Date: 2016-06-04
From: West Cornwall Road then Bearded Woods

To: Salisbury amd then Bearded Woods
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Hudson from Bearded Woods slack packed me today 16.2 miles to Salisbury. Have returned to his and Big Lu's hostel for one more nite of fine dining and great company. Am targeting Sheffield MA tomorrow. Today's walk brought me above and past Connecticut's Lime Rock Park - at the end of this entry, I have copied and pasted some info from their website which begins, "...Rock Park is the most significantly historic road racing circuit in North America." Apparently, Paul Newman got his fill of racecar driving here. Who knew?Once again, the trail went along the Housatanic River for a spell, the highlight of which were some spectacular falls right before the trail headed west up to Mount Prospect. Now You too know where the town name of "Great Falls" comes from because they truly were. Throughout the day there were a number of interesting rock formations including two which I have posted to this journal - one a cracked bolder similar to the Lemon Squeezer in New York and one that looked like something you'd find in an art museum. I also saw bear scat for the first time which is as close as I may ever get to a live bear on this hike - it too was worth a picture! Today also involved some trekking through farm country, some of which had just started sprouting corn. As I saw in the PA area, the ATC is trying to return some of the land to its "...historic, pastoral setting." I always enjoy the change of scenery, although when sunny and warm, it's nice to return to the shade of the forest as well.Tommorrow will involve some challenging hiking through the Taconic Mountain Range, the "mini White Moutains" of Southern New England. Rain is in the forecast which will add a degree of difficulty to a section of the trail that is suppose to offer some spectacular sites...looking forward to it.Here is the info about the raceway - "Connecticut's Lime Rock Park is the most significantly historic road racing circuit in North America.Only Wisconsin¢s Road America and California¢s Laguna Seca can compare to Lime Rock with respect to longest continuous operation ¢ Road America opened in 1955, Laguna Seca and Lime Rock in 1957 ¢ but only Lime Rock¢s circuit remains exactly the same as when it opened in spring of that year.And it was Lime Rock Park that hosted the race that forever changed the face of motorsports in America, the 1959 Formula Libre event. The best pros and the best amateurs in the best cars went head-to-head in a three-heat format. Thanks in equal part to its major media coverage and the startling result ¢ Indy 500 winner Roger Ward won the contest in a midget, besting F1 cars and world championship sports cars ¢ the Formula Libre weekend knocked down the walls that had separated professional road racing drivers from their amateur brethren. Thanks to Lime Rock and the Formula Libre event, sports car road racing became a significant element of the American sporting scene.Lime Rock is 1.50 miles of up hill and down dale, a track that looks deceivingly simple but is immensely challenging to drive quickly. Its setting is a village in Connecticut¢s Litchfield County, renowned for its vast historical, cultural and recreational resources. Lime Rock¢s history is inextricably entwined with that of sports car racing¢s. Almost all of the sport¢s greats have raced here, from that industry changing Formula Libre race through the SCCA hay days of the 1960s, 70s and 80s in Can-Am, F5000, Trans-Am and Atlantic as well as the Camel GTP and ALMS championships. From the mid-1990s onward, Lime Rock has seen everything from ground-pounding NASCAR stockers and modifieds to the technological tour de force IMSA prototypes."Sent from my iPad