2021-10-2, Church Farm Preserve, Mansfield, Ashford, CT

 On 2021-10-2, I visited Church Farm Preserve in Mansfield and Ashford, CT.  Some sections of the preserve are owned by Joshua's Trust and one section by Eastern Connecticut State University.

I made an interactive map with location numbers that I'll refer to in this post.  Here's a link to the interactive map: https://arcg.is/T5PzT0 .  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map:



1.  Where I parked.  There was room in the pull-off for one car.



About 100 feet east of 1.  A yellow-blazed trail led to where apparently a boardwalk used to take the trail across wetlands.  It seems that the water got too high and pushed the boardwalk off its supports.




2.  I walked northerly up CT-89 and onto Varga Road where there was another parking area.  This parking area could accommodate three cars.  



3.  I followed an unblazed trail easterly and southerly to where I believe the yellow trail that used to use the now-destroyed boardwalk used to emerge from the wetlands.  The trail was overgrown.



4.  I followed an unblazed trail to this view of Mount Hope River.



5.  I followed a mown trail on the western side of Varga Road to this sign which marked the eastern end of a blue-blazed trail.



6.  There were many of these little signs posted along the border of this section Church Farm Preserve.  Do students of ECSU use this preserve for nature study?



7.  This is one of several pitch pines I noticed in Church Farm Preserve.  Some say pitch pines are unusual in Connecticut but I see them frequently.



8.  I put my camera through the opening between flat rocks that had been placed to block the opening to an ancient well.



Near 8.  The corner of a nineteenth-century cellar hole about 50 feet from the well.



Near 8.  The cellar hole.



8.  The cellar hole.



9.  The blue trail led to another yellow trail which I followed northwesterly to a dirt section of Varga Road.  No parking here.



10.  This stone wall with barbed wire next to the yellow trail was near where, in the winter, there is probably a view to the east.



Near 3.  I went back to the overgrown trail to see if it was passable.  I got about 100 feet along the trail when I came to this fallen tree covered with poison ivy and decided to turn around.



11.  A view along CT-89 that I noticed on my way back to where I parked.  Do autumn colors appear first in wetlands?


11.  A flower growing on the side of CT-89 that caught my eye.  Did this plant escape from a nearby garden?  iNaturalist suggests that this may be Virginia Spiderwort, (Tradescantia virginiana).



11.



11.


Here's the link to the Joshua's Trust page about Church Farm Preserve: https://joshuastrust.org/church-farm-2/ .  I noticed that the latitude-longitude numbers given on the Joshua's Trust map for parking areas are a garbled, unusable mixture of decimal-degrees format and degrees-decimal-minutes format.












David Reik

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022-6-30, Compounce Ridge Trail, Bristol, Southington, CT

Image
 On 2022-6-30, I hiked a section of the Tunxis Compounce Ridge Trail, starting at the northern end of the trail.  Except for the road section, I hiked the entire section to the intersection with the Compounce Cascade Trail.  This section of the trail appeared to have been neglected for a few years. I made an interactive map with location numbers showing where the pictures below were taken.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/9maXb  .  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I parked in a commuter parking lot.  This is looking back at the parking lot along the trail through a stand of mugwort. Near 1.  I found a lot of poison ivy at various places along the trail I hiked. Near 1.  I crawled under this blow-down.  2.  A blow-down. 3.  A blow-down. 4.  Overgrown. Near 4.  A blow-down. 5.  Multi-flora rose growing in the trail. Near 5.  A very overgrown section. Near ...
Read more

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 st...
Read more

2021-11-18, Oak Ledges Preserve, Portland, CT

Image
 On 2021-11-18, I visited Oak Ledges Preserve in Portland, CT.  On 2021-11-19, I went back to the area and visited Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary, also in Portland, CT, and a small part of Meshomasic State Forest.  I made an interactive map with location numbers.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/b0OHb  .  I'll put in a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I parked in a small pull-off (maybe three cars could fit).  A map created by the Middlesex Land Trust was displayed. 1.  The preserve is owned by the Middlesex Land Trust. 2.  Rocks along the trail which had orange blazes. 3.  I followed the orange trail to the northwest corner of the preserve.  The Middlesex Land Trust map labels this rock a glacial erratic. 3.  I managed to get to the top of the rock. 4.  I explored an interior, unblazed trail.  I think this is one of the three species in the genus Dendrolycopodium found ...
Read more