Cushetunk Mountain Preserve

Trail begins with a steep incline. Not recommend for beginners. Sturdy shoes are recommended. Some sections of the red trail are over grown and not marked that well. Would definitely recommend using a map app to stay on track. Most trails are nicely marked. Parts of the trail are closed. So check to make sure.

This nature preserve has many hiking trail options from 1mile to 14 mile long. We did the White Trail, Cushetunk Trail, and Blue Trail Loop. This 6 mile trail starting with white, red, blue and yellow trail getting back to parking.
Starting of the hike getting to lake was a bit overgrown and buggy not well maintained. But there were a lot of trails to get to the lake.
The lake was pristine and water amazingly refreshing.
It was soooo green and the ground was filled with white and orange flower petals.... Showing that the green trees had so much flowers just couple weeks back.
When going parallel to the lake the trail became better, although had trees fallen and water logging in few places, overall well marked though and easy to follow the trail.

This is around a 3 miles hiking, if you keep between the red and white colors. Going up on the mountain is just one mile, then you go down other mile and you have a beautiful view of the lake!
I advice %100 hiking here! As a big advice, use tons of repelente so you keep away mosquitos!

It’s medium to a tiny bit difficult but the views at the bottom with the lake is beautiful. The hike was moderately short but it took a bit more energy because of the uphill and downhills. Highly highly recommend!

I found this hike while traveling home to NC from CT. I was getting a little tired of driving and needed to relax. The mountain and trail is next to a huge reservoir. The parking lot was gravel and we'll kept. I got shots of that and the trail map. There were several walking sticks left at the trailhead by the informational sign and map. I'd recommend grabbing one or two if you complete this hike when it's rainy. It was misting today and it made the trail pretty slick because of all the fallen leaves and the mud. The slickness didn't really matter to me until my descent on the way out. The trail begins with a fairly steep, steady climb for about ten to fifteen minutes.

Once you get to the top of the steady initial climb you come to a fork. You can either go left or you can go right and the trail to the right splits into two. I went left to some of the rock peaks I have posted pics of. I assume the trails to the right go closer to the bank of the reservoir as they both started going back down. The trail to the left was a much smaller incline than before as I approached the rock formations and overlooks.

There would be some great views of the reservoir on clear day. I really enjoyed this hike. It got my blood flowing and I only spent an hour there. I could have spent much more time and taken the trails down to the reservoir but had to get back on the road.

One note: The path I took to the left had a couple of pieces of rebar sticking up near some of the rock formations. Keep an eye out for that. I just saw it in one spot. It stuck up about three inches and one of the pieces had been painted pink by the area entity doing the trail upkeep I assume.