David Reik, Photo Blog

 On 2021-10-28, I visited Saraceno Preserve in Haddam, CT.  The preserve is owned by Haddam Land Trust.  I made an interactive map on the preserve with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's the link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/1TvLae0  .   Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 3.  There was a lot of mountain laurel in the preserve.  Here's a scene along the trail, which was blazed with white blazes. 4.  Another scene along the white trail. 7.  Another scene along the white trail. Near 7.  This was the most noteworthy blow-down I found along the white trail. 8.  At a high point in the preserve, off the trail, there was an outcropping of gray rock. 8. 8.  The other side of the gray outcropping. Maybe this old jail building,  about a three miles northerly on CT-154, was made from this same kind of rock. 6.  Here, the mountain laurel was encroaching on the trail to such an extent that it was hard to find the trail. 5.  A view to the west of a

 On 2021-10-24, I rode a 31-mile route that started in Cromwell, went through Rocky Hill, and turned around at Wethersfield Cove in Wethersfield. An interactive map of my route:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/37859788  . Mile 0.0.  The Arrigoni Bridge is visible in Middletown. Mile 2.7. Mile 6.0.  Looking down towards the dam in Dividend Pond Open Space.  The dam was once part of a system that provided water power to several factories. Mile 7.8. Mile 7.9  The ferry was operating. Mile 8.7.  Sod seems to be the principal crop in the fields I rode through. Mile 10.0 Mile 12.0 Mile 14.3.  Wethersfield Cove with a remote-controlled sailboat and some species of insect. Mile 14.4 Mile 15.7. The Silas W. Robbins House bed and breakfast in Wethersfield. Mile 16.2.  Here, the route crosses CT-3  There is a button that bicyclists can push to cause the light to turn red for the cars on CT-3. Mile 16.9  Cattails. Mile 25.1.  In Dividend Pond Open Space. David Reik

 On 2021-10-19, I visited Nepaug State Forest in New Hartford, CT.  I had heard that part of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association blue-blazed trail that runs through Nepaug State Forest had been re-blazed with blue-yellow blazes and the entire CFPA blue-yellow trail that runs through Nepaug State Forest had been re-blazed with blue blazes.  As of 2021-10-19, this re-blazing had not occurred. Below is a screenshot from  https://hiking.waymarkedtrails.org/  overlaid (via GoogleEarth) with my GPS tracks from 2021-10-19.  hiking.waymarkedtrails.org attempts to represent blazing graphically.  I can't vouch for the purple blazes indicated on a segment of trail connected with the blue-white trail.  I think that segment is a trail created by mountain bikers. CFPA likes to be made aware of the locations of blow-downs and overgrown areas on their trails, so I recorded those. I made an interactive map with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's a link to the interactive map