2020-8-2, Highlawn Forest, Middletown, CT

On 2020-8-2, I re-visited Highlawn Forest in Middletown.  Highlawn Forest is a preserve managed by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association.   I made an interactive map showing where locations I will refer to here.  You can zoom in and out, pan around, and turn off and on various layers including LIDAR, contour lines, aerial imagery, and my GPS Waypoints and GPS track.  Here's a link to the map:

Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map.



1.  I turned from the Blue Trail to a network of unblazed trails.  Too bad this is not a three-dimensional picture --- you can't see here that this was a hole.  Was the hole the work of man?


2.  At first I thought that this trail, which is raised above the surrounding ground because dirt and gravel have been laboriously deposited, was the work of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, but it seems that neighbors have constructed this raised trail and many other features along the unblazed trails.


3.  The gravel for the raised trail seems to have come through this gate.


4.  A lot of work went into the construction of this sort-of wall.



Near 4.  A chinning bar.


5.  Was this the cart that was used to move the gravel?


Near 5.  Split logs with cross hatching are usually for mountain bikes.


6.  Is this a shrine, or maybe a seat?


7.  Another connection with a backyard.


8.  On the Blue/Red Discovery Trail.  I should learn to recognize mockernut hickory bark.  I think I can recognize shagbark hickory, and pignut hickory.  Bitternut hickory bark I should also learn.


9.  There seemed to have been a major road here in the distant past.  The old road, and most of the still-used paths, are visible on LIDAR.


10.  A former pumphouse, maybe?


11.  There are lots of planted conifers in Highlawn Forest, probably because there was a Christmas tree farm here, according to an article in the Connecticut Forest and Park Association newsletter.  Here's a link to the article: https://www.ctwoodlands.org/sites/all/modules/custom/mod_drupal7_flipbook28/book.html#p=10


12.  One of several small cellar holes.


13.  There was a semi-circle of these benches constructed by CFPA.  Where did they get the wire boxes that they filled with rocks?


14.  This viewing platform is also fairly new, I think.  The platform rests on metal footings.


15.  A pond along the eastern branch of the Blue/Purple Trail.


16.  A view of the pond from an unblazed trail.


17.  The Blue/Purple Trail was a bit overgrown.  This is poison ivy.


18.  The northern intersection of the Blue/Orange Trail and the Blue Trail.  Several of the Highlawn Forest Trails have alternate names.









David Reik

Comments

  1. lalalandAugust 3, 2020 at 6:24 AM

    wow! as usual, you scour the property for all sorts of finds that raise even more questions!

    ReplyDelete

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