Case Mountain
Encyclopedia
Located in the southeastern section of Manchester, Connecticut
, the Case Mountain Recreational Area encompasses 640 acres (2.6 km²) of combined open space and watershed land stretching from the Glastonbury
border north to Case Pond. Some trails lead south across the Glastonbury border to a larger area of land owned by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) to maintain the Buckingham Reservoir which provides drinking water to Manchester. The land around the reservoir is open to recreation. While there is a hill named Case Mountain in this area, locals refer to this entire trail system and forest in Manchester and Glastonbury simply as “Case Mountain.”
The Case family owned a large amount of land in the southeastern section Manchester that is now the Case Mountain Recreational Area. They built a stone bridge across the west end of Case Pond, many stone walls, a Chestnut log cabin, and a carriage path that loops from Spring Street to the top of Lookout Mountain and down to Case Pond.
. The terrain is very rocky and hilly, making for somewhat difficult hiking and challenging mountain biking. Bring a trail map and good footwear.
The carriage path, a wide smooth gravel trail with white markings, leads visitors from the Spring Street parking area to the summit of Lookout Mountain (elev. 744 ft) and loops around to Case Pond. Visitors often mistake Lookout Mountain for Case Mountain (elev. 735). The summit of Lookout Mountain has benches and a kiosk and gives visitors a great view of Downtown Manchester, Downtown Hartford, and the hills off to the west.
The Shenipsit Trail
is a blue-blazed
trail running north-south through the area. Starting in East Hampton
and going north to Somers
, the Shenipsit trail covers over 40 miles (64.4 km), about 5 of those miles are within the Case Mountain area. In the Glastonbury section of the Shenipsit Trail is a stretch of the trail known by local mountain bikers as “Slick Rock”. There are two vistas on this section of trail providing views of Hartford, but not nearly as panoramic as the views from the top of Lookout Mountain.
is a very popular activity at Case Mountain. Case Mountain was voted the Best Ride in Connecticut in Mountain Bike Magazine by readers. Bikers tend to stick to single-track trails, such as the locally famous "Metavomit" trail. The terrain on these trails is rocky with many steep climbs and descents. Rocks, logs, boulders, and man-made ladder-bridges are often intentionally incorporated into these mountain biking trails. Trail-braiding, when short trails are created that go around an obstacle or technical section or short-cut a sharp corner, is a large problem on mountain-bike trails at Case Mountain, the result of beginners riding on advanced trails.
deciduous forest. The forest floor is littered with boulder
s and rock gardens deposited from glaciers during the last ice age
. Along the Shenipsit Trail one can find clusters of Chestnut Oak, a very distinguishable tree that grows in rocky mountainous terrain in the Eastern US, and is prominent on ridgetops. In Glastonbury land owned by the MDC around the Buckingham Reservoir are large white pine
trees. The Roaring Brook flows through the area creating marshy habitat just upstream of the reservoir and is a wide, fast moving stream further upstream and downstream. There are several vernal pool
s around Lookout and Case Mountains. These pools like small ponds in the winter and spring when they fill up with snowmelt. When wet, they teem with life, with frogs, toads, salamanders, fairy shrimp, and fingernail clams inhabiting them. By the summer they have usually dried up and appear to simply be small clearings in the woods. There have been black bear
sightings at Case Mountain along with other wildlife typical of southern New England.
There are also unofficial parking areas in Glastonbury providing access to trails that lead into Manchester.
Manchester, Connecticut
Manchester is a township and city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 58,241.- History :...
, the Case Mountain Recreational Area encompasses 640 acres (2.6 km²) of combined open space and watershed land stretching from the Glastonbury
Glastonbury, Connecticut
Glastonbury is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1693. The population was 31,876 at the 2000 census. The town was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is located on the banks of the Connecticut River, 7 miles southeast of Hartford. The town...
border north to Case Pond. Some trails lead south across the Glastonbury border to a larger area of land owned by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) to maintain the Buckingham Reservoir which provides drinking water to Manchester. The land around the reservoir is open to recreation. While there is a hill named Case Mountain in this area, locals refer to this entire trail system and forest in Manchester and Glastonbury simply as “Case Mountain.”
History
The Case family were prominent industrialists in Manchester where they operated a paper mill and water bottling facility. In 1861 Alfred Wells Case and his twin brother Albert Willard Case opened the Case Brothers Inc. paper mill in Highland Park where they produced washed cotton supplied to the Union Army during the Civil War. At the end of the war, the Case brothers began a specialized papermaking operation and soon became a leader in the manufacturing of pressboard, a strong paper product used as album board, shoe board, and binder board. They were true Connecticut Yankees that ran an efficient, innovative, highly skilled operation, and the company continued to flourish as the New England paper industry reached its peak. In 1878 the company won first prize for its pressed paper at the International Paris Exposition, competing with many European paper manufacturers, and achieved further success at the Melbourne Exhibition of 1880. Case Brothers Inc. remained a family business and continued success into the 1960s when it was acquired by Boise Cascade Corporation.The Case family owned a large amount of land in the southeastern section Manchester that is now the Case Mountain Recreational Area. They built a stone bridge across the west end of Case Pond, many stone walls, a Chestnut log cabin, and a carriage path that loops from Spring Street to the top of Lookout Mountain and down to Case Pond.
Trails
Case Mountain has a vast trail network for hiking and mountain biking, maintained by Manchester Conservation Commission and the Connecticut Forest and Park AssociationConnecticut Forest and Park Association
The Connecticut Forest and Park Association , established in 1895, is the oldest private, nonprofit conservation organization in Connecticut. The organization is credited as an important early pioneer of the national land conservation movement and as an early advocate of long distance trail building...
. The terrain is very rocky and hilly, making for somewhat difficult hiking and challenging mountain biking. Bring a trail map and good footwear.
The carriage path, a wide smooth gravel trail with white markings, leads visitors from the Spring Street parking area to the summit of Lookout Mountain (elev. 744 ft) and loops around to Case Pond. Visitors often mistake Lookout Mountain for Case Mountain (elev. 735). The summit of Lookout Mountain has benches and a kiosk and gives visitors a great view of Downtown Manchester, Downtown Hartford, and the hills off to the west.
The Shenipsit Trail
Shenipsit Trail
The Shenipsit Trail is a Blue-Blazed hiking trail located in Central Connecticut between 3.5 and 7 miles east of the Connecticut River. It runs 41 miles in a north-south direction. The southern trailhead is on Gadpouch Road in Cobalt, CT on the southern end of the Meshomasic State Forest...
is a blue-blazed
Blue-Blazed Trails
The Blue-Blazed trail system, managed by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, and the related trail systems documented in the two volume 19th Edition of the "Connecticut Walk Book" comprise over 800 miles of hiking trails in Connecticut.There are now over 825 miles of CFPA Blue-Blazed...
trail running north-south through the area. Starting in East Hampton
East Hampton, Connecticut
East Hampton is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,352 at the 2000 census. The town center village is listed as a census-designated place...
and going north to Somers
Somers, Connecticut
Somers is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, USA. The population was 10,417 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place...
, the Shenipsit trail covers over 40 miles (64.4 km), about 5 of those miles are within the Case Mountain area. In the Glastonbury section of the Shenipsit Trail is a stretch of the trail known by local mountain bikers as “Slick Rock”. There are two vistas on this section of trail providing views of Hartford, but not nearly as panoramic as the views from the top of Lookout Mountain.
Mountain Biking
Mountain bikingMountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
is a very popular activity at Case Mountain. Case Mountain was voted the Best Ride in Connecticut in Mountain Bike Magazine by readers. Bikers tend to stick to single-track trails, such as the locally famous "Metavomit" trail. The terrain on these trails is rocky with many steep climbs and descents. Rocks, logs, boulders, and man-made ladder-bridges are often intentionally incorporated into these mountain biking trails. Trail-braiding, when short trails are created that go around an obstacle or technical section or short-cut a sharp corner, is a large problem on mountain-bike trails at Case Mountain, the result of beginners riding on advanced trails.
Geology and Ecology
The forest in which the Case Mountain trail system is located is mostly second-growthSecondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
deciduous forest. The forest floor is littered with boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
s and rock gardens deposited from glaciers during the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. Along the Shenipsit Trail one can find clusters of Chestnut Oak, a very distinguishable tree that grows in rocky mountainous terrain in the Eastern US, and is prominent on ridgetops. In Glastonbury land owned by the MDC around the Buckingham Reservoir are large white pine
Eastern White Pine
Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the northern edge of Georgia.It is occasionally known as simply white pine,...
trees. The Roaring Brook flows through the area creating marshy habitat just upstream of the reservoir and is a wide, fast moving stream further upstream and downstream. There are several vernal pool
Vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species...
s around Lookout and Case Mountains. These pools like small ponds in the winter and spring when they fill up with snowmelt. When wet, they teem with life, with frogs, toads, salamanders, fairy shrimp, and fingernail clams inhabiting them. By the summer they have usually dried up and appear to simply be small clearings in the woods. There have been black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
sightings at Case Mountain along with other wildlife typical of southern New England.
Getting There
There are four parking areas in Manchester providing access to the trail network. All parking areas have an information kiosk with trail maps.- Spring Street
- Line Street Trailhead
- Shenipsit Trailhead (Birch Mountain Road)
- Case Pond Trailhead (Birch Mountain Road)
There are also unofficial parking areas in Glastonbury providing access to trails that lead into Manchester.
- Mountain Road (cul-de-sac at the end of street)
- Old Hebron Road (access to the Buckingham Reservoir)
- Birch Mountain Road (underneath the power lines)