An exhausting trek through Maromas

After a night of little sleep, I woke up and went to class, came back, and just didn’t feel so tired. Plus, I had my windows wide open because it was sunny and 55º outside. So, deciding that it was too nice a day to throw away by trying to nap, I threw a granola bar in my pocket, hopped on my bike, and took off for a bike ride to Maromas, the largely rural river-hugging region of Middletown. It’s south of campus and covers about 16 square miles of land, fitting into the space below the big bend in the Connecticut River.

On the whole, it’s really beautiful. Just minutes from the bustling city center of Middletown, Maromas is picturesque, if you know where to look. Unfortunately, I didn’t. And I only had my iPhone, not my standalone camera, so my photographic record is sorely lacking. Nevertheless, you can find all the photos at my Gallery installation.

The route ended up being 21.0 miles, which was pretty exhausting, especially on my little Haro (how I sometimes yearn for gears). The trek was also made considerably more difficult because I had forgotten that Pratt & Whitney has River Road blocked off near their plant—so I had to go all the way back up River Road and then all around the edge of Maromas again, this time via Saybrook Road. Google breaks the route down like so: 5.2 miles from 324 Wash to the roadblock, 8.8 miles from the roadblock to the end of Freeman Road, and 7.0 miles from the end of Freeman Road back to 324 Wash. Despite the distance, though, it paled in comparison with my marathon Brant Rock bike trip over the summer.

At the top of Silver Street, with the sun still out and a warm breeze blowing my jacket back, I reached a giant plot of land apparently owned by the State of Connecticut. There’s the Juvenile Training Center, Connecticut Valley Hospital, a children’s hospital-ish place, the Veterans Cemetery, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of the buildings are really old and pretty; others were boarded up and vine-covered. But at the top of the hill, outside the hospital receiving area, I just took a look around. There were rolling hills covered with farms, and little farmhouses dotted the hills in the distance. The Arrigoni Bridge was visible in the distance, and looked really pretty (and also really far away). I can only imagine how beautiful the view from the top of this hill must be in the summer.

Somewhere along the line, Silver Street changed into River Road, and I rode down the bumpy asphalt along the Connecticut River, high up above the tree-studded cliffs that led down to the railroad tracks, and then the banks of the river. There were wetland areas that were draining lots of water from this morning’s storm, and little waterfalls abounded in the woods.

Farther down, River Road became pretty much desolate. Until I came to the old feldspar mine, which is now being turned into the Kleen Energy plant. So many trees were ripped out, and the gorgeous hilly terrain was all graded and sheared off. Giant dump trucks and Caterpillar earthmovers were up on the hills, as construction workers in neon yellow vests struggled to navigate the steep muddy slopes. It was really a shame, because in any other case, this land would’ve made an excellent place to hike, or even build houses. The river is far, far below the level of the railroad tracks which hug the river—which themselves are far below the level of the road that hugs the railroad tracks. And on the interior side of the road, big rock outcroppings soar vertically, and on top of those are big hills covered with trees. Now, it’s a bunch of rocks and mud and yellowish water draining onto the road. I got to talk to a thickly-accented flagman at the construction site (that’s him in the photo) who was directing the meager amount of traffic that came down the road. He told me that they’d been working on the site for about a year, and were going to be building for about four more. They were in the process of installing drainage to take all the water off the hills and into the river. It was all kind of depressing. But then again, I guess electricity is a good thing to have. I enjoy it.

Anyway, minus the construction site and the NRG power plant I came across farther down the road—which was huge and had an enormous smokestack (though I didn’t see anything coming out)—River Road was really pretty. It had stunning vistas, especially across the river to the Riverdale section of Portland. And the craggy cliffs along the side of the road had all number of ice formations and—my favorite—waterfalls! There was so much water from the storm that they were still gushing with water, falling from pretty significant heights down to depressions next to the road, and finally into culverts that must’ve taken the water under the railroad tracks and down into the river. Even farther down River Road, past the NRG plant, I came to the end of Northeast Utilities’ Maromas lands, and there was a very inconvenient roadblock, courtesy of Pratt & Whitney. I should’ve remembered that River Road was blocked off due to the aircraft plant, but stupid me, I got all the way down the road, in the middle of basically nowhere, and had to turn all the way around, going back down the mud-covered road very slowly so as not to get splattered (again) with lots of mud down my back. I need to learn more about the Pratt & Whitney site; apparently the U.S. Government had a missile installation there. If you look closely at the satellite imagery on Google Maps, I’m pretty sure you can see the concrete silo caps, right next to the river. So cool!

Blah blah blah. So I headed back up River Road, took Eastern Drive along Route 9, crossed over the highway via Bow Lane, and then made it to Saybrook Road. My original purpose for the trip was to make it to the site of the proposed Army training base on Freeman Road, and I was finally on the way. But I was getting tired—and was annoyed that I had to go all the way back up River Road—so I stopped off at the Ampak Foodmart and asked the guys in there if they knew how far it was to Freeman Road. One of the customers gave me some directions, and said it was at least a few miles away. Being nice, he offered to give me a ride.

So I threw my bike in the back of his pickup truck and he drove me about a quarter or half a mile up the big hilly part of Saybrook Road, which was a big help. He let me off at Toll Gate Road and I biked the rest of the way to Freeman Road, passing Exit 10, I think, off of Route 9—which is Aircraft Road, another road to the Pratt & Whitney site.

I can see why hardly anyone thinks Freeman Road is a good site for the Army base. Right on the corner is this beautiful rolling grassland, and there are a few small houses on an otherwise desolate, winding road with sharp curves and big hills. The land to the sides drops off in places, and big streams roar through the woods. About the only thing back there was CL&P’s Scovill Rock site, a huge switching station to which a bunch of power transmission lines connect. They were doing some work back there today, and there were a ton of trucks parked in the middle of this apparent nowhere.

The end of Freeman Road took me to Ryefield Road and the other part of River Road, neither of which looked very well paved, so I turned around. It was really windy and getting colder and cloudy, so I tried calling Mad and Laura and Joan to ask for a ride, but Mad had class and neither Laura nor Joan picked up. So I was stuck. I ended up just riding back on the bike, another seven miles, according to Google.

On the way back I stopped at Roberto’s Pizzeria, which was both really good and really cheap. I got a big piece of pepperoni pizza, with mountains of pepperoni, for only $1.80. It was so sweet. The place is apparently run by a few old Italian guys. The service was delightfully slow, and there was one old Italian guy eating at a table, and a group of three presumably Middletown 20-year olds there for lunch. The emptiness and olden atmosphere made it one of those rare places that make you feel like you’ve entered another generation entirely, just by stepping through the door.

And then I exhaustedly rode home. And fell asleep shortly thereafter. The end!