David Reik, Photo Blog

 I visited the Edith Lefebvre Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed by the Town of East Haddam, on 2021-6-23 and 2021-6-24.  On 2021-6-23, I bushwhacked from an unpaved section of Jones Hill Road to Burnham Brook and back.  On 2021-6-24, I went back and explored some blazed trails I came across on my bushwhack.  I made an interactive map with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/1XXiDK  .  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map: 1.  A sign near where I parked on Jones Hill Road. 2. A contorted tree along my bushwhack route. 3.  The nearer big white oak was dead. 4  I think this was at the southern boundary of the land owned by The Nature Conservancy that was managed by the Town of East Haddam.  I think the land to the south of the boundary was also owned by The Nature Conservancy but not managed by the Town of East Haddam. 5.  I crossed Bu...

 On 2021-6-23, I visited Lena Reserve in East Haddam, CT.  Lena Reserve is owned by the town of East Haddam.  I made an interactive map with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/eGGiv  .  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I parked in a pull-off on the side of Mitchell Road.  I could have parked in a four-car lot 245 feet to the southwest. 2.  Rocks along Mitchell Road. 3.  More rocks along Mitchell Road. 4  I left Mitchell Road to walk on an unimproved town road.  There was no road sign, but the name of the road may be George Babcock Road.  Here's a view of ferns from the road . 5.  A picture of me on the unimproved town road. 6.  There was no bridge on the road to cross a small stream  There was the wreck of an old car (maybe from the 1930s) by the side of the stream. 6  A carefully constructed opening in a stone wall l...

 On 2021-6-19, I visited Burnham Brook Preserve in East Haddam, CT, a Nature Conservancy property.  I made an interactive map with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's a link to the map:  https://arcg.is/r1aWX  .  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  Maybe five cars could park in a pull-off on the side of Dolbia Hill Road.   1.  A blue-blazed trail made a loop about 1.9 miles long. 2.  A mown trail branched off the blue trail and traveled through meadows.     3.  I think the cedar trees in the fields planted themselves and were spared by mowers. 4.  The mown trail continued into the woods and, despite what was indicated on a map at location 1, stopped about 100 feet short of the blue trail near location 4. Near 4.  I associate high stone walls of fieldstone, one stone in thickness, with eastern Connecticut. Near 4.  American wintergreen, Pyrola Americana, was in bloom in...