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 in Connecticut.
4. Can anyone determine the species from these pictures?
5. A nicely built shelter.
5. The Middlesex Land Trust map labels this shelter "Meditation Shelter."
5. The shelter was on a knoll. The Middlesex Land Trust map labels the knoll "Jouncer Hill."
6. Off-trail rocks. The Middlesex Land Trust map labels the top rock "Balancing Rock."
7. I think this plant (about three feet high) is common juniper, Juniperus communis.
8. A stone wall at the northern edge of the preserve.
9. One of the larger trees in the preserve, a black oak, I think. I think this is the tree that the Middlesex Land Trust map labels "Great Oak (2nd Largest)."
5. Another view of the shelter.
10. Pear-shaped puffballs, Apioperdon pyriforme, perhaps? If I tapped one of these objects, a smoky substance came out.
11. I bushwhacked out of the preserve into Meshomasic State Forest.
12. Looking back towards my car on my way back down to South Road. You can see the marsh in Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary across South Road. I took the picture from near what the Middlesex Land Trust map labels "Blueberry Hill (Highest Point)."
13. I went back to the area on 2021-11-19 and parked on the east side of South Road near this display.
13. I found that the boardwalk to the Observation Platform no longer existed.
Near 13. Indian tobacco, Lobelia inflata, is the identification I came up with iNaturalist.org.
14. This is as far as I got in my attempt to walk counter-clockwise around the edge of the marsh on a yellow-blazed trail.
15. Witch-hazel blooming on the edge of Meshomasic State Forest. You can see both the flowers and the seed pods.
16. Recent beaver activity.
17. You can see a beaver lodge in this picture.
18. There apparently used to be a boardwalk that went out to the observation platform in this picture.
19. I crossed South Road and followed Meshomasic State Forest roads to a power cut.
20. There were hundreds of discarded buckets in this area of Meshomasic State Forest.
21. Did the buckets have something to do with this structure?
22. A fungus growing on a white birch. Birch polypore, Fomitopsis betulina, perhaps?
23. Fan clubmoss, Diphasiastrum digitatum, I think.
24. I saw several healthy looking small trees, about eight feet high, that looked like this. Some species of spruce, I think. Could they be black spruce, Picea mariana, even though they were not in a bog?
25. A final view of the marsh before I went home.
David. Been looking for information about the naming of Titanic Rock at Burr Pond in Torrington. In a 2017 post you suggest that Jill Oneglia from the Appalachian Mountain Club has some claim in providing this erratic a name. I also heard that during the same time frame some sort of naming contest was held. No out come on that. Writing about area such as Burr Pond. You think Jill should have some credit here? I like having some local insight to such event. Great name for the rock. Please reply chrisjan@berkshirephotos.com T.Y.
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