Sleeping Giant

Sleeping Giant is a rugged traprock mountain with a high point of 739 feet , located eight miles north of New Haven, Connecticut. 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 either the north or 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 site: over 30 miles of hiking trails traverse it including 5 miles of the 23-mile Quinnipiac Trail. Quinnipiac University is located at Mount Carmel's foot in Hamden.

The Sleeping Giant, 2.75 miles long by 1.75 miles 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 , followed by the Chest, 710 ft , and the Left Knee and Right Leg, 700 ft each, and so on. The Giant's Head, 670 ft , is marked by a 400 ft 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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