Goodwin State Forest - Pine Acres Lake Trails (CT)

This hike will take you to a very nice area of the Goodwin State Forest, Pine Acres Lake. We parked at and visited the Goodwin Conservation and Education Center - do that first! We also toured the beautiful Richard D. Haley Native Plant Wildlife Gardens - a must see! After eating lunch at the covered picnic area, we did a little hiking on the local trails - to the left of the main trails at the lake. We then headed on on to this hike, initially hoping to be able to loop around the lake. There all kind of blazed trails out there, we followed a number of them, as well as jumping from from one trail to another (if you follow our tracks you will come across that). We did find some GEOCaches out there, so try them also. There are a number of nice bridges along the lake, as well as a raised observation platform on Governors Island (should be able to just walk across the land bridge to the island). We hooked up with the blue/white blazed trail which took us up to Estabrook Road. We didn't see any trail which went to the other side of the lake, so I'm assuming if you follow Estabrook Road to the Airline Trail that you could use that to get around the pond. We elected to just head back, trying some different trails. The trails down near the lake can get pretty rocky at times (big rocks). We came across an old stone foundation on one trail. There are other trails to explore, but we ran out of time and daylight! I'm not sure about hunting in the area, so check that if going into the area during a hunting season - always border on the side of caution and wear bright orange during the winter season. If you want some GPS and hiking information, take a look at my website www.tomchoma.com - happy trails to all!