Nipping up to Stafford to Tuck in the Woods Northern Connecticut Land Trust's Nipmuck Woods, Stafford November 2024 Here's a good example of the challenge of what I do with CTMQ. Although, in fairness, I do this to myself. I "completed" Stafford in 2017. It felt good. Granted, Stafford isn't exactly a bustling … [Read more...]
Bob White Farm (Private)
Bob and Weave, Bob and Weave Northern Connecticut Land Trust's Bob White Farm, Stafford November 2024 I don't think you're supposed to hike here. It's tough, man. It's tough being a Connecticut completist and seeing a trailed and mapped property almost surrounded by trailed and mapped properties - and … [Read more...]
Whitaker Woods
I Do Care a Whit Northern Connecticut Land Trust: McCann Farm Nature Preserve, Somers August 2023 & May 2024 The Whitaker Woods Trails are contiguous with McCann Family Farm Trails... and are also contiguous with the Forest View Trails... which are contiguous with Shenipsit State Forest and Soapstone Mountain … [Read more...]
McCann Family Farm Trails
You McCann Do It! Northern Connecticut Land Trust: McCann Farm Nature Preserve, Somers August 2023 The McCann Farm Trails are contiguous with Whitaker Woods Trails... which are contiguous with the Forest View Trails... which are contiguous with Shenipsit State Forest and Soapstone Mountain Trails... so I've … [Read more...]
Bald Mountain Preserve
Falling Into Winter Past an Old Spring in Somers Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Bald Mountain Preserve, Somers December 2023 Bald Mountain in Somers, the highest point in the town and the highest point along the Connecticut River Valley in the state, is worth your time. No, not because it's the highest point in … [Read more...]
Wraight Bird Field Conservation Area
Wraight You Are Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Wraight Bird Field Conservation Area, Ellington December 2023 Before I write about how this isn't worth your time as a standalone hike, I'd like you to read the following from the Northern Connecticut Land Trust: The Bird Field Conservation Area is a picturesque … [Read more...]
Scantic Riparian Area
Scant Indeed Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Scantic Riparian Area, Somers December 2023 At some point I decided to "hike" everywhere that some entity told me had a trail to hike. That's fine. It's the "then write about them all" part I still question myself about. But here we are. Underneath a powerline on a … [Read more...]
Schlaf Farm
The Sun Also Rises in Somers Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Schlaf Farm, Somers December 2023 The winter sun had risen a mere two hours before. The pale yellow ball glowed low in the eastern sky, hinting at some possible warmth later in the day. The December fields of corn, their dead stalks chopped down to the … [Read more...]
Stevenson Woodlands
Skip It Northern Connecticut Land Trust: Stevenson Woodlands, Somers December 2023 In my thoroughness, I visit any property that purports to have a trail. Sometimes, they don't. Sometimes, they don't when I visit and then years later, they do. That might be the case here at the Stevenson Woodlands in Somers... I … [Read more...]
Culver Pond Nature Preserve
Rock Around the Dundee Culver Pond Nature Preserve, Stafford September 2023 As a general rule of thumb, if you're driving to a trailhead on a dirt road in Connecticut, that trail is going to be worth your effort. I'll admit that Culver Pond challenged this "rule" that I just made up, but in the end, it held … [Read more...]