Jim and Emma at the Vista

The beech grove at Devils Hopyard

The long climb at Devils Hopyard

Emma and Will in the Devils Oven

Devils Hopyard, A New Destination

The last day of calendar winter was cool, but mostly sunny and we decided to check out a new place in Connecticut. We hopped in the car and drove an hour south to Devil's Hopyard State Park, located in East Haddam on the Eightmile River. It was one of those places that has been on our list of places to see but we had not managed to get there yet. The gates were not yet open for the season, so we found parking on the roadside, not far from the entrance, along with quite a few other people who wanted a day outdoors.

It was quite scenic along the trail with lots of grey moss-covered rocks, a beech grove, acres of native mountain laurel in many places along the trail. I had my first view of skunk cabbage coming to life along a wet stream and saw lots of evergreen ferns in the shade of the trees and on the mossy rocks. We were looking for the Devils Oven that was on the map, and had to circle the loop trail twice before we found it. Despite the myth, it seemed nothing more than a big overhang of rock alongside the trail. We were told there were unusual markings in the rock that could not have been made by man, but we didn't see them. We'll have to look again next time. We did find the 'vista', which was a pleasing view of the Eightmile River meandering along the river valley far below. It was a great thing to do on a beautiful Saturday in March.