Windsor Lock State Canal Trail

The Windsor Lock State Canal Trail

This 4.5-mile trail is a canal towpath along the Connecticut River that was built to bypass the Enfield Rapids. The canal was built between May 1827 and November 1829 by four hundred Irish laborers using picks and shovels to complete the task. The canal was the first to be built so that steamboats could use the river and employed three locks facilitating boats being lowered 30 feet over the course of the canal. By 1836, because of the canal, eight steamboats a day were making the run from Hartford to Springfield.

Rest stop along the Connecticut between 1 and 1.5-mile marker

I have fond memories of this trail. A decade ago it would be common for us to walk the trail, and that was at a time before I became serious about walking. Travelling south from the parking lot in Suffield, the Connecticut River is to your left and the canal to your right. Once you get beyond the initial lock, of which the gate and some hardware remains, there is farmland to the west. Soon after, however, the landscape quickly turns to a heavily-treed area with several cliffs. The rapids provide an audio background to the numerous song birds as you walk. On the opposite side of the river, there is a railroad track with frequent trains. The sound of the trains, which probably helped spell the demise of the canal, often drowns out most of the noise along the path.

Turtle sunning itself in the canal

The relative remoteness of the trail to houses and buildings means that there is a great deal of avian life. Some of the birds are quite colorful and interesting; however, there are so many hiding places that it is sometimes difficult to identify some species. Nevertheless, I readily identified catbirds, goldfinches, and house finches.

Other wildlife is sometimes observed as well. Soon after I started, two otters crossed the trail about fifty yards ahead of me. They disappeared into the brush and canal before I would get my camera out (no, really). Turtles, sunning themselves on half-submerged trees in the canal, often make big splashes as you walk by. They dive in the water sensing impending danger even though the proximity of the trail to them is quite far. Waterfowl (geese, ducks and egrets) are especially common in the canal.

The remaining lock near the beginning of the trail

The trail itself is asphalt and it is marked with half-mile markers spray-painted directly onto the trail. As I walked on a humid July morning, there were a number of cyclists, however, only one jogger. The trail is closed from November 14 until April 1 so that endangered birds of prey are not disturbed.