Half Knot
New member
We've always known about "the Blue Trail" that runs through my in-laws land. They have the farm at the end of Busse Road in Willington, which my mother and father-in-law share with my brother-in-law. This is the land my wife grew up on. The land my father and brother-in-law have walked and hunted for years. And the land they have gladly shared with CFPA to allow the Nipmuck Trail to continue on through their property.
Today, for the first time, I walked the Nipmuck from my in-laws land where it intersects the trail out to Marsh Road in Willington. It was the perfect way to walk off the large ham dinner we had just polished off to celebrate Easter. My mom (69 years old), my oldest daughter's boyfriend's mom, my 13 year old daughter and myself all took the stroll together. The weather turned out to be perfect. A strong breeze we felt along the farm land disappeared as we entered the woods. The temperature was comfortable with a light jacket on. I wanted to test out my new REI daypack, so I tossed a couple of books in for weight and we were on our way.
The first thing the group noticed were the traces of Princess Pine on either side of the trail. My in-laws used to make Christmas wreaths from it before picking it became illegal due to it's lengthy regrowth time. It's good to see it bouncing back in these peaceful woods.
We opted to walk southbound, and follow the trail out to Marsh Road. For the most part, the trail was dry and comfortable to walk. There are minor elevation changes as you walk along, although we netted a total of 400' of change over the course of the walk. As we went into the first decent drop, the ground got much softer. At the base of the drop the ground got muddy and in some places had standing water from melted snow. We were able to navigate around it by using a combination of side steps and rocks along the way. At no point were we ever in real danger of getting wet or muddy ourselves.
There is a bridge crossing a small brook about .5 miles into this walk that doesn't quite cross the full stream. Perhaps a future project for me to help CFPA out with in extending it to the full width of the crossing, although there are rocks you can use to finish the crossing.
Further up was came across a tree with a number of carvings reflecting initials of people who had been there, along with, uh, expressions of affection. While I admire the romance of it, I have a hard time accepting people carving into living trees this way. Still, there's a good amount of history there if nothing else.
As we looped around the back side of the large horse farm, we came across a substantial tree clearly downed in one of the recent storms. It has since been cut to allow people to follow the trail, but the massive trunk and root structure are mind boggling. The amount of force it would take to bring it down? Impressive.
As we moved away from the horse farm and continued on the last stretch toward Marsh Road, the trail became very easy to walk and the wet spots eased up. It was a great chance for me to teach my 13 year old some basics about the trail, such as how offset blazes reflect turns in the trail, what and why cairns are made, and why LNT practices are important to both wildlife and our enjoyment of the trail.
We emerged onto Marsh Road, and followed the roads back to where we started. The 2.5 mile loop took us about 50 minutes to complete, and is one we can easily do again in the future. Although I'm thinking next time we need to head northbound to complete the pieces of the trail on my in-laws land, so we can perhaps own some responsibility in keeping this stretch of the Nipmuck as strong as possible for all hikers.
Easter means rebirth and fresh starts. I'd say our reintroduction to "the Blue Trail" has us going in the right direction!
Half Knot
Today, for the first time, I walked the Nipmuck from my in-laws land where it intersects the trail out to Marsh Road in Willington. It was the perfect way to walk off the large ham dinner we had just polished off to celebrate Easter. My mom (69 years old), my oldest daughter's boyfriend's mom, my 13 year old daughter and myself all took the stroll together. The weather turned out to be perfect. A strong breeze we felt along the farm land disappeared as we entered the woods. The temperature was comfortable with a light jacket on. I wanted to test out my new REI daypack, so I tossed a couple of books in for weight and we were on our way.
The first thing the group noticed were the traces of Princess Pine on either side of the trail. My in-laws used to make Christmas wreaths from it before picking it became illegal due to it's lengthy regrowth time. It's good to see it bouncing back in these peaceful woods.
We opted to walk southbound, and follow the trail out to Marsh Road. For the most part, the trail was dry and comfortable to walk. There are minor elevation changes as you walk along, although we netted a total of 400' of change over the course of the walk. As we went into the first decent drop, the ground got much softer. At the base of the drop the ground got muddy and in some places had standing water from melted snow. We were able to navigate around it by using a combination of side steps and rocks along the way. At no point were we ever in real danger of getting wet or muddy ourselves.
There is a bridge crossing a small brook about .5 miles into this walk that doesn't quite cross the full stream. Perhaps a future project for me to help CFPA out with in extending it to the full width of the crossing, although there are rocks you can use to finish the crossing.
Further up was came across a tree with a number of carvings reflecting initials of people who had been there, along with, uh, expressions of affection. While I admire the romance of it, I have a hard time accepting people carving into living trees this way. Still, there's a good amount of history there if nothing else.
As we looped around the back side of the large horse farm, we came across a substantial tree clearly downed in one of the recent storms. It has since been cut to allow people to follow the trail, but the massive trunk and root structure are mind boggling. The amount of force it would take to bring it down? Impressive.
As we moved away from the horse farm and continued on the last stretch toward Marsh Road, the trail became very easy to walk and the wet spots eased up. It was a great chance for me to teach my 13 year old some basics about the trail, such as how offset blazes reflect turns in the trail, what and why cairns are made, and why LNT practices are important to both wildlife and our enjoyment of the trail.
We emerged onto Marsh Road, and followed the roads back to where we started. The 2.5 mile loop took us about 50 minutes to complete, and is one we can easily do again in the future. Although I'm thinking next time we need to head northbound to complete the pieces of the trail on my in-laws land, so we can perhaps own some responsibility in keeping this stretch of the Nipmuck as strong as possible for all hikers.
Easter means rebirth and fresh starts. I'd say our reintroduction to "the Blue Trail" has us going in the right direction!
Half Knot
