[Journal entry for December 15, 2023; Bigelow Hollow State Park, Union, Connecticut]. Last month, Dallas and I drove by – but didn’t stop at - this park, as we navigated around snarled MassPike traffic. Until then, it was unknown to us, for there’s no signage on Interstate 84. It’s on Bigelow Hollow Road (Route 171), a couple of miles east of Interstate 84, just south of the Massachusetts border. Today is sunny and warm and a good time for a visit. The park, as its name suggests, is in a valley full of tall trees, including Hemlock and White Pine. Bigelow Brooks flows through this north-south oriented valley, and is dammed in several places to form ponds, including Bigelow Pond. I parked at the first lot that I came to, along the main park road by a side road that leads to the boat launch on Bigelow Pond. I walked down to the launch, and then along the eastern shore of the pond, on a thick carpet of needles beneath the tall conifer trees. The views of the pond are terrific, especially as a thin layer of bladed ice covered them and reflected the surrounding trees in a distorted, impressionistic way. I walked as far as a tributary inflow stream crossed by a pedestrian bridge, and then headed back. 1:00.