2022-3-17, Goose Green Beach Road, New Hartford, Barkhamsted, CT

On 2022-3-14 and 2022-3-17, I visited the Goose Green Beach Road area in New Hartford and Barkhamsted, CT.  I made an interactive map with location numbers.  Here's a link to the interactive map: https://arcg.is/1jeXu10 .

Here's a static screenshot of my interactive map.

1.  Where I parked on 2022-3-17.  Maybe three cars could pull off the road here without blocking the gate.  I saw several people park and walk around the gate on Goose Green Beach Road with dogs.

1.  "Area Closed," "Video Surveillance" --- sounds like you're not supposed to go around the gate.  But why mention that there is "No camping," etc., if you're not even supposed to be in the area?  Why no "No Trespassing" sign?  I saw several people in the area, and evidence of lots of horse traffic.  My judgment ---- it's O.K. to walk around the gate.

2.  Rocks along a track that led to a small body of water created by a dam.  My guess is that the pond was created to feed a water tank near the former beach downhill near the lake shore.  A broken pipe led downhill from the dam.

3.  A view of Lake McDonough which is created by a dam on the East Branch of the Farmington River.

4.  One of many large white pines in the area.

Near 4.  Big logs that apparently had no commercial value.

Near 5.  Lots of plants like this.  This is about as tall as it gets.  It's a species of clubmoss, Dendrolycopodium hickeyi, I think.

Near 5.  Dendrolycopodium hickeyi.

5.  The end of what was once a Braille Trail.  The Braille Trail seemed to have been deliberately decommissioned ---- the benches had been cut, and the posts with the Braille plaques had been removed.

5.  Here's an article from "The Hartford Courant," 1994-9-25, about the opening of the Braille Trail.

MDC OFFERS HANDS ON TRAIL FOR THE DISABLED: [STATEWIDE Edition]

Greenwood, Michael; Courant Staff Writer.

Hartford Courant; Hartford, Conn. [Hartford, Conn]. 25 Sep 1994: D1.  

A ceremony to dedicate the trail will begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

Miles of hiking trails spread throughout the Barkhamsted Reservoir region, snaking through dense forest, over jagged rock and into open fields.

But this hikers paradise has one basic assumption: That those who hike can also see.

That will change Thursday when the Metropolitan District Commission dedicates a specially-designed "braille trail" for the blind and handicapped who want to get outdoors and enjoy the natural beauty of the area.

The trail, on MDC property, has been carved out of a wooded piece of land at the end of Goose Green Beach Road overlooking a portion of the pristine Lake McDonough.

About a third of a mile in length, the paved trail features 34 natural exhibits ranging from a variety of trees to boulders from different geologic eras. People can stop and run their hands over each exhibit. A nearby sign in English and braille gives a brief description and history.

Hikers can also sit on benches and just listen to the wildlife, whether it be peeper frogs, chickadees or Canada geese.

"It will serve a need," said Jane Pikula, who is legally blind and who gave the trail a test walk last week. "I think it's especially good for people who have not been in touch with the outdoors."

Pikula, who works as a rehabilitation teacher for the state Board of Education and Services for the Blind in Wethersfield, said she knows of only one other place in the state that has a similar setup and that is in a town park in Windsor.

At the Barkhamsted trail, she was impressed by the sound of running water in the nearby cove. It was a soothing sensation. The air was crisp and fresh and she detected a hint of pine.

"The feeling of getting away from the city, that's what I did like about it," she said of her visit to the trail.

To assist the blind, a waist-high rope handrail runs the entire length of the trail. When their hands bump into small wooden blocks attached to the rope they know they have reached the exhibits, said Leland Sanders, a natural resources administrator with the MDC who helped design the trail.

He started the project by visiting the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts where they have a similar trail. He took some measurements and gathered ideas to bring back to Connecticut.

People like Pikula have also been invited to hike the trail recently and have offered suggestions on how it might be improved before opening day, he said.

Costs for the trail, estimated at $10,000, are being paid by the MDC, said Matt Nozollio, a commission spokesman. The reservoir attracts nearly 100,000 visitors annually. It was decided by the commission to make the park even more accessible by offering a trail for the handicapped.

"We're very proud of our recreational facilities," Nozollio said. "We wanted to make sure that the blind and handicapped could also enjoy the facilities."

Across the state there are several state parks that have trails designed with the handicapped in mind, said Bob Freedman, director of state parks for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Several parks have what is known as self-guided trails that are laid out on flat or paved terrain to make them accessible to the handicapped, he said. The trails are slowly making a comeback. They do not, however, include braille signs, he said.

There are currently about 13,000 people in the state who are registered as being legally blind, said Tom Grossi, an official with the blind-services board in Wethersfield. He estimated the actual number of blind to be much higher.

Nationwide, the notion of specially designed trails for the blind has been around for a while, said Oral Miller, executive director of the American Council for the Blind, based in Washington, D.C.

Their location and accessibility are usually two factors that will determine their success, said Miller, who also is blind. Some of the trails meeting those criteria have proven to be very popular.

"You get a little bit of a botany lesson as well as the pleasure of walking along in the sunshine and the fresh air," he said.

6.  A cellar hole for a center-chimney house.

7.  Another cellar hole.  About half the stones from this cellar hole had been removed.

8.  This used to be a boat launch, another hiker told me.

10.  A view of pines along Goose Green Beach Road.

11.  One of two displays along Goose Green Beach Road justifying a 2018 timber cut.

11.  One of the species that loves the thickets created by timber cuts is the deer tick.

11.  I don't know how much timber was salvaged and turned into durable wood products.  There was a lot of wood left lying on the ground.  I think there are enough thickets created by power cuts, tree plagues, fires, extreme wind, ice storms, etc., without projects that interrupt forest succession for the sake of interrupting forest succession.  I'd like to see more mature forest, not less.  Carbon sequestration is most efficiently done by letting mature forests be.

12.  There was a trail leading up through the timber cut.  The trail appeared to get a lot of use by horses.  The horse trail appeared to lead to a barn on Goose Green Road.

15.  There was a track apparently maintained by the MDC that led through the timber cut, into the woods until the track met a paved road that led to two water tanks.  This was more Dendrolycopodium hickeyi along the wooded portion of the track.

15.

14.  A view from the portion of the track that was in the timber cut.  The timber cut, despite the signs justifying clear cuts, left many tall white pines.  

13.  Another view from the track in the section of the track that ran through the timber cut.

7.  A view of Lake McDonough from what could have been another former boat launch.

16.  A photo of Goose Green Beach Road that I took on my way back to my car.

9.  Discarded culvert pipe.  Maybe the Connecticut Forest and Park Association could get permission from the MDC to salvage this pipe for use at trail stream crossings.

Near 18.  This picture I took near where I turned around on my 2022-3-14 visit to Goose Green Beach Road.  On 2022-3-14, I came in from the south.  

Near 18.  I was trying to show that much material had been left to rot after the 2018 timber cut.

Between 18 and 19.  Rocks along Goose Green Beach Road.

Near 19.  A view of Lake McDonough from 2022-3-14.

19.  On 2022-3-14, the water was roaring out of  Lake McDonough through the spillway.

19.  Proof that I was there.

20.  Where I parked next to the gate on 2022-3-14.

21.  There is a pull-off on the eastern side of CT-219 here where maybe three cars could park, I think.

22.  There are pull-offs on either side of Black Bridge Road here.  People park here for the Butler Trail which goes southerly along the West Branch of the Farmington River to where the East Branch meets the West Branch.  Here's a picture I took on 2022-3-14 about half way down the trail of our brave hike leader on a sycamore tree.

23.  There is an elementary school here where you could park when school was not in session.

David Reik