Finding the park presents a level of difficulty but is so worth it. From Norfolk center follow Route 272 N. Once you reach Old Spaulding Road turn left and from there the state park would be on your right.

From Great Barrington follow Us 7 S until you reach Clayton Rd. Continue on Clayton Rd, than take Carlson Rd and Tobey Hill Rd to Spaulding Rd in Litchfield County. From this direction the Falls would be on to your left.

The only sign you would encounter pointing to the direction of the waterfalls is the one pictured bellow. Parking is limited however you would be able to find a larger parking area on Tobey Hill Road. From there a short 20 minute leisure stroll through the woods would lead you to the bottom of the falls. If you choose to park your car on Campbell Falls road you’ll find yourself at the top of a steep hill taking you down a .15 mile path to the base of the falls.

Both short hikes require so little effort and offers such great reward. Wear good shoes as the trail gets a little wet at the bottom of the hill and water shoes if you are planing on getting even closer to the falls.

This wonderful quick getaway to a gorgeous waterfall makes for the perfect serene and peaceful day spent with family or by yourself and is excellent if you are looking for a quiet place for meditation and enjoying nature at it’s fullest. The hike itself is fantastic but the falls flowing fully after a rainy week in combination of the changing leaves was a special gift for us.

Being that the State Park is so off the beaten path and does not see many visitors makes it even that more special. You can spend a whole day here playing with your kids or letting your dogs enjoy splashing in the water while running freely. Pack a basket as we always do and a nice book or a fishing rod. Wander around the pine forest by the rushing water and listen to the singing birds. There are no benches or picnic tables but plenty opportunities to place a blanket on the ground or open a chair for a picnic with a view.

The waterfall is stunning during all seasons but especially beautiful in fall and winter. You can get close and climb the stalking rocks if you are careful and at your own risk.  We’ve seen people all the way next to the little cascade mid falls getting soaked in the splashing water, just note that it gets extremely slippery during winter months and be extra cautious.

There are no facilities around but also no entrance fee for this attraction. A short drive on the gravel road above the falls brings you to a spot that overlooks the top of the falls.

Despite the length of this hike you really feel as if you are working for the fantastic view that await you ahead. It is a thrill for the beginner hiker and a nice walk in the park for the experienced ones. Steep at times and quite rocky, through some lush wooded areas, up and down some hills and over wooden stairs, you’ll reach the first of five waterfalls, all within half a mile from each other. Wonderful rewards for not much effort.

There are so many wonderful opportunity for taking pictures, bird watching, just enjoying the sunshine while sitting and taking a rest on one of the many rocks around the falls or even taking a dip in the cool waters.

Although we’ve seen many families with small kids take advantage of this short hike and kids enjoying the few pools around the waterfalls, we certainly do not recommend bringing little ones with you on this trail. We’ve done it many times and have always left our littles at home where they are safe and taken good care of. Many injuries have occurred here from people being careless and not following the signs pointing that there is no swimming allowed and that at many places on the trail there is the possibility of sudden drops by the edge of the falls.

Make sure as with any other hike, especially if you are visiting during inclement weather, to wear appropriate footwear and stay on the designated hiking path. If you do choose to bring kids make sure to keep them within arms reach at all times.

Enders Falls is a waterfall chasers dream. We have rarely found another hike like this one where you can reach that many waterfalls with so little hiking. Not only that but because the waterfall is not highly popularized you are pretty sure to have the trail to with little to no company.

Make note that Enders Falls was closed for a short bit after an incident that happened there so check their website before going to visit it. The waterfall parking lot could be found if you follow Route 219 from the junction of Routes 20 and 219 in Granby, continuing south for about 1.3 miles. The entrance to Enders Falls will be on your left.  As always, happy trails!

Later we learned that what we boarded was The Chester Hedlyme Ferry. One of the oldest continues running ferries in Connecticut that provides a quick and scenic 3 minute ride to the Gillette Castle visible from the boat in the distance, as well as gorgeous views of the Connecticut River. Although not the quickest way to get to the castle the ferry gives visitors the great opportunity of avoiding I-95 which in our books is enough reason to take the road less traveled. Or the boat in this particular case.

Once off the boat we took the short windy road pass tall trees and gorgeous scenery and soon arrived at the entrance of The Gillette Castle State Park. The Park consist of the Fairy tale like castle and it’s lush grounds.

We climbed up the near-vertical steps surrounded by stone walls and gorgeous flower beds and passed the “Gillette Central Station”. The Castle was quite popular back in the days for it’s 3 mile long narrow gauge railroad which passed by the estate and the 100 feet high cliffs of the Connecticut Rivers sometime exceeding to great speed and visitors such as Charlie Chaplin,  Albert Einstein and Helen Hayes were known to get quite a thrill from this famous for it’s time ride. Today the remaining tracks are converted into walking trails and the engines once running at full speed are at display at the modern Visitor Center at the Castle.

Gillette Castle is a truly amazing place and was originally built not as a castle, but as a home for William Hooker Gillette, an actor who was most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. The eccentric actor commissioned and designed it himself and wanted it to resemble a Medieval Gothic house, but turned out to be as some say an “American fairy tale mixed with European flair” and others find it to be “a weird blending of Victorian and Arts and Crafts”.  Some people in the past were known to described it as “Gillette’s Folly”.

Gillette designed every part of this strange house overlooking every step in the process and you have to really see it to believe it. The outside of the castle is built in grey stone supported by a steel framework. The project costed the actor a whooping 1 million dollars at the time and took five years and 20 workers working full time to complete. He was initially planning to build his retirement home on Long Island but one day while passing through the Connecticut River in his houseboat, “Aunt Polly” he discovered the cliffs of the “Seven Sisters”. The site was so gorgeous and took his breath away so he quickly changed plans and started outlining the building of what he called (before the state of Connecticut renamed it), “The Seventh Sister Castle”, which was the name of the hills on which the house is build.

But what is really impressive is the inside of this unusual house. There are 24 rooms in total not all of them open to the public spread on 14,000 sq ft. You enter the property through the huge living room completed with large fireplace. There is a guide who begins the self-guided tour with a history of the castle and an overview of the man himself.  There are many doors visitors pass through on their exploration tour of the house. In couple of the rooms you’ll see a note posted describing that whats masking behind the wall and doors are hidden passages which Gillette would use for his dramatic appearance while entertaining guests. Each door is equipped with an external Steampunk-like latch intricately carved of wood. The walls are constructed similarly to a stage set and he would sometime get in a theatrical role for the entertainment of his patrons.

Some of the other things you’ll find in the house are unusual furnishings, built-in couches and a movable table on tracks, a hand-carved bar which opens with a secret latch, a number of Tiffany lamps made of broken bottle fragments, a heated bed and a grand upper-floor balcony running the length of the downstairs main room. Reportedly  this architectural feature is theorized to have been used to enhance Gillette’s stature making him appear taller to guests looking up at him from below and maybe that also explains why the walls on the second floor are notably short.

Inside the house you would also find a wishing well complete with a fountain where visitors can still throw a penny and they themselves can make a wish . The sun room resembles a green house with some exotic plants and wall to wall windows. Coins from all over the world are found in the well. It is estimated that the castle sees about 350,000 visitors per year.

No two doors are alike, no two windows are alike. Woodwork within the home is hand-hewn southern white oak.  All hand crafted. Secret passages, stained glass windows, narrow hallways and  beautiful views from everywhere in the castle of the Connecticut River. The interior and the inventions Gillette introduced to the house are fascinating. You’ll find yourself questioning things, wandering about things, being in awe of things, but mostly amazed by the craftsmen in this house. Many of the rooms remain the way Mr. Gillette left them before he left the house where he lived between the years of . The actor didn’t have kids himself so in his will he precluded the possession of his home by any “blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded”.

The grounds of the House absolutely complete this beautiful site. They are open to the public from 8am to sunset and comprise of fish pond, wooded areas, walking trails, stone-arch bridges, root cellar, lakes, wooden bridges, wooded trestles spanning up to 40 ft and a a two story gable ended vernacular dwelling for servants.

As we always do we packed a picnic and sat on the bench by the fishing pond for a delicious meal with a view like no other while our little explorer wandered around the meadow.  The weather was gorgeous that day and births were singing. The Castle is not overly crowded so we found ourselves having the grounds to just us to enjoy, breathing the crisp New England air and conversing about all the wonders of this House.

Here is where you can find Gillette Castle:

It was on a late May day when while changing the clothes in our daughter’s closet as I do twice a year, I pulled out the prettiest dress all covered in strawberries. And as my thought process works I instantly thought of how cute she would look in this dress while actually strawberry picking at a farm.

After a short search I found what looked to be the perfect spot. The Pickin Patch at Woodford Farm in Avon Connecticut.  The farm Just a short drive from our home and offered exactly what we were looking for. I put the mentioned dress on our daughter and packed her and her brother in the car. Finding the farm was as easy at it gets. Plenty of parking and friendliest staff there to help us and answer all the questions we might have. It was our first time strawberry picking so we had a lot of them.

We started our adventure at the cute store at the front of the farm where we picked the size of the basket and headed to the strawberry patch for the juiciest strawberries we’ve seen in a long time. Not sure how many of them ended in the basket and how many were actually eaten right there at the spot, but couldn’t necessarily blame the littles since I myself was tempted to devour them as soon as my hands reached for them.

Although we went later in the afternoon and could tell that there have been many people already gone through the vines there were plenty of strawberries left for us to pick. The kids had a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience especially since you don’t get to do strawberry picking with  views like the ones that the Pickin Patch has. The skies were so clear that day and the hills and Heublein Tower behind it were spectacular.

Back at the the country store we enjoyed a lovely conversation with the lady behind the counter and learned that the The Pickin’ Patch is one of Connecticut’s top 10 oldest continually running farms. Over the years The Patch, along with 300 other nearby farms, has evolved from a dairy and tobacco farm to a pick your own small fruits and vegetables farm, as well as a garden center.

You can find the farm here:

After some short research we discovered that what was standing on the top of Talcott Mountain was Heublein Tower. A 165-foot-tall tower built to survive 100 mph an hour winds and used by Gilbert Heublein as his summer home and retreat. Known as a magnate in the area for food and beverage, Heublein, whose family originated from Germany, promised his then-fiance Louise M. Gundlach that one day he would build her a castle on this grounds.  In 1914 he brought his promise to fruition building her an architectural marvel that resembled buildings in his native homeland of Bavaria.

The hike to the historic home and museum is about one and a half miles long and takes about 40 minutes to an hour depending on how long you are going to take enjoying a seat on one of the benches along the way.  There is plenty to marvel at on the way, especially the spectacular views of Simsbury, Avon, and the Farmington Valley, as well as Hartford in the distance. For the first 1/4 of the trek is pretty steep but once you pass this portion of the hike, the terrain is mainly flat with many openings and beautiful views.

And if you thought the views along the way were breathtaking wait until you reach the tower and climb the stairs to the top where 360 degree views of the valley await you.

Inside Heublein Tower you would find the rooms set up as they once were. The beds, the kitchen and dinning room were left as if Mr. Heublein and his wife were still living there and about to go about their normal day. If you close your eyes you can actually imagine them dancing in the most recently renovated observation room which was known to be the ballroom back then.

On the way out visitors can take a peak at the museum where you can find snacks and refreshments a well as little souvenirs for purchase as a reminder of this marvelous place. The museum is open 10-5pm during working hours.

Picnic tables are located conveniently around the near by grounds with views of the Tower and surrounding woods. It’s the perfect spot to sit and unwind while your little ones run freely and safely  exploring this magical place.

Heublein Tower is open:

This very well marked trail passes by pine groves, deciduous fern forest, by an enchanting pond, bubbling brooks, fieldstone foundation walls and huge ancient trees, before you finally reach the giant moss covered boulders that form the “caves”.

The place is really magical and peaceful and if you close your eyes you can imagine the Native American Indians gathering there looking for cover from the elements or having a dinner with their Tribe before heading out for hunting. Climbing around the rocks is a little treacherous at times but taking your time and wearing appropriate footwear should make it easy enough. We ended up spending quite some time here exploring all the nooks and crannies of the caves. This hike should be doable for kids and we can imagine all the fun that would be for them.

Once at the summit you would be rewarded with beautiful views of the forest and pond you just walked by. On a clear day you can see pretty far and during fall months the vistas combined with the colors of the changing leaves are spectacular. Walk around the edge and marvel at the splendid views ahead while listening to the birds chirp or find a spot along the ledge and have a picnic before heading back.

The hike to The Indian Council Caves is not a popular one so take a friend with you. Make sure to wear appropriate shoes and have bug spray in hand since it does get a little buggy during spring and summer months. If you decide to go and check out this little known trail in Connecticut you can find it here: