2021-4-3, American Legion State Forest, Barkhamsted, CT

 On 2021-4-3, I visited American Legion State Forest in Barkhamsted, CT.  I made an interactive map with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map.



Here's a link to the interactive map  ---- you can turn various layers on and off, zoom in and out, and pan around: https://arcg.is/1GHqCW

1.  I parked at 1, next to the entrance to what is now a campground and what was once a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.

2.  I explored some spur trails which apparently had been used for timber harvest projects.  I took pictures of a shrub near where a spur trail became overgrown with saplings.  I think the shrub is a hobblebush, scientific name Viburnum lantanoides.



2.


2.


2.


2.


3.  I explored several other similar spur trails that petered out.  I continued up Legion road.  At 3, I walked along a beaver dam.  The beaver dam is on top of the road.


4.  I walked to the end of Legion Road  and onto a trail that went westerly.  At 4, I left the trail to explore what appeared to be an ancient mill site.  Below is a map showing where my mill-related pictures were taken.



4a.  Looking easterly into the ruins.


4b.  Looking easterly into the ruins.


4c.  A near-by waterfall.


4d.  Looking westerly into the ruins.


4e.  Looking southerly into the ruins.



4f.  Looking southwesterly into the ruins, towards the waterfall.


4g.   Looking southerly into the ruins.


4h.  At the top of the falls looking easterly.


4h.  At the top of the falls looking southeasterly.


4i.  Looking easterly along what may have been the remains of a low dam.  I think the water to turn the mill wheel may have traveled from the dam to the mill wheel in an elevated wooden trough.
 


5.  This trail continued.

6.  A trail here also continued.

7.  I'm at the end of the Turkey Vulture Ledges Blue Trail.  The camera is looking southeasterly.  Above my head is Ski Sundown.  The Lansford Perry Tower is visible to the left of Ski Sundown.  A short stretch of the Farmington River can be seen.


8.  A split boulder along the Turkey Vulture Ledges Blue Trail.  Is this gneiss?  I don't see any layers, so maybe it's some other type of rock.




David Reik

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