McLean Game Refuge - Granby, CT

Date Hiked: Saturday, February 16, 2019
Estimated distance:  3.07 miles
Weather: 36°F, fair
Resources: McLean Game Refuge, Trail Map
Highlights of the trip: beautiful sunshiny day, pileated woodpecker


I started at the Barndoor Hills Road entrance to the Game Refuge and walked toward Trout Pond.  On the return trip, I detoured on to the Werbitzkas Loop and came back along the West Branch of the Salmon Brook.  The trail conditions were a little tricky.  I wore my microspikes and used poles.  The microspikes weren't completely necessary, but the poles were quite helpful.

Cabin in the picnic grove

Basalt trap rock talus slope

Cabin at Trout Pond

This pileated woodpecker was in the tree as I headed toward Trout Pond and was still there on my return.  I spent quite awhile watching him and taking pictures and he seemed completely unperturbed.  Of course, he was above me by 20-30 feet, so I guess he had no worries.

Pileated woodpecker

Schiro Preserve from Werbitzkas Loop

West Branch Salmon Brook

Stillman-Danaher Preserve & Topsmead State Forest - Litchfield, CT

Date Hiked: Saturday, June 9, 2018
Estimated distance:  1.85 miles at Stillman-Danaher + 3.07 miles at Topsmead
Weather: 73°F, sunny
Resources: Litchfield Land Trust, DEEP Topsmead SF
Highlights of the trip:  gardens, wildflowers, birds
Progress toward NET Hike 50 Challenge: 10.5/50 miles completed

Nearly two months ago, my hiking partner and I headed over to Litchfield to check out two properties neither of us had been to before.  First, we hiked the trail at Litchfield Land Trust's Stillman-Danaher Preserve and then we drove less than two miles down the road to Topsmead State Forest.

The hike at S-D was fine, but there were no views, even from Pinnacle Rock.  I think perhaps this is a trail best done in the winter, where you might get a peek through the trees or other features may stand out (see Peter Marteka's article here).  One thing we did find of interest were some young trees that seem to have some kind of disease.  I'm not sure this would be noticeable in the winter without the leaves.  It only seemed to be happening on young trees.  The thin branches were all twisted and there was a mass of dead leaves with new smaller leaves growing above.  My pictures were terrible and I haven't identified the tree.  The Land Trust thought it may be a beech tree, but I am not sure.  I have searched the internet for something similar, but without success.  I may have to go back and take better pictures.

What is wrong with this tree?

Spider with large egg sac.

 Topsmead State Forest

At Topsmead, we parked and strolled up to the former summer home of Edith Morton Chase.  The "cottage" is beautiful and is surrounded by lovely gardens and fields.  There is also an area of cedar and yew that forms a bit of a cave that I am sure kids would really enjoy.

Neat little "cave" under the trees.

As we wandered around the house, we also saw that there were bobolinks at the edge of the field.  I first saw these birds last year at the Winchester Land Trust's Hurlburt Field.

Bobolink

From the cottage we went back toward the cars, but turned north past a field with wildflowers to end up at a little pond lined with yellow irises.

Leafy spurge.

Cow vetch.

We took the trail that went past the pond and looped around back to the road and then walked across the fields on the southern side of the property.  There were lots of wildflowers and more birds.  The birds were blue, but I couldn't get a good enough look to say whether they were blue birds or barn swallows.  I am sure a real birder could tell simply from watching their flight, but I can't.

Ragged robin.

Orange Hawkweed aka Devil's Paintbrush.

Path through the pines.

  
Topsmead State Forest is an absolutely stunning piece of property and well worth another visit.  There are picnic tables in various places, so I would recommend stopping and getting some sandwiches and enjoying a picnic.  I would think this would be an ideal place to snowshoe or cross country ski in the winter months.

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 Hikes #24 & 25: WLT's Ehrich Woods and Hurlbut Field - Winchester, CT

Date Hiked: Sunday, July 9, 2017
Estimated distance:  5.23 miles (3.59 miles at WLT's Ehrich Woods & Ruez Trails, 1.64 miles at WLT's Hurlbut Field)
Weather: 78°F, scattered clouds
Resources: Winchester Land Trust, Ehrich Woods Trail Map, Ruez Trail Map, Hurlbut Field Trail Map
Highlights of the trip:  wildflowers, Bobolinks, field of milkweed, butterflies
Progress toward 2017 Outdoor Goals:  25/52 hikes; 82.85/250 miles hiked


Two fantastic hikes today on Winchester Land Trust properties!  

Our first hike was at Ehrich Woods.  The map gives you a couple of options for parking, including at the town green (just pull to the side of the road - that's what the parishioners of the local church do on Sunday morning), but we chose to park at the small turn-out (room for about 3-4 cars) on Preston Road.  Regardless of where you park, you can make a loop, but it requires a road walk.  Instead, we did an out-and-back hike along the dirt road.

From the parking area, we headed east along Preston Road and turned south onto Old Waterbury Turnpike.  As you approach the marsh, Rugg Brook forms a little waterfall to your right.

Rugg Brook

Along the edge of the road, we saw a flower that I don't think I have seen before.  It had a very tall stalk with whorled leaves.  The first one we came across was more orange, but the others we saw looked a little more yellow.  They are Canada Lilies and are native to the area.

Canada Lily

You can see it grows quite tall.

Not 100 percent sure, but maybe Swamp Candles?

We continued on, past the sign for the Ruez Trail (huge, you can't miss it!), and down to another area along the road where we could see the marsh.  There were a few frogs and water lilies in the small area of open water.

We turned around and headed back to the Ruez Trail.  This is a lollipop shaped trail that heads off to the east.  The highlights here were finding a red eft and seeing the glacial erratic.

Hey, little buddy.

The glacier decided to drop this big boy right in the middle of the woods.  Okay, there were probably no woods then.

We returned to our car and headed down Grantville Road to the parking area we had passed earlier for Hurlbut Field.

There is a nice big sign at the entrance to the field, so you know you are in the right place.  There is also a kiosk with more information and trail maps available.

Park at the side of the road near the sign.

Follow the mown path through the field and go into the woods.  Before long you are on the shore of Winchester Lake.  But, don't be in too much of a hurry to get through the field.  The field was the highlight of our day.

So picturesque.  I wish I had more than the camera on my phone.  See the different colored ladder-back chairs on the side of the barn?

As we reached the top of the field, we saw some birds flying about and coming to rest on top of some of the taller plants in the meadow.  I had never seen this type of bird before, but I remember reading on the Land Trust's facebook page that there were Bobolinks nesting here.  Huh.  I always thought Bobolinks were like partridges.  No. No.  Those are Bobwhites!  The Bobolinks are song birds that, as it says on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website, look like they have their tuxedo on backward.  They are white on the back of their head and back and black on their wings and breasts.  That is what these were.  Sadly, they are just little black blurs in the pictures I took.

Foxglove?

One of the other fantastic things about this meadow was all of the milkweed.  Just look at it all!  We saw several different kinds of butterflies.  We think we might have seen a Monarch or Painted lady, Swallowtail, and a Fritillary (not sure which type).

Glorious milkweed!

Cow Vetch

Fritillary on Milkweed

After spending a little extra time enjoying all the meadow had to offer, we entered the woods.  This trail took us along the eastern shore of the lake and over to the dam.  There were several people fishing from the grass-covered dam, a few people getting ready to put their float tubes in the water at the boat launch, and another few already out on the water in their canoes and kayaks.

Winchester Lake

We spent a few minutes enjoying the view of the lake and looking at the wildflowers along the dam before heading back to the car.  You can make this hike into a loop hike if you want to do a road walk, but we returned the way we had come.  That gave us another chance to see the meadow.


Winchester Land Trust doesn't have a ton of property, but what they do have is quite diverse.  I especially recommend a visit to the Hurlbut Field property.  It has been several days, but I am still excited thinking about all that property had to offer.