West Mountain Trails

Location

The trail system can be accessed from the southern end by the 60 Westledge trails and from the north by the Cathles trails.

Distance

Over 5 miles of trails. Use the red and blue trails to create a challenging loop which can take about three hours.

Terrain

Hilly and rough along many sections.

Features

Located atop the ridge west of Simsbury Farms Recreation Area, this land is unique in that it consists of the east slope, ridge top, west slope, a portion of the clearly defined geological fault line and 10 acres of slope on the much older Western Highland. The Simsbury Land Trust and Town properties have preserved the integrity of 500 acres of continuous traprock ridge from Mclean Game Refuge to the Tulmeadow Farm Triangle.

This system of trails runs north-south along the east ridge of West Mountain. The red trail runs mostly along the ridge itself while the blue trail follows Hop Brook in the valley to the west. The red trail begins at 60 Westledge and heads north across The Master’s School driveway and up onto the ridge. A green trail branches off then reconnects for another option to the peak. There are several scenic vistas. The highest is on Town Open Space just before reaching the white trail to the north. It is common to see red-tail hawks floating on the thermals and in the fall to see large flocks of cedar waxwings feeding on juniper berries along the cliffs. The blue trail branches off of the red trail at the northern end of the 60 Westledge property. It drops into the valley just north of the Simsbury Reservoir and follows a rugged streamside path to eventually reach the Cathles property and perhaps the nicest example of a talus field in Simsbury. The blue trail follows a fault-line where the rock you see to the west is 500 million-year-old metamorphic schist and to the east 200 million-year-old igneous basalt. The sharp fracturing of this basalt produces the talus along the base of the slope. If you have the opportunity to hike both trails, contrast the different types of climate and vegetation you encounter on each.