2022-4-6, Pine Brook Falls, East Hampton, CT

 On 2022-4-6, I visited Pine Brook Falls Preserve, a part of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge.

I made an interactive map of the preserve with location numbers.  Here's a link to the interactive map: https://arcg.is/1PeHTT0 .

2.  There are many of these boundary signs.



5.  Pine Brook Falls appears to be a natural falls intermixed with stone construction that I think was made around 1840 for a mill operation.  I think this picture shows the ruins of a millrace that brought water from the dam to a mill wheel.



5.  Pine Brook Falls from above.



5.  Pine Brook Falls from above.



5.  I saw something move on the side of the falls.  A furry object  appeared to convulse.  This is as close as I got.  I decided it was a distressed coyote, or maybe just a sleeping coyote.  Now, with input from Facebook Friends, I think it was a beaver.



5. An extreme cropping of the photo you see above.  Note the flat, hairless tail.



5.  Pine Brook Falls from below.



5.  Pine Brook Falls from below.



4.  A cascade downstream from the falls.



Between 4 and 5.  Another cascade.



3.  Evidence of recent blow-down cutting.  This preserve was owned by Middlesex Land Trust but was sold to the U.S. Government.  I don't know if the U.S. Government does maintenance on the preserve.



1.  A bridge over Pine Brook on Sexton Hill Road.  There is another section of Sexton Hill Road that does not connect with this section.  It might be best to enter this section of Sexton Hill Road while going northwesterly on CT-151.  If you're going southeasterly on CT-151, you can't see if anyone is trying to exit Sexton Hill Road.  Near the intersection with CT-151, Sexton Hill Road is too narrow for two cars to fit. 














\David Reik

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