2020-6-10, Colebrook River Lake, Colebrook, CT

On 2020-6-10, I explored the east side of Colebrook River Lake in Colebrook, CT.  I made an interactive map of the area with location numbers that I will refer to.  Below is a link to the map.

Below is a static screenshot of the interactive map.


1.  I parked in a large, dirt parking lot.  This was as far north as I could drive on Wilderness Road in Hartland.  Apparently, this is a CT-DEEP parking lot.



1.  I saw lots of evidence of recent timber harvesting projects, but no evidence of on-going timber harvesting projects.


1.  Apparently Hartland Pond Corporation owns land to the west of Wilderness Road.



2.  Can you make out the cellar hole in this picture?  There was one.  This cellar hole was visible on LIDAR, one of the layers you can turn on on my interactive map.  The LIDAR layer is labelled "Hillshade." 


3.  When I walked westerly into Colebrook from Hartland, I passed from CT-DEEP land to land owned by the Metropolitan District Commission  ---- the Hartford-area water company.



4.  I didn't have time to explore where this grassy track led to.



5.  Motorized vehicles were prohibited, according to the sign at the parking area, but I saw no prohibition for bicycles.  I might have some trouble with the rocky, sandy surface, at least in the steep sections.



6.  This cellar hole I didn't see on LIDAR.  It's hard to make out in this picture.


7.  This big cellar hole was visible on LIDAR.


8.  Looking across Colebrook River Lake, which is a dammed-up section of the west branch of the Farmington River.


9.  Maybe the submerged stonework was a bridge abutment before Colebrook River Lake was created.


10.  This butterfly paused on the gravel road long enough for me to take its pictures.  My identification: Viceroy, Limenitis archippus.


11.  Here, the road was somewhat rougher and sandier than the road I pictured at location 5.


12.  The road ended at a viewpoint across from the dam that creates Colebrook River Lake.  I took four pictures to show the view, moving from north to south.


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12.  Self-portrait with the dam in the background.


13.  It seems the land in the vicinity of the dam is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers.


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14.  A grassy track led down to West Branch Reservoir, which is immediately downstream from Colebrook River Lake.  The two reservoirs work in tandem to control the amount of water that flows on the Farmington River.  Neither reservoir is currently used for drinking water.  No swimming is allowed in either reservoir, but boating is allowed.  Below is a link to an Army Corps of Engineers webpage about Colebrook River Lake which seems to refer to both bodies of water as a single unit.

Below is link to a discussion by the MDC of both bodies of water.
https://themdc.org/recreation-areas/farmington-river


14  Looking up the spillway.


14.  A butterfly I saw on mountain laurel blossoms.  The exact species I am not sure of, but I think the butterfly was some kind of tiger swallowtail.


15.  The road down to West Branch Reservoir was the roughest of the roads I walked on.  I would have trouble bicycling up this.


16.  A saw about seven motorcyclist and about three four-wheel ATV drivers driving near location 11.  Judging by the fresh trash, they had been to location 14.  They were probably on MDC land illegally, but I credit them with keeping the track down to West Branch Reservoir fairly clear of high grass.


17.  Here you can see the results of the kind of timber harvest that was done here.  Not all the trees were cut, but enough cutting was done so that the forest floor gets a lot of sunlight.  The sunlight has allowed a lot of multi-flora rose to grow, an invasive.


18.  An odd-looking plant I spotted on the side of the road.  I think it is  Purple-stemmed Angelica, Angelica atropurpurea.


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19.  Another grassy track that I did not explore.




















David Reik

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