Soapstone Mountain

Great hiking trail both paved and unpaved with great parking. The paved trails serve for an easier hike whereas the unpaved might be a bit more challenging for some. The views here are great and you should definitely take advantage of your panorama feature on your camera/​iPhone to really take it all in. My only complaint is that the wooden observatory that I had wanted to climb had been blocked off from entering. Not sure if that was temporary at the time that I went or if it’s going to be shut down for good but it definitely would have been nice to get up there and have a bird’s eye view of the tree tops!

A 2 mile point-​to-​point trail, Soapstone Mountain stands in the southeast corner of the of Somers. Bordering the town lines Ellington, Stafford, and Somers join — it’s great for all skill-​types.
The first .5 mile on pavement up to the observation tower can be a real ass-​kicker depending on how ambitious/​hardcore you are — otherwise it’s a fairly easy walk. There are several other trails up also. Immediately to the right of the parking lot is the Shenipsit Trail. Its blue-​blazed and is another .5 mile ascent to the top. It starts off as a minute-​long flat-​terrain walk before becoming a very steep climb. My friends and I love/​hate it. We jokingly call it «suicide hill» but it can be a real ass-​kicker for beginners or the uninitiated. There are picnic areas along the road up to the tower, as well as an outdoor toilet at the top parking lot. Various forest trails can be used for hiking, mountain biking, horse-​back riding, and cross-​country skiing too.
At the peak, the mountain is 1,075 feet and its views extend over Connecticut to the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont in clear weather. The views can’t be beat on a clear day. Soapstone has to be one of favorites because it’s really the only public mountaintop that has an observation tower east of the Connecticut River.