2021-10-19, Nepaug State Forest, New Hartford, CT.

 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: https://arcg.is/0DPvmf.  Here's a static screenshot of the southern part of the interactive map.


Here's a static screenshot of the northern part of the interactive map.




1.  A blow-down on the blue trail.  The junction with Southeast Road was a bit overgrown.



2.  A blow-down.



3.  An overgrown area.



3.  A faded blaze.



4.  A blow-down on a new blue-blazed trail, which may or may not be an official part of the CFPA Tunxis Trail.  As of 2021-10-19, this new trail did not appear on the CFPA interactive map.



5.  Another blow-down on the new blue-blazed trail.  There were still blazes on the nearby blue-blazed trail along US-202.



7.  I saw several signs like this.  Do these "silvaculture" projects generate a profit for CT-DEEP?  If not, I think such projects are of questionable value.  I suspect that there is enough disturbance of old forests without CT-DEEP doing more disturbing.



9.  A blow-down on the blue-yellow trail.



12.  A CT-DEEP sign, no longer in the ground, at the junction of the blue-yellow trail and the blue-white trail.



12.  A CFPA sign near the junction of the blue-yellow and the blue white trails.  I think Dan Casey created this sign.



12.  This bog bridge on the blue-white trail looks like it was created by mountain bikers.  There are many mountain bike trails throughout Nepaug State Forest.  At some intersections of mountain bike trails and blazed CFPA trails, I could see no blazes and was therefore unsure as to which trail was the blazed trail.



12.  A blow-down on the blue-white trail.



11.  A rock scramble on the blue-white trail.  There was an unblazed bypass trail.



11.  Coming down from the rock.



10.  A large, hollow white oak.



6.  At the Romeyn Spare Outlook.  Romeyn Spare was important in the early history of the Tunxis Trail, I believe.



12.  In the distant past (60 years ago?), there was a rock near here that could be tipped.  At some point, the rock stopped tipping.  Was this the Tipping Rock?



12.  Or was this rock (about thirty feet from the other rock) the Tipping Rock?



13.  There were two official CT-DEEP camping spots.  There were no outhouses, fire pits, tent platforms, or water sources.



14.  A blow-down.  This was back on the blue-yellow trail.



16.  Rocks in the Farmington River.



The picture above might remind some of the famous stature in Copenhagen Harbor.





15.  A blow-down on a blue-green trail at a ford.



17.  Another blow-down on the blue-green trail.



8.  A blow-down on the blue-green trail.


















David Reik

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