2021-12-24, Avon Old Farms School Property, Farmington River, Avon, CT

 On 2021-12-24, I visited part of the Avon Old Farms School property, and the Farmington River.  I crossed the route of the New Haven - Northampton canal on the way to, and the way back from, the Avon Old Farms School property.  I made an interactive map of the area I walked in.  I put location numbers on the interactive map that I will refer to.  The Avon Old Farms School paths are not on Open Street Map, which I used for my background map.  I drew in the paths I walked on.  The dotted lines are narrow paths, and dashed lines are wider paths.  The Avon Old Farms School property is posted "No Trespassing."  Here's a link to my interactive map: https://arcg.is/1Civ5X0 .  Below is a static screenshot of the interactive map.



1.  Where I parked in a town-of-Avon un-plowed-but-flat parking lot.  

2.  This is where I crossed the route of the New Haven-to-Northampton canal which has not been used since about 1848.  In the foreground is a stone culvert that brought a stream under the canal.




3.  The soil in this area is sandy glacial till.  Pitch pines, which have needle bundles with three needles to a bundle, like sandy soil.  Many say that pitch pines are rare in Connecticut, but I see them frequently.



4.  Another pitch pine.



5.  Here, an Avon Old Farms School trail met a Winding Trails trail.  Winding Trails, a private recreational area, is also posted "No Trespassing." 



6.  Even though the grade is only about 3%, this path, like many of the paths in the Avon Old Farms property, has eroded below the level of the surrounding land.




7.  Another pitch pine.  I think this one was about two feet in diameter, the biggest one I saw on my 2021-12-24 walk.




7.  Not a lot of needles, but the tree did have needles.



8.  I had forty-five minutes or so before sunset, so I headed easterly towards the Farmington River.  From a yellow-blazed trail, I crossed Thompson Brook on a recently re-made bridge and followed a trail that went northerly.  Thompson Brook gets very circuitous as it nears the Farmington River.



9.  The Farmington River flows northerly here.



I went back to the area on 2021-12-26 and produced a new blog post: https://davidreikphotos.blogspot.com/2021/12/2021-12-26-avon-old-farms-school-avon-ct.html













David Reik

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