US-1704 Old Furnace SP

The geology of the Connecticut River basin fascinates me. This is where the tectonic plates that would become North America and Africa began to separate some 200 million years ago, kicking off a messy, million-years-long argument that tore a rift in the crust, lit volcanoes, and laid the foundations of mighty inland lakes and shallow seas. The Atlantic Ocean basin began forming during this process, though the final rift that became the ocean floor lies much farther east of Connecticut.

Later tectonic events during the Cretaceous period, some 50 to 100 million years later, would dramatically fold the basaltic lava beds nearly vertical in places, forming the Metacomet Ridge to the west and many like it in this eastern part of the continent. The photo below was taken nearby and shows a classic Metacomet basalt ridgeline. These rocks were originally horizontal, formed by lava flows during the Jurassic, and then uplifted nearly vertical as tectonic plates collided and rebounded.

Just fifty miles to the east, at Old Furnace we are seeing much older metamorphic rock laid down before the cataclysms of the Jurassic but pushed up during them. Here the major geologic features were shaped by glacial activity, and you can see examples of the general north-south oriented scratches and scarring left by them all over the park.

What this means for the POTA minded ham in the northeast is a wide variety of landforms to play in and operate from. I like to hike ridges, and wow do we have a lot of them! In most of the area what were once much larger peaks have eroded to more human-manageable sizes in the 1,00 to 2,000 foot range of elevation.

Old Furnace State Park is popular among local rock climbers as it features Ross Cliffs, a series of faces ranging in height from 30 to 85 feet and clustered around a 5.9 difficulty. On the day I was there I saw three groups of climbers working along the Parking Lot and Orange walls. I've said it before, POTA and rock climbing have a good affinity, as we both are looking for spots up high that we can climb to. We all love those views.

The 'furnace' part of the park's name refers to an iron smelting furnace that operated on the property in the 1700s. Iron processed here was used to make horseshoes for the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Furnace Pond, which the park surrounds, was formed by damming a small brook, likely to harness energy for bellows and other smelting equipment. You can see the remains of the dam at the northern end of the pond.

From the parking lot there are two trailheads, one to your left and one to your right. The leftmost path stays low and skirts the pond along its shore and is, from what I saw, very popular with local dog walkers. To the right it's a bit more interesting, and you'll pass through a quiet forested area before quickly starting an ascent. It's less than a mile to the top of Ross Cliffs by this route, and only a 200-foot ascent, so it's just a few steep parts to get you up on top of the hill.

There are a series of cutouts as you walk up along the cliffs that lead toward the pond, and you'll find outcroppings with dramatic views of the pond. I picked one that was well exposed and set up the REZ Z17 vertical whip on its Gabil tripod. It was sunny and in the upper 50s, and the rock had already warmed up nicely as I settled in for the activation.

This was a shakedown run for the KX2, which had recently returned from the factory for service. Not gonna lie, I wrecked the PA board while I had it open installing new side rails. Totally my fault, and I explained to Elecraft what I'd done. They fixed it for me at no charge and did an alignment since the PA was involved. Their response blew me away, and they have a customer for life now.

I usually don't operate for an extended period of time, just a dozen and done, as I like to say. Fifteen CW QSOs this time, almost all out to the midwest, and it was time to pack up and head down the trail. I had one 15m contact – my friend NS1C was down in Florida, and I knew that if I called CQ for ten minutes on 15m, he'd show up, and he did not disappoint! The miracle of Hamalert!

I sat for a bit and just took in the view. A mature bald eagle swung by, did a few loops around the pond, and headed for better hunting grounds. The eagles have started to migrate in larger numbers into my part of New England, and after having not seen any for 30 years I'm starting to see a handful each season. I was here at the pond during migration season, so there were quite a few hawks buzzing about, and the occasional duck splashing down.

I was hiking counterclockwise around the pond on the loop and literally passed US-1712 Ross Pond State Park. In the map below, traveling south down the path with the pond on your left, just take the right at the fork instead of the left and in a few hundred yards you are in the new park. This isn't a two-fer since they simply abut. Ross Pond SP is technically closed (I was there March 2025) but it's just the parking access that's shut down, and it's a simple operation to just move the station and do the second park.

Which is what I normally do, but not this time! Instead I banked left and continued to hike around Furnace Pond. It's been really interesting to look back at my first 100 activations and how I've evolved as a POTA operator. Earlier I would have absolutely done the second park, but lately the hikes are becoming longer and more about the hiking than about racking up POTA numbers. Not long ago I hiked for nine hours summiting Mt. Wilcox and spent only about 30 minutes doing a S/POTA operation. Ross Pond will still be there another day.

The lakeside trail is flat and hugs the shore, and you get nice views of the cliffs and any climbers. It's this side where you'l run into dog walkers and I was happy to get to pet a few Good Boys on my way out. Old Furnace is an easy two-mile hike with nice views and a second park within a rock's throw. It might not be a destination park, but if you are already in the area it becomes much more attractive.