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Sleeping Giant State Park

Sleeping Giant
SlGiant.jpg
View from the Giant's Chin
Highest point
Elevation 739 ft (225 m)
Coordinates 41°25′50″N 72°53′27″W / 41.43056°N 72.89083°W / 41.43056; -72.89083Coordinates: 41°25′50″N 72°53′27″W / 41.43056°N 72.89083°W / 41.43056; -72.89083
Geography
Sleeping Giant is located in Connecticut
Sleeping Giant
Sleeping Giant
Parent range Metacomet Ridge
Geology
Age of rock 200 Ma
Mountain type Fault-block; igneous
Climbing
Easiest route casual uphill walk (via Tower Path)
Sleeping Giant State Park
Connecticut State Park
Country  United States
State  Connecticut
County New Haven
Town Hamden
Elevation 522 ft (159 m)
Area 1,465 acres (593 ha)
Established 1924
Management Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Website: Sleeping Giant State Park
Sleeping Giant Tower
Gianttower.jpg
Lookout tower at the summit of the Giant
Sleeping Giant (Connecticut) is located in Connecticut
Sleeping Giant (Connecticut)
Sleeping Giant (Connecticut) is located in the US
Sleeping Giant (Connecticut)
Location Hamden, Connecticut
Coordinates 41°25′50.29″N 72°53′26.76″W / 41.4306361°N 72.8907667°W / 41.4306361; -72.8907667
Built 1936
Architect Works Progress Administration
Architectural style Other, Romanesque
MPS Connecticut State Park and Forest Depression-Era Federal Work Relief Programs Structures TR
NRHP Reference # 86001754
Added to NRHP September 4, 1986

Sleeping Giant (also known as Mount Carmel) of south-central Connecticut, with a high point of 739 feet (225 m), is a rugged traprock mountain located 8 miles (13 km) north of New Haven. It is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border. A prominent landscape feature visible for miles, the Sleeping Giant receives its name from its anthropomorphic resemblance to a slumbering human figure as seen from both the north and south. The Giant is known for its expansive clifftop vistas, rugged topography, and microclimate ecosystems. Most of the Giant is located within Sleeping Giant State Park. The mountain is a popular recreation resource; over 30 miles (48 km) of hiking trails traverse it including 5 miles (8 km) of the 23-mile (37 km) Quinnipiac Trail.Quinnipiac University is located at Mount Carmel's foot in Hamden.

The Sleeping Giant, 2.75 miles (4.43 km) long by 1.75 miles (2.82 km) wide, is located in Hamden with its eastern edge falling into Wallingford. The Giant's profile features distinct "head", "chin", "chest", "hip", "knee" and "feet" sections topographically represented by traprock outcrops and ridge crests. The highest point is the Left Hip, 739 ft (225 m), followed by the Chest, 710 ft (220 m), and the Left Knee and Right Leg, 700 ft (210 m) each, and so on. The Giant's Head, 670 ft (200 m), is marked by a 400 ft (120 m) cliff. A stone observation tower located on the Left Hip, built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, offers 360° views of the surrounding Mill and Quinnipiac River valleys. An old rock quarry, closed since 1933 and now part of the state park, has left scars on the Giant's Head.


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