The John Muir Trail is a 2.5 mile CFPA Blue Blaze Trail near Torrington that goes through the Paugnut Forest that links the Testone Boulder Loop Trail with the Walcott Trail at Burr Pond.
Who was John Muir?
John Muir was a Scottish born American naturalist who was known as ‘The Father of National Parks’ in the USA. He was hugely influential to the conservationist movement and has a huge number of parks, trails and even animals named after him.
The Trail
The trail starts of part of the Walcott Trail loop at Burr pond and sets off westward toward Sunny Brook State Park through the Paugnut Forest.
The trail finishes at Sunny Brook State Park where it meets the Testone Boulder Loop Trail. The trail has fairly easy terrain underfoot and enjoys an amble through very quiet forest with a few rocky places. The blazes along the trail are plentiful but they seem to be laid out in a strange way in places. Its a great example of a trail being marked perfectly provided you already know the way. Blazes are bizarrely placed and often absent at junctions and key areas where you actually need them and often don’t use the standard double marking to indicate a change of direction.
Benches and Trail Art
Towards the end of the trail is a fallen log that’s been carved into a bench. If you take a seat there and look up you’ll see a tree that has grown around something in the past leaving a weird C shaped main bough. We also found the trail littered with random trail art which added to how enjoyable the ‘vibe’ is on this trail.
