Simsbury - Wagner Woods

Date Hiked:  Thursday, May 14, 2015
Number in Group: 1
Estimated distance round-trip: 1.5 miles
Weather: The pick of the week! sunny, 73°F, light breeze
Resources: Simsbury Land Trust Wagner Woods
Highlights of the trip: tom turkey, pileated woodpecker

The other night, I was poking around for a hike I could do on Thursday afternoon.  The local meteorologist had named Thursday as the "pick of the week", and I wanted to be ready with a place in mind so that I could get out and enjoy the day.  In looking at the Simsbury Land Trust website, I noticed a hike I hadn't done before - Wagner Woods.  I believe this is a newer property not included in The Walkbook.  There is a trail map available online.

I parked at the trail head located on Great Pond Road.  There is not a lot of room here, maybe enough for 3 cars.  There is another parking area at the George Hall Farm on Old Farms Road.  There is a kiosk at the entrance with a trail map, an aerial view from 1934 of the old Stierle Farm, and information on the various bird species on the property.

Entrance kiosk on Great Pond Road

I started down the red trail and soon found myself in a pine forest.  The trail was very well marked.

I took a right onto the blue Boehm Trail.  The trail crossed over a small muddy stream and went through breaks in several rock walls.

Interesting how this one tree twisted around the other as it grew.

The purple trail went off to the right to the parking at Hall Farm.  I was taking a few photos as I went along, but man!  The mosquitoes were really out in force.  I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked observing what was around me.  As I approached the turn-off for the yellow Stierle Trail, I heard some rustling in the leaves off to my right.  I didn't pay much attention, thinking it was just a squirrel.  I was wrong!  It was a tom turkey.  As I struggled to get my phone camera out and focused, he moved off at a pretty good clip through the undergrowth.  I got a picture, but nothing that was in focus.  Rats!

I took the yellow trail down a little hill and just before I went through another stone wall, I noticed some feathers lying on the ground.  I took a quick snap to identify later.  Again with those mosquitoes.  Using the Feather Atlas, I believe I have identified the feathers as coming from a mourning dove.  Unfortunately, there were quite a few lying around, so I am not sure of a positive outcome for the poor thing.

Mourning dove feather?

In this same area, I noted a bunch of white, fluffy, "cotton" on the ground.  I thought I had identified the trees.  The leaves looked right, but the bark, for such large trees was not thick and furrowed like cottonwood.  Perhaps the trees I saw were aspen, but then where was the "cotton" coming from?  I'll have to go back and make better observations (and take pictures that are actually in focus).

Shortly after going through the rock wall, I came to the orange Hop Brook Trail.  Turning left takes you into the field.  Instead, I took a right, along a stone wall and down to the brook.

Love these big old wolf/pasture trees.

Hop Brook

On the way back up from the brook, I heard and then spotted a pileated woodpecker on a fallen log.  It stayed long enough for me to get a picture.  Unfortunately, the camera on my phone has a rather poor zoom.  I think I need to start carrying my camera and my phone, something I had been trying to avoid.

I was now back to where I started on the orange trail and I could look across the field.  The orange trail is a narrow path that runs along the edge of most of the field and then meets up with the red trail.  The red trail cuts across the field and along the far side.  It was not long before I thought that taking this path may have been a bad idea.  I mean, it was a lovely trail, but all I could think was, "Ticks, ticks, ticks!"  The trail was not mowed recently, and the grass brushed my legs.  I did not stop to enjoy the scenery or to see if any birds were using the nesting boxes.  Instead, I just made my way across the field until I got to the edge and could take a moment for a tick check.  Unbelievably, I did not find a single tick.  However, I still felt like I had them crawling all over me.

At the edge of the field, I found a lilac bush and some lily of the valley.  I also saw two different yellow flowers.  Again, my pictures were completely out of focus.  I could not identify the first one, even though it had fairly distinctive leaves, but I am pretty sure the second one was celandine.

Lilacs.

Not far from where the trail leaves the field and enters the woods, there is a vernal pool.  I managed to scare two mallards (and myself) and they quickly swam to the far side.  On the other side of the trail, there is supposed to be an old foundation.  In my agitated, feeling like ticks are crawling all over me state, I forgot to go and take a look.  I simply headed back to the car.  Another tick check and things still looked good.

I had thought about combining this hike with one at Great Pond which is just across the street, but decided to do that another day.  Below is a map they have at the kiosk showing the trails of both Wagner Woods and Great Pond State Forest.  The Wagner Woods route was about 1.5 miles and I believe the trail around Great Pond (not including side trails) is probably about the same, so the combination would make a nice 3 mile hike.

I will definitely be back to Wagner Woods.  In my short walk, I saw a fair variety of wildlife and I think there is much more to observe.