I hiked a loop on Tunxis Trails in Plymouth and Burlington, CT, on 2020-6-17. Below is a link to an interactive map I made showing the three-digit GPS Waypoints I recorded where I wrote notes.
Here's a screenshot of the northern part of the map:
Here's a screenshot of the middle portion of the map:
Here's a screenshot of the southern section of the map:
001. A man I met in the parking area from the Bristol Water Department said he had painted over a blue blaze on the white pine in the foreground. Just in front of this tree, there is a well-used path leading to the reservoir that the Bristol Water Department doesn't want people to use because the Bristol Water Department wants to keep people away from the reservoir. The man I talked to believes that having a blaze on this tree at the intersection with the trail he doesn't want people to use encourages people to go down the forbidden trail. He suggested maybe there could be an arrow on the tree pointing down the Tunxis Trail. The tree is on the mainline trail, 74 feet east of the junction with the white-dot trail. I said that Dan Casey was in charge of the blazes.
002. A stretch on the trail that could be widened.
003. A slough on the trail. There are stepping stones part way across the slough. People have laid branches on top of the stepping stones.
004. An 8-inch blowdown 12 inches high.
005. It seems that a tree was leaning across the trail, and someone tried to cut the leaning tree down, but the tree refused to fall, ending up in the near-vertical position shown in the picture.
006. A 14-inch blowdown 14 inches high.
007. The trail goes across a lawn where people have set up chairs. This is about as close as the blazed trail gets to the reservoir.
008. There is an identical sign near the parking area.
009.
010. I think the distance along the mainline trail to Route 4 is about 7 miles. This must pertain to the distance to Route 4 if you took what is now the yellow-dot trail.
011. These bulges at the bases of the leaves of an American chestnut sprout I believe are caused by the Asian chestnut gall wasp:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/TREES/Asian_chestnut_gall_wasp.html
011.
012. A leaning tree I missed on the way out.
013. An un-used kiosk.
I found maybe ten of these duct-tape blazes on my hike. Someone must believe the trail could use more blazes.
015. Someone has corrected this old sign. Or am I confused again?
016. In 2012, I believe this section of the then-yellow-dot trail went through a thicket because the area had been burned in 2008. Now, the trail goes through a tunnel created by small trees.
017. A section that could use widening.
018. One of several places where I saw evidence of recent blow-down cutting.
019. A 6-inch blowdown, 8 inches high.
020. American chestnut leaves.
020. I think this is about as big as American chestnut trunks get in Connecticut now. I read that, when the bark starts to crack, the killer fungus gets in and kills the small tree that has sprouted from ancient roots. Chinese chestnut trees, which can be found along the Tunxis Trail, get big enough to produce nuts.
021. Some species of fungus on the bark of a dead oak, a red oak I think. Why was the fungus covered with drops of water? The woods were dry. Maybe this is Oak Bracket, Pseudoinonotus dryadeus.
022. According to Dan Casey, this sign has been here for about 25 years. He says it was printed on tyvec using a laser printer. At this point, there is an intersection with blue blazes going in three directions.
024. I walked a half mile down Greer Road to the parking lot for a preserve where this sign appeared.
024. The QR code takes you to
http://www.etrailhead.net/trails/49 where, if you put in your email address, you get the map without reflections.
024. The map the link takes you to. Although the map comes from Connecticut Forest and Park Association, the map shows not only the yellow-dot Tunxis Trail, but also a non-CFPA trail.
025. Another place where I found evidence of recent blowdown cutting. I learned that Tom Burkholder deserves credit for the blow-down cutting.
028. The path shown is not the Tunxis Trail, but a trail I mistakenly went down. I am now in the "Mile of Ledges" area through which the trail is hard to blaze, and hard to follow, because the trail snakes around, between, and over, rock features.
029. 6-inch blowdown 6 inches high.
030. Another place where someone thought there should be more blazes.
031. Inside a rock feature the trail goes over and through. This is where I followed blazes (dimly visible here) down a rock face to the trail where it runs between two rock faces.
031. The trail between the two rock faces.
033. A narrow stretch of trail.
034. 8-inch blowdown 8 inches high.
035. I inadvertently went off trail here. Shown are the remains of an ancient stone dam, I believe.
036. There is a blaze visible beyond the dam. The blaze in the foreground is another duct-tape blaze. Hikers are supposed to go right over the dam remains, I think.
037. Another stretch that doesn't meet the four-foot-wide guideline.
David Reik
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