David Reik, Photo Blog

 The link to my interactive route map:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34552497 I'll put in a static screenshot of the interactive map. The State had mown many of the thoroughfares on the route I followed.  The route was designed by the man who blazed the Naugatuck State Forest, West Block, trails, Tom Ebersold.  This was at the 1.51-mile mark. At about the 2.17-mile mark.  Witch-hazel in bloom.  Some of the flowers have already lost their tendrils. At the 2.21-mile mark.  A probably illegal mining project. Looks like quartz crystals were what was being sought. Quite a bit of digging was done. At the 3.93-mile mark.  Look carefully and you can see some snow on the hills across CT-8. At the 4.47-mile mark.  A train went by as I was leaving. At the 4.66-mile mark.  One of the many cascades on Spruce Brook. At the 7.18-mile mark. David Reik

 On 2020-10-24, I visited Taine Mountain in Burlington, CT.  I made an interactive map with location numbers.  Here's a link to the map:  http://arcg.is/1iKLD80  . 1.  Where I parked on a broad cul-de-sac, Ryans Way. 2.  This is Perrys Lookout.   3.  A cairn at a high point on the Tunxis Blue-Red Trail. 4.  The Tunxis Blue-Red Trail used to connect with another Tunxis Blue-Red Trail before a housing development was built that split the trail into two parts.  You can still see some of the ancient blazes. 5.  On a Burlington Land Trust red-blazed trail, I spotted witch-hazel in bloom. 6.  A Burlington Land Trust map in a Boy Scout-built kiosk.  The connector trail shown here as being yellow blazed was actually red blazed. 7.  A red blaze on the connector trail.  It would have made sense to have blazed the connector trail with yellow blazes, because now there is an intersection where red-blazed trails go in three directions. 8.  Why had this boulder on the Tunxis Blue-Red Trail been d

 On 2020-10-24, I hiked a set of trails on Taine Mountain in Burlington, CT.  I recorded fallen trees on the trails that were part of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association Tunxis Trail system of trails.   Blowdown 1 and Blowdown 2. Blowdown 3. Blowdown 4. Blowdown 5. Blowdown 6. Blowdown 7. Blowdown 8. Blowdown Locations.  (You could right-click on the image and open the image in another tab to see the location numbers more clearly.) David Reik

On 2020-10-17, I was on a New Haven Hiking Club hike led by Tom Ebersold.  First, we hiked through Macricostas Preserve in Washington, CT.  Then, we went south to hike two-and-a-half miles in Boyd Woods Sanctuary in Litchfield, CT. Left to right, Tom Ebersold, Jim Earle, David Reik, and Jelaine Orozco.  Gina Liburdi, photographer. Location: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145684364 .  Tom Ebersold, photographer. Location: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145684364 .  Jelaine Orozco, photographer. Waypoint 005.  Waramaug's Rock, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145683264 . 005.  Waramaug's Rock, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145683264 .  Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum? 005.  Waramaug's Rock, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145683264 .  Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum? 005.  Waramaug's Rock, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145683264 .  Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum? 005.  Waramaug's Rock, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4145683264 .  Sourwood,

On 2020-10-14, I visited Boyd Woods Audubon Sanctuary in Litchfield, CT.  Below is a link to my interactive map of the sanctuary.  I put in location numbers to show where the pictures below were taken. http://arcg.is/0ziTjm Below is a static screenshot of my interactive map. 1.  I followed an unblazed trail northerly out of Boyd Woods into another Litchfield Hills Audubon Society preserve, Wigwam Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. 2.  A beaver lodge. 3.  My first view of Wigwam Brook which runs along the western edge of Boyd Woods. 4.  An interestingly constructed bridge. 4. 4.  A large quartzite rock, I think. 4.  Another view of Wigwam Brook. 4.  I tried to identify these mushrooms which were growing at the base of a yellow birch tree.  If my identification is correct, the mushrooms are part of an infection of the tree that may kill the tree.  My tentative identification: Honey Mushroom, Armillaria mellea. 4. 4. 7.  This work of art was hanging by the side of one of several man-made ponds in