This past weekend Sharon and I decided to venture outside Massachusetts to nearby Granby, Connecticut, to see what McLean Game Refuge had to offer.
This location is a nature preserve found just off of Route 202. There is a large parking lot which you can’t miss connected to a stretch of road that is gated off, which will take you into the park. There are other entrances into the park, but due to the ease of access and ample room in this lot, we won’t mention the others here.
There are three main trails you will see shortly after entering the park red, blue, and orange. They all start as one trail and diverge along the way. These three trails loop back to the main road, which will take you back to the entrance. Other trails venture deeper into the park, such as the purple trail, but we don’t recommend taking them unless you are invested in spending a few hours at the park and came prepared with a map. We traveled along the purple trail, which we followed for roughly an hour until we decided we had enough and returned following this trail back to the blue loop.
While walking through the park, we couldn’t help but notice several signs warning of the possibility of bear encounters. Nevertheless, we were still surprised when we spotted two black bears on our way back, one venturing just twenty feet away from the trail. While neither bear paid us much mind, this was still an encounter that was much too close for comfort and put a pep in our step on the way back to the parking lot.
Overall, this was a great spot that offered the chance to see plenty of wildlife, trees, and bodies of water. Our hike took us on several well-trafficked trails, and we could have spent several more hours exploring the rest of the park.
