2021-9-9, Barnes Nature Center Connector, Bristol, Burlington, CT

 On 2021-9-9, I walked a section of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association Barnes Nature Center Connector, blazed with blue blazes with black dots.  Here's a screenshot from the CFPA online map overlaid with my GPS track (no antenna) shown in pink.



Here's a screenshot of an ArcGIS map showing the GPS Waypoints that I recorded.



Here's a link to the interactive map: https://arcg.is/1LPySP .

Barnes Nature Center Parking Lot.  The kiosk says that Barnes Nature Center intends to transform most of their existing trails into "a mile-long nature trail" that "will be accessible to people using wheelchairs, strollers, walkers, and other mobility devices."  The route they show involves a lot of altitude change.  




001.  A blow-down.



002. Another blow-down.




003.  Another blow-down.  I was cutting what I could with my loppers.




004.  A section of the trail that runs by a fence that gets overgrown.  There was a lot of poison ivy in the vegetation shown.



005.  Pinesap, Monotropa hypopitys



005.  Pinesap, Monotropa hypopitys




006.  A blow-down.



007.  Where I turned northwesterly off the Barnes Nature Center Connector.




009.  I took unblazed trails to get to the waterfall.



008.  Part of my route from the Barnes Nature Center Connector to the falls was on an old, eroded trail.  I thought maybe a better trail could be made that I could have used if it existed.  The section of the old trail below 008 consisted of wooden steps that were in good shape.


 
010.  I rejoined the Barnes Nature Center Connector and hiked back towards Barnes Nature Center.  I thought that, for hikers going westerly, it would be good to have a schematic map posted near 010.  The fact that the trail goes through the JAM Service Associates, LLC, parking lot is not now clear to hikers.



011.  I think this plant is Narrow-leaved Calico Aster, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum var. angustifolium.



011.



012.  Two low blow-downs and one of many bridges (this one a bog bridge) that have been installed along the Barnes Nature Center Connector.  I was impressed that the bridges stayed in place through the recent floods.  I think there were big metal spikes driven through the bases of the bridges into the ground.










David Reik


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022-6-5, Metacomet Trail, East Granby, CT.

Image
On 2022-6-5, I hiked a section of the Metacomet Trail in East Granby, from CT-189 to Holcomb Street. I made an interactive map of my route --- my GPS track is shown in pink.  I put in location numbers to show where the pictures below were taken.  Here is a screenshot of the southern part of the map. Here's a screenshot of the northern part of the map. Here's a link to the interactive map, where you can zoom in and out, and turn on and off various layers. https://arcg.is/1aDPiq 4.  The view of Tariffville Gorge. 6.  I don't think there was ever a structure connected with this chimney. 8.  A large Striped Maple leaf. 9.  Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina), I think.  A wild native rose. 11.  Evidence of some recent mowing of plants in the sunlit power cut. 12.  The first blow-down I came to.  This was about 100 feet south of the cemetery. 12.  The cemetery.  As I recall, the three grave stones are reproductions of the original grave stones which are now embedded in the foundation o
Read more

2022-6-3, Lake Compounce Area Trails, Southington, CT

Image
 On 2022-6-3, I hiked a loop on various Lake Compounce-area trails in the Tunxis Trail family of trails.  I made an interactive map with location numbers to show where the pictures that appear below were taken.  Here's a screenshot of the southern part of the interactive map. Here's a screenshot of the northern part of the interactive map. Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/0eO88G  . 3.  I wasn't going to record blow-downs, but I came to this big, double blow-down on the blue-red Steep Climb Trail and changed my mind. 4.  Now, we're on the blue-yellow Compounce Ridge Trail. 5.  Somebody cut this blow-down on the blue-yellow Compounce Ridge Trail but wasn't able to complete the job. 5.  Another blow-down on the Compounce Ridge Trail. 6.  It used to be that the best view on the Compounce trails was at Julian's Rock, but the trees below Julian's Rock have grown, and now I think the best view is from a point near where the chair lift used
Read more

2020-8-2, Highlawn Forest, Middletown, CT

Image
On 2020-8-2, I re-visited Highlawn Forest in Middletown.  Highlawn Forest is a preserve managed by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association.   I made an interactive map showing where locations I will refer to here.  You can zoom in and out, pan around, and turn off and on various layers including LIDAR, contour lines, aerial imagery, and my GPS Waypoints and GPS track.  Here's a link to the map: http://arcg.is/1yCzTf0 Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I turned from the Blue Trail to a network of unblazed trails.  Too bad this is not a three-dimensional picture --- you can't see here that this was a hole.  Was the hole the work of man? 2.  At first I thought that this trail, which is raised above the surrounding ground because dirt and gravel have been laboriously deposited, was the work of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, but it seems that neighbors have constructed this raised trail and many other features along the unblazed trails. 3. 
Read more