Part 1 - Off To The Rhode Island Border… Rough!

Welcome To My Ride!
Well this was quite an adventure. For those who do long distance and self supported bike touring / bike packing, the portion of the trail I explored today will give you a run for your money. My short message is, by all means, if you are traveling the East Coast Greenway (ECG), do not be tempted to ride beyond Pomfret, Connecticut on the Airline Trail… it is not worth the effort. As a linear State Park, I am embarrassed by the condition of the portion trail between Pomfret and Putnam. I will be sending this video to our State Park director. Although my lightly loaded Priority 600 did fine, I kept thinking about how it would have handled the loose gravel and mud it been fully loaded. The only reason I did not get a flat tire was due to my tubeless setup. My front tire was pierced at some point but recovered and held air until I could top it off once I got home.
Other than the surface of the trail, the ride was scenic, relatively flat, with lots to see along the way. The miles of stone walls completely captured my attention as did the wildlife that, sadly, was not caught on video (deer, bear with cubs, skunk).
So this completes my exploration of the complete Airline Trail and this will be folded into a bike camping adventure this summer. Between Pomfret and East Hampton this trail is an ideal way to spend some safe off-road time on your bike… a scenic trip is in store for anyone who wants to give it a go. The ECG takes a scenic route where it bypasses the worst of the trail - for heavily loaded bikes the short steep grades will give you a workout for sure.

[@papablueshirt]

Wow nice ride. I like you appreciate old construction and marvel how long it took a person to build that wall. No skid steers, no tractors, probably just a horse and a wagon. The fact that it is still standing is a testimony to his workmanship. Thanks for sharing the ride 😀

[@cc103acs]

Thanks for tuning in to the ride. And, in Connecticut, we have a bunch of stone walls. Some are just linear piles of rubble around a farm field with each generation plowing up more rocks and moving them off to the side. Some of these farms have a stretch of beautifully built walls in front of their homes for public viewing. In this case, the stone walls paralleled the train route and could have just as easily been strewn off to the side during construction. But some group of citizens back in the late 1800s were concerned with a great first impression on this area… specifically to let the passengers that they were artisans. I was totally impressed as, without constant maintenance, even the most squared off sone walls will crumble due to roots and frost heaves. I do appreciate that pride.

[@papablueshirt]

@@cc103acs Wow, that is a neat story. Seems like people had more community pride back then. Thanks for sharing the story. A lot of the old houses were built like that with a lot of features they could have skipped, but they decided to go the extra mile and expense to make it extra nice.

[@marks6041]

Really enjoyed both portions of the video Dave! It's unfortunate that the eastern most portion of the Air Line Trail would likely require paving and a significant infrastructure upgrade in order to suffice as anything more than a hiking or equestrian trail given the wet and hilly terrain. Do hear what you're saving too about how gourmet gravel and crushed limestone are smoother and drain better and are always so much more enjoyable to ride on than chunky gravel through either dry or wet muddy terrain!
When I lived in Guilford until age eighteen I too was always amazed and intrigued by the many stone walls through-out the great state of CT! Some of the ones you passed in Pomfret and Putnam along the sides of the road going through town were also most impressive! Tend to agree with you that the stone walls along those remote portions of the Air Line Trail you rode through had to have been constructed during the era of the Air Line Railroad. Kind of amazing that they ever constructed a railroad throught the northeast corner of the state but apparently there was a desire to have rail service between Boston and New York running through New Haven on the shortest route possible. Also suprising that they bypassed the capital in Hartford.
You must have slept very well after this particular adventure as it was certainly exhausting but I commend your effort! Connecticut is such a beautiful state but those darn foot hills are never ending especially when carting gear! I'm 65 so it seems the dream of the 3K mile East Coast Greenway which currently has about 1K miles completed will not be finished in our lifetime. But hopefully it'll be there for future generations to enjoy at some point?
Whenever I ride on gravel or paved converted Rail Trails I'm always amazed at how much effort and expense went into constructing railroads and canals and how painfully difficult it must have been to tunnel through mountains in order to maintain less than a four percent grade at all times. Kind of amazing to even ponder!
I attended the University of Rhode Island from 1976 to 1980. I had been accepted and was supposed to end up at UConn but my Dad got transferred from New Haven to Providence back when he was a distribution manager for Amoco Oil. So I appreciated seeing your UConn tee shirt and the fact that RI was your intended destination.

[@richmurphy1787]

Looks like it was a nice ride. One of the trail was probably meant for horses, but you got through it. And I’ve been told that most stone walls were built during the Civil War by conscientious objectives that refuse to fight.

[@cc103acs]

Interesting tidbit on the stone walls - I will do some research. In this case the rail line was built after the Civil War. The rest of the trail (Pomfret to East Hampton) was specifically built for joggers, walkers, and cyclists. This portion, the surface has just not been engineered and constructed properly. Money issues at the State of Connecticut I suspect.