Wolcott History – Hiking in Wolcott – Part 3

The final trail in Wolcott is known as the Mattatuck Trail.  When I was younger it started off of Spindle Hill Road, but when the town fathers built Peterson Park, the trailhead was moved there.  So if you want to hike from the beginning, you can park at Peterson Park, follow the Mad River to the north, then eventually branch off and follow the trail out to Spindle Hill Road.

From Spindle Hill Road the trail went to a place called “Jack’s Cave.”  It’s not much of a cave, more a deep indentation into the side of a rocky hill, but big enough to shelter from the elements and even to have a camp fire under the lip of the cave (fires not encouraged these days).  It then winds its way back out to Allentown Road and follows the road for a while.

Leaving Allentown Road, the trail follows a small stream and goes to Buttermilk Falls, a nice piney woods falls where the sound of the water makes you feel like you’re miles from anywhere, when in reality you’re only a short distance from a nearby road. 

From there the trail zigzags along a combination of roads and wooded areas before eventually coming to a close on South Street, just to the south of Lake Plymouth.  The total trail distance is nearly 35 miles, but because it crosses and/or follows a series of roads throughout most of its length, you can take a lot of shorter hikes along the various section.

I’ve hiked the entire length of it at one time or another, but usually only in sections.

Despite all the new roads and buildings in Wolcott compared to when I was growing up, it’s nice that we still have all these trails available for the current generation.