Rock Outcroppings Along the Air Line Trail

Colchester, CT

No hike on any of the trails in Connecticut would be complete without some pictures of the various rock outcroppings and other geological features one can see.  Although other state parks in Connecticut have descriptions of the geology, I can find no such descriptions of the geology along the Air Line Trail State Park.  This could be due to the fact that the trail covers about 50 miles, and probably traverses too many different geologies to be adequately described in a couple of short paragraphs.  Ultimately it was the geology encountered when the Air Line Railroad was built that led to it's failure.  The various hills, valleys, and streams that had to be crossed limited the track that could be laid and prevented the use of larger and faster trains making the longer shoreline route between New Haven and Boston faster and more economically feasible.