Sleeping Giant Adventure!
An adventurous hike with some rock climbing and big views
How long is the walk?
This route is about 2.5 miles. It took my family 2 hours, including a short snack stop at the view point about a mile in.
Some notes from my family's experience:
Sleeping Giant is familiar territory for many local families. The Tower Trail is a family friendly walk almost any time of year! This hike does not use the Tower Trail and does not go to the tower. Instead, it climbs steadily up the White Trail to a view overlooking the campus of Quinnipiac University. The White Trail is quite steep in some places, and much of it is uneven and rocky. My boys thought it was lots of fun to climb! You'll eventually turn right on a short Yellow/Green connector trail, and then take a right on the Yellow Trail to return to your car.
The Yellow Trail (in this direction) goes steadily down hill, including two long wooden staircases built by a local Boy Scouts. Much of the Yellow Trail was wet, with small streams running over smooth rocks in many places. The footing was fine on a 40 degree day, but I would not do this trail with any ice or snow on the ground.
This trail was a fun challenge for my 7 and 9 year olds and seems like a great option for kids about ages 7 and up. It was definitely a workout, and might be too steep and the footing too uneven for much younger children. The parking lot was very (very!) busy on the day we went, but we encountered few other hikers on the White and Yellow trails.
I recommend following the route on the free All Trails app, HERE. If you park in the main lot, you walk up the paved park road for a bit (the car road, not the Tower Trail) to find the start of the White Trail. The All Trails app is helpful to find the trailhead.