corner of Connecticut where the forest opens to a long view of prairie, countryside, and distant ridges, "the nicest view along the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut." It goes on to editorialize that "that's a big claim." WHAT? Anyone who has been to Connecticut (or more likely, driven through it) knows that it is neither very large nor very mountainous, and c'mon, it boasts only 52 miles of the Appalachian Trail's 2,178. 20 fewer miles than New Jersey, for heaven's sake! I can only think that the poor guy who wrote the book was tired and completely tapped out of good adjectives by the time he got to Connecticut, being the last of the New England states he hiked. Nevertheless, my new hiking buddy Audra and I put our skepticism aside and headed up there one late fall Sunday.

We were encouraged by the surrounding countryside, which we had the opportunity to fully critique while wandering around lost in it:


Rand's View could very well be the nicest view along the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut. It's definitely the nicest part of the 2.6 miles I've hiked. That peak on the left is Jug End, to which we would hike if we were the sorts to hike the Appalachian Trail. That is Mt. Greylock in the distance, 50 miles north in Massachusetts:


Audra, making her way back down: