2020-11-5, 2020-11-6, Bethany - Beacon Falls, CT

 On 2020-11-5 and 2020-11-6 I visited preserves in Bethany and Beacon Falls, CT.  Here's a link to an interactive map on which I have put location numbers: http://arcg.is/0y55XD .  You can fiddle around with the interactive map and turn off and on contour lines, aerial imagery, and LIDAR-created imagery.  Below is a static screenshot of the interactive map.



1.  On my 2020-11-5 trip, I parked at the northwest end of Northrop Road.

2.  I was near an unblazed trail here on private property.


3.  Here, I am on the Woodward Trail in the Bethany Land Trust Woodward Preserve.  I saw lots of evidence of hard work that had been done to create the trail.  At its southern end, lots of Autumn Olive shrubs had to be hacked through to make the trail.


4.  I saw this hat on the yellow-white-blazed White Birches Trail in the Bethany Land Trust Mendell's Folly Preserve.



5.  On 2020-11-6, I parked again at 1.  Here, I am on private property beside Hockanum Brook.  I was near a trail that connects Mendell's Folly Preserve with town land.  


6.  This was on Town of Bethany Land.  Was this, maybe fifty years ago, part of a rope tow for a ski slope?


Near 6.  Oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus.  This is an invasive plant that was imported from China in 1860.  It is a vine that grows up trees and winds around the trees so tightly that the trees die.


Near 6, oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus.


7.    This barrier was on an access trail to Mendell's Preserve.  I think the idea behind the barrier was to discourage ATVs.


Near 7.  Where the access trail meets CT-42, this map of Mendell's Folly was posted.  The map is out of date.  On my computer, you can right-click on any of the images in this blog post and open the image in another tab and enlarge the image to show more detail.



8.  Here, I am on a yellow-blazed trail that runs through the Bethany Land Trust Van Epps Preserve and connects with the Connecticut Forest and Park Association blue-blazed Naugatuck Trail in Naugatuck State Forest, East Block.




Near 8.  A burl on a black birch tree.


9 .  On an orange-blazed trail in Van Epps Preserve.


10.  This is on a yellow-blazed trail in the western part of Mendell's Folly Preserve which is in Beacon Falls.


Near 10.


11.  A view from a yellow-blue-blazed trail that is a higher alternate route to the yellow-blazed trail.  On the yellow-blazed trail, I needed my hiking poles to balance on rocks and logs to stay out of the water.  The climb up to, and down from, the yellow-blue trail is very steep.


12.  A view from the upper trail as it descends to the beaver dam at the southern end of the swamp.


Near 12.  On the yellow-blazed trail.  Note that the yellow-blazed trail goes on rocks that are in the water.


13.  Near the northern intersection of the yellow trail and the yellow-blue trail.  Note the beaver lodge.


Near 12.  A stone dam with a gap to let water pass through had been constructed to enable easy crossing for hikers of the brook.


14.  I think this is evidence that some animal eats the seeds of tulip trees.


15.  A wildlife viewing stand.


4.  The hat was still sitting on the rock I placed it on the day before.  Hopefully, people will leave the hat on the rock until the person who lost the hat passes by and picks the hat up. 

Below is a screenshot of an interactive map that you get to if you follow this link:

https://hiking.waymarkedtrails.org/#?map=15.407753648190077!41.4479!-73.0225











David Reik

Comments

  1. BartNovember 10, 2020 at 2:48 PM

    Dave, Nice photos. Glad your enjoying these trials. The two piece fence you pictured is horse barrier. People can traverse it but horses cannot. I built it.

    Bart Piccirillo
    Bethany Land Trust

    ReplyDelete

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