Wintergreen Falls

It’s Winter, but not Green
Wintergreen Falls, New Haven

January 17, 2014

[Note: For my Waterfalls pages, I’m using the town designation used by the Connecticut Waterfalls 2013 guidebook. Because sometimes it’s fun. But not now. Anyway, this moderate falls is behind the lower parking lot for the never open West Rock Nature Center.]

wrcreekAfter taking my boys to arguably my favorite place in Connecticut (New England Brewing Company, duh), we drove around West Rock, past all the weirdness of the area, and hiked the two trails at West Rock Nature Center.

Note: This is a wholly different place than West Rock Ridge State Park. The State Park has had its own “urban” issues over the years (by that I mean litter, graffiti, general unkemptness) but the Nature Center is like the forgotten ugly little sister. Which means I have a special place in my heart for it. I love these urban natural areas and really admire their existences.

Sure, to access these falls we had to park next to a family living in their car. And cross paths with two dirt balls with a bong. And exchange pleasantries with a family and their (rather beautiful, I must say) pit bull. That’s what makes places like this so great.

There are housing projects (for lack of a better term) within site of these falls. They were put there for the express purpose of bringing urban dwellers out to nature. What a great idea New Haven had… the execution? Eh, not so much.

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Anyway, access to the falls is via a short unmarked trail at the back of the parking lot on Wintergreen Avenue. It has a few steep little sections, but my kids were able to navigate it with minimal help.

The falls are nice. I’m sure after a storm they are pretty rad. I’m also sure that after a storm, the little trail down to them is quite a bit more dangerous. If you don’t have two little kids with you, you can descend down into the gorge to get a head-on view. Unfortunately, I can’t show you that view here, but hey, if you buy the Connecticut Waterfalls guidebook, there’s a nice shot in there.

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West Rock Nature Center trails

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