David Reik, Photo Blog

 I actually visited Norbrook Farm Brewery four times, on February 17, 20, 23, 25 and 26 of 2021.  The brewery where beer (in many varieties) is made and sold, is surrounded by a nature preserve about a mile square that has maybe ten miles of trails.  I made an interactive map of the preserve using www.openstreetmap.org (which I updated) as my basemap.  I put in location letters to show where I took the pictures that appear below.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/19j94G  .  I'll put in a static screenshot of the interactive map. A.  Near the brewery, I saw metal structures designed, I think, to support hops plants of different varieties. B.  The preserve has lots of narrow trails designed for mountain bikes, but I actually snowshoed the bike trails.  I talked to a man who had just driven over the bike trails with a grooming machine.  He welcomed snowshoers on the bike trails. C.  There were several large clearings in the preserve.  From here, you could see

 On 2021-2-3, I re-visited the Dead Wood Swamp area in Farmington.  I made an interactive map on which I put location numbers.  Here's a link to the interactive map, on which you can zoom in and out and turn on and off various layers:  https://arcg.is/1f5in5  . Here is a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  Where I parked, in the parking lot of an office park. 2.  I followed an old road, now blocked by numerous fallen trees, to a thoroughfare that runs underneath power lines. 3.  I left the power lines to explore a dim trail that went northeasterly.  At 3, I found what I believe is a red oak tree that had many galls on its branches.  I believe the galls were caused by the Gouty Oak Gall Wasp, Callirhytis quercuspunctata. 3. 3.  The trunk of the tree that had the galls on its branches. 4.  As I made my way back to the power lines, I noticed a beaked hazelnut shrub, Corylus cornuta. 4.  Cones on the beaked hazelnut shrub. 5.  I followed the power lines to I-84.  Near here, I

 On 2021-1-31, I went back to a section of McLean Game Refuge in hopes of recording some blaze and name changes I'd noticed on an earlier trip.  I made an interactive map with location numbers.  Here's a link to my interactive map:  https://arcg.is/0CCX4P0   .  I put in a contour-lines layer which you can turn on and off.  There were many short, steep sections on the trails I used on 2021-1-31.  Here's a static screenshot of my interactive map. 1.  Where I parked, near (but not in front of) a gate where Pond Road meets Canton Road. 2. This very narrow bridge across Bissell Brook is one that I have crossed, but I think I used hiking poles which I stuck into the sandy brook bottom.  I stayed on the eastern side of Bissell Brook on 2021-1-31. 3.  This tree is off-trail.  Connor Hogan, the director of McLean Game Refuge, says it's a yellow birch.  Here's a link to Connor Hogan's post on the Connecticut's Notable Trees website:  http://oak.conncoll.edu:8080/notab