Northwest Park - Windsor, CT

Date Hiked: Sunday, January 6, 2019
Estimated distance:  4.11 miles
Weather: 37°F, cloudy with a few sprinkles
Resources: Northwest Park
Highlights of the trip:  fun group of people


I led a small group of people from the Take a Hike! Farmington Valley facebook group on a hike around some of the trails at Northwest Park - one of my go-to places when I am looking for something relatively easy.  This park has a wonderful trail system.  It is generally well marked, though I find I can get a little screwed up when multiple woods roads, that are not marked, come together.

Beaver lodge on far side.

The water level everywhere else is relatively high, but here at the reservoir, it is low.  They must be releasing water from the dam.

Skies starting to clear after we had a few sprinkles.

2017 Hike #26: Northwest Park - Windsor, CT

Date Hiked: Sunday, July 16, 2017
Estimated distance:  3.77 miles
Weather: 84°F, scattered clouds
Resources: Northwest Park, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  butterflies, birds
Progress toward 2017 Outdoor Goals:  26/52 hikes; 86.62/250 miles hiked


Catching up on my blog posts.

I am working on a weekly photo challenge, and this week's challenge was "Path".  I decided to head over to Northwest Park because I knew they had some boardwalk-type paths over wet areas in the woods, plus trails in the fields that I thought might make nice photo opportunities.  I did take some photos, but I definitely need to work on my skills.

As you enter Northwest Park, there is a little pond on the left.  There are tons of fish and quite a few painted turtles there.  I took a few minutes to take a look.  When I left the park, there was a family tossing pieces of bread to the fish.  The kids were so excited to see all the fish coming up to get the bread.  Unfortunately, the turtles seemed interested, but weren't much of a match for the speedy fish.

Painted turtle

I started off taking the trails along the fields.  There were several butterflies.  While I would have said they were Monarchs, research makes me think they are really Viceroys.

Viceroy butterfly

I also saw some birds in the field.  While the coloring of the one below looks like a female Goldfinch, I don't think it is.  The beak doesn't look like a finch beak.  I am thinking some kind of warbler?  (Prairie or Blue-winged?)

There was also a male Goldfinch nearby, so maybe the previous one is the female.  I can't tell.

Goldfinch

After leaving the fields, I was on the Jurassic trail for awhile and from there to the Woody Succession trail. 

One of the boardwalks on the Woody Succession Trail.

And back out to the fields...

When I got back to the area of the barn and nature center, I took a little side trip to the Butterfly Garden and the Sensory Saunter Trails.  The flowers were beautiful and I loved listening to the aspen leaves rustle in the wind.

While I usually come here to hike, there are lots of other things to see and do.   The kids can go into the barn and see the animals, go to the nature center, and play on the playscape.  Bring a picnic and have some fun!

2017 Hike #14: Northwest Park - Windsor, CT

Date Hiked: Saturday, April 22, 2017
Estimated distance:  4.5 miles
Weather: 48°F, light rain
Resources: Northwest Park, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  hiking with a nice group
Progress toward 2017 Outdoor Goals:  14/52 hikes; 44.72/250 miles hiked

Northwest Park Trail Map

One of my Outdoor Goals for this year was to participate in a group hike.  I had hoped to join the folks of the Simsbury Land Trust last month for their hike at Ethel Walker Woods, but high winds prevented us from hiking that day.  Today's hike at Northwest Park was looking a little questionable because of rain, but I drove over and the group was waiting in the parking lot.

It rained on and off during our hike, but it was a light rain.  The hike took us along Rainbow Reservoir, first on the yellow Wetland Forest Trail and then on the pink Rainbow Reservoir Trail.  We headed back along the green Woody Succession Trail, and the orange Softwood Forest Trail, before connecting again with the other side of the Wetland Forest Trail.

Green frog

Tree in bud near Rainbow Reservoir.

Along the Woody Succession Trail

Softwood Forest Trail

Bog along Wetland Forest Trail

This was a very enjoyable hike with a nice group of people.  I hope to be able to make some of their other hikes.

2017 Hike #1: Northwest Park - Windsor, CT

Date Hiked: Sunday, January 1, 2017
Estimated distance:  4.11 miles
Weather: 43°F, scattered clouds, breezy
Resources: Friends of Northwest Park, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  bald eagle, view of frozen reservoir
Progress toward 2017 Outdoor Goals:  1/52 hikes; 4.11/250 miles hiked

Let's start the New Year off with a hike!  The tricky part is figuring out where to go.  We've had a little snow and then rain on top of that, so icy trails were likely.  I chose Northwest Park because it is relatively flat with a lot of open fields.  If the conditions were too bad, I hoped that at least the trails around the fields would be free of ice.  I threw my microspikes into the car just in case.

There were some icy spots in the parking lot and then again in front of the nature center, but overall things looked pretty good.  As you can see from the pictures, the snow is pretty much gone.  I left the microspikes in the car.  The nature center was closed today for the holiday, but I think it is normally closed on Sundays anyway.

I headed behind the nature center and back toward the reservoir.  The trails were pretty good except for an occasional icy patch and I just took my time and used my hiking poles.

I stopped for a moment to consult my map and see if there was a trail around the field I had just come to.  When I looked up again, there was a bald eagle flying over the field toward the reservoir.  Already a great hike!

I picked up the yellow (Wetland Forest) trail that runs along above Rainbow Reservoir.

From the yellow trail, I connected with the pink (Rainbow Reservoir) trail.  It became much more icy here, but in many cases the worst of the ice could be avoided by walking along the edge of the trail.

The reservoir was frozen, but I doubt the ice was very thick.

Someone got a little carried away with the pink blazes, but it added a little color to the scene.  The trails at Northwest Park are very well marked.  The only problems I have are when I come to the criss-crossing woods roads.  Putting numbered markers at the corners and marking those on the map might be helpful.

The picture below shows the dam at the end of the reservoir.  Somewhere along here, I looked across a cove and thought I saw a sign on a tree that said "Portage Here".  By the time I got over to that spot, I had completely forgotten about it, but now I am curious.  If it really did say "portage" where are you supposed to go?  Looking at the Farmington River Watershed Association website, there is no mention of a portage here.  You would take out at across the reservoir at the boat launch (Access Point 29) and drive down to River Street to put-in again (Access Point 30).  Curious.

I left the pink trail and picked up the black (Triassic) trail.  This took me through the woods and then out into a field.  I thought the trails would be free of ice here, but the trees block the rays of the sun on the trail that runs along the east side of the field.

When I got to the next field, I walked on the trails on the west side of the field which brought me to one of the old tobacco barns.  The roof is in bad repair, but the beams inside still look pretty good.

I made my way back to the entrance with a quick detour to see the animal barn.  This was a very nice hike on a beautiful first day of the new year.

Hike #52: Northwest Park - Windsor, CT

Date Hiked: Saaturday, November 19, 2016
Estimated distance:  5.04 miles
Weather: 60°F, beautiful, clear skies
Resources:  Northwest Park, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  view of the reservoir, great hiking weather
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  52/52 hikes; 203.01/250 miles; 31.37/25 miles on Tunxis Trail


Another hiking goal has been reached!  I have now completed 52 hikes for the year.  In order to complete my mileage goal, I will have to complete another ten, or so, hikes.

My hiking partner and I generally hike in the morning, but today I couldn't get out until noon.  We picked Northwest Park as a place that wasn't too far away, and that offered several miles of hiking that wouldn't take us too long.  It was an absolutely perfect fall day - comfortable temperatures and pure blue sky.

We headed back behind the museum and toward the reservoir, but only made it as far as the beaver pond.  This area of the trail gets very wet, and though we are in a drought, the rain a couple of days ago made us decide to turn around. 

Beaver pond.

We went back and picked up the yellow (Wetland Forest) trail that runs along the reservoir up on a hillside.  With the leaves off the trees, we could get a good view of the water below.

Rainbow Reservoir

Rainbow Reservoir where the trail comes back down near water level.

From the yellow trail, we picked up the pink (Rainbow Reservoir) trail and then the black (Triassic) trail.  We passed by the dam, which did not have much water flowing through the spillway, and walked around a field at the far end of the park.

With a few starts and stops, we found our way to the orange (Softwood Forest) trail and to the other half of the yellow trail loop which brought us back to the woods road we started on and to the nature center.

We stopped at the pond near the nature center and saw a LOT of goldfish.  They looked like orange leaves on the branches of the reflected trees.

 An excellent hike and 5 easy miles under our belts!

Other visits to Northwest Park:
Hike #30
Hike #9

Hike #30: Northwest Park - Windsor, CT

Date Hiked: Saturday, June 4, 2016
Estimated distance: 5.76 miles
Weather: 71°F, cloudy and humid
Resources: Northwest Park, Trail Map, Hike #9
Highlights of the trip:  tulip poplar flowers, mountain laurel in bloom, deer
Progress toward 2016 hiking goals:  30/52 hikes; 114.79/250 miles; 28.5/25 miles on Tunxis Trail

May was a busy month and I only logged two hikes!  I hope I can do a little better in June.  I'd like to get at least half-way to my goal of 250 miles.

My hiking partner was not available this weekend, so I put off the next section of the Tunxis Trail for another time.  Saturday was CT Trails day, but I just couldn't seem to come to a decision on which of those hikes to do.  I struck out on my own and over to Northwest Park.

Northwest Park Trail Map

I started my hike, in the way I usually do at Northwest Park, by walking past the nature museum and down to the reservoir.

Maybe Rosa multiflora, an invasive species.

Pond with beaver lodge.

The trail near the pond is almost always wet and people have put down branches and small logs in an attempt to make it passable.  I did not bring my hiking poles today, but if I had, they would have been useful in helping me navigate this area.  I think it will almost always be wet here because the level of the pond is higher than the trail.

I walked out to the old dam or bridge abutment.  There were a couple of people fishing out there (as well as some people fishing off of boats in the water), so I did not take any pictures.

I turned back around, crossed the wet part of the trail and turned left on the Wetland Forest (yellow) trail.  This trail follows along next to the reservoir, but at a higher elevation.  With the leaves on the trees, you can only get occasional glimpses of the water.

Flower and leaves from tulip poplar tree.

The trail goes back down to the reservoir in a couple of areas.  Below is a picture of the boat launch on the other side of the reservoir.

I left the yellow trail and started on the Rainbow Reservoir (pink) trail and continued along the reservoir.  The Mountain Laurel was in full bloom.

The pink trail heads away from the water and along a little ravine before joining the Triassic (black) trail.  I took the black trail back toward the reservoir along the other side of the ravine.  The black trail comes to an end in a field and just before I came out into the field, I spotted a deer.  I was able to get my camera out and take a picture, but once I started to sneak a little closer, it bounded away.

I looped around the field on an unmarked trail until I came back to the black trail.  I followed it for a short distance and picked up the Woody Succession (green) trail.  After that, I found my way to the Softwood Forest (orange) trail.  A couple of areas on these trails need some work as the plants are starting to creep in.  Make sure you do a tick check!

Lady slipper.

The orange trail took me back to the other half of the yellow loop, which I followed back to the woods road that runs behind the nature center.  As I approached the nature center I took two quick detours to the Sensory Saunter Trail and the Butterfly Garden. 

Silver-spotted skipper on lupine.

One of the things I love about Northwest Park is the variety of habitats.  You have open fields, the beaver pond, the reservoir, a bog, hardwood and softwood forests.  It really has a lot to offer.  In addition there are animals in the barn for the kids to check out and a small, but really well done nature museum.  There is also a playground and picnic tables.  I think that next time the nieces are in town with their kids, we'll have to plan a trip over here.