Mattatuck State Forest, CT
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 4.33 mi
- Elevation gain
- 892 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 892 ft
- Max elevation
- 844 ft
- TrailRank
- 28
- Min elevation
- 376 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- one hour 53 minutes
- Time
- 2 hours 34 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1139
- Uploaded
- September 13, 2019
- Recorded
- September 2019
near Reynolds Bridge, Connecticut (United States)
Viewed 62 times, downloaded 1 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Leatherman Cave and Lookouts
Waypoints
Summit
701 ft
Photo
Comments (1)
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Photos shown are not the a Leather Man Cave
For many years, the rock formation on the Mattatuck Blue Trail in Watertown that is beneath Crane’s Lookout has been called the Leather Man Cave. This is not correct. In the first 16 editions of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association’s Walk Book from 1937 until 1990, it was called the Rock House. For unexplained reasons, in the 17th edition in 1993, the name changed to Leather Man Cave and stayed that way for subsequent editions. This cave it is like no other Leather Man Cave that is known. All other caves are near roads, as the Leather Man was a walker not a hiker, and have a nearby source of water. The cave under Cranes’ lookout has neither and is a rather long and difficult uphill climb. I can find no record of there even being a trail there in he 1880’s when the Leather Man roamed.
The true Leather Man Cave appears on a CFPA third edition Walk Book map published in 1946. It is on a feeder trail to the Mattatuck about 400 feet from Route 6, accessible from Park Road and from an abandoned road off Route 6 once called Gravestone Road. The GPS coordinates of the cave are 41.64113, -73.09253.
Chuck CFPA volunteer