Boyd Woods

Oh Boyd!
Litchfield Hills Audubon Society’s Boyd Woods, Litchfield
November 2024

Another year, another random Litchfield trail hiked on the day I pick up our turkey from Bunnell Farm for Thanksgiving. The turkey for which I drive the 45 minutes west, pay ten times what others pay for their frozen Butterball, curse the person I’ve become, cook it a few days later and realize yet again why we pay so much for a dang turkey.

(They’re really, really good turkeys.)

This year, I finally completed the trails at Boyd Woods. This place had been on my pre-turkey trip hiking itinerary for years but for whatever reason, I’ve never made it.

I’m glad I finally did. Located right on Route 254, it was originally owned by longtime Audubon member and active birder Margery Boyd. She kept a daily record of the birds seen on the property for 31 years! After her death in 1992, her cousin and heir gave the property to the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society.

The 106 acres have a whole slew of well-marked trails, two ponds, and a brook. There’s a bird blind and, one would assume, lots of birds here as well.

There’s a large lot and a nice sign at the trailhead. A kiosk and an access trail through a field and I was off into the woods. As I said, there are a lot of trails here and it is clear that there will be at least a couple more at some point in 2025. There is an unmapped proper little trail heading into the conifer plantation which sounds like a great place to blaze a trail and also streamers through the “wet thicket” which sounds like a terrible place to blaze a trail.

I did a large counterclockwise loop and traversed all or almost all of every trail. Or thereabouts. Like I said, there are a ton of trails squeezed into this rectangle, and in some cases trails parallel other trails that you can see through denuded winter woods.

The signage is great and the blazing is fantastic. Though there are no views or challenging rock features or anything, Boyd Woods simply offers a very pleasant amble through the forest.

I first took down the Ridge Trail, which… if that’s a ridge, it’s the world’s smallest ridgeline. That connected me to the Brook Trail but I immediately took a right onto the Woodpecker Trail to reach the far northern part of the property. Although this place is deep in Litchfield and the western part of the property is pretty close to Morris, it really isn’t all that isolated. The first 15 minutes of my walk were pretty close to the road and I could see and hear cars when they passed.

It wasn’t until the Woodpecker Trail turned west away from the road through a nice little birch stand that I felt truly “in the woods.” According the the folk artsy map, I was in what is known as the Great Valley. Let’s say that the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society gets a little creative in their naming conventions.

Wigwam Brook, which more or less forms the western boundary of this place, is quite nice at least. (You may recognize the name from the LHAS’s other nearby Litchfield property: Wigwam Brook.)

I circled the “Great Valley,” rejoined the Brook Trail and went uphill for a short spurt to reach Margery’s Bird Pond. It’s a nice little pond and the Society has placed some benches at the northern and southern ends to relax and look at birds.

The Pond Trail took me to the Windy Woods Trail, the longest in the Preserve at just under a mile – and definitely the one trail you’ll want to seek out if you come here. It travels along Wigwam Brook for a good way and shows walkers the various plots of managed woods as well.

There’s the “early successional” section and the aforementioned conifer plantation. As you skirt each on the yellow-blazed Windy Woods Trail, you can easily see the difference in the woods. For little kids or unobservant numpties, this could offer a good ecology lesson.

The trail features a bird viewing bench that could serve as punishment for little kids or numpties who refuse to listen to your eloquent lectures on forest succession and management:

I kid, I kid. I’m sure that’s a great place to observe birds.

I stuck to the Windy Woods but did dogleg into the conifers at one point along a new Green Dot Trail. This is a serious stand of trees, and it will forever amaze me how dark and foreboding a thick stand of pines can be.

I continued up the hill alongside the conifers before winding my way back to the bird blind area, the field, and my car.

This is a well-managed and fun little property to hike. It’s in rural southern Litchfield and driving here from any direction is pretty. So when you do, and you see the sign out on the road, I want you to say “Oh Boyd, oh Boyd!” before you stop and take a stroll.

Or else have a sit in the Punishment Bench.

Litchfield Hills Audubon Society
CTMQ’s Audubon Trails