Out to Dunbarton today to Kuncanowet Town Forest. The drive in was actually really pretty, and the trailhead is at the end of a small street of lake houses. Almost feels like you're not in the right place, but right at the end, a dirt road leads to a circular parking area with kiosk. I was the only car at 830am, and remained the only car all day! Judging by the bugs present at the kiosk, I geared up with bug spray and headed out. There is only 1 entrance point to the trails, so my goal was to get them all in one go if possible. It was a warm one, and the bugs were relentless, which did take some of the joy out of the day, but I got it done in just under 8 miles. I headed out on Hobblebush Trail, which was really lovely. It followed along a marshy area. At Mill Pond Trail, I turned left. This trail was wide and started nicely, but once past the first intersection with Pond View Loop, it became a bit more overgrown and muddy. Thankfully the mud was mostly dry for me today, but I can imagine after some rains, it's really quite messy. I continued to a bridge and then reached my first small spur signed Mill Sites. This seemed lightly used, but as was the case with the entire network, was well blazed and easy to follow. A short walk out to a cellar hole. Back on Mill Pond Trail, I continued to Gum Tree Trail. I took the left here to follow in an anti clockwise direction. Gum Tree Trail as a whole was a rolling up and down over several small bumps, nothing crazy and no views. The trail itself alternated between clear and obvious, to not discernible at all with leaves and rocks, but remained well blazed the entire way and I had no issues with navigation. The one named bump along the way (per Peakbagger) is Kuncanowet Hill, and the true summit appeared to be just off trail, so I did wander over to bag that. In the middle of Gum Tree Trail, is a short trail called Stone Wall Trail, that follows.. yep, a stone wall. This gives the option to shorten the loop. I did an out and back on this. Back on Gum Tree Trail, towards the bottom there is a spur to Gorham Pond. It dropped steeply at first, for a very short distance, then continued down to the pond. The closer to the pond, the trail became really quite overgrown, but was still blazed all the way to the very end, so I kept following for the sake of redlining. Back on Gum Tree Trail, I took the very short spur to the tree the trail is named after.. I think.. I couldn't see any blazes beyond a giant tree that was surrounded by very soft ground that I also imagine is very messy after rains. I continued on Gum Tree Trail back up to Lost Lake Loop. I needed to grab the section between the 2 branches of Gum Tree Trail, so I did an out and back on that, before continuing around Lost Lake Loop. This was lovely as well, though more rolling ups and downs and I started to get quite tired here. Between the heat of the day and the bugs driving me mad! I retraced my steps on Mill Pond Trail back to Pond View Loop and took that around past Stinson Mill Pond and back to Mill Pond which I followed all the way back to the kiosk and my car. Another lovely area, I just love exploring these unknown to me places!
