Enjoying Hope Lake

A man and a boy enjoying a quiet morning fishing on Hope Lake.

Fox Hollow Trail at Birchbank

Last winter I just happened to spot this stone pillar, which reads "Fox Hollow Trail," and the steps behind it, on Little Fox Run just before entering the Fox Hollow subdivision near Okenuck Way. This was the access trail I had heard rumors of but had no idea where it was.

And here's the same location yesterday! See the stone pillar? After climbing the stairs, whatever trail once existed is gone. There is a narrow open space corridor between some houses that it must have traveled through, but we can see no evidence of it. Instead, we have a strip of woods with some piles of lawn debris from the neighbors, including a big pile of logs and branches and smaller piles of rotting, slimy grass clippings.

Once you get to the top of the grassy knoll it's quite pleasant. From there, it's not too hard to join an unofficial trail going down the fairly steep hill to reach Birchbank Trail, the chimney, and the Paugussett Trail.

Birchbank Airsoft Encampment

There are several problems with people playing "Airsoft" games on public property. (Airsoft is similar to Paintball, but guns have plastic BB's in them instead of paintballs). First are the barricades that are created. This encampment is located just off Birchbank Trail off of Okenuck Way and Little Fox Run. We don't know how they managed to get those spools in there.

Parents may think their kids are having good, clean fun, but we commonly find evidence of alcohol and drugs.

And then there are the thousands of non-biodegradable BB's that are left all over public property, too small to be picked up. These ones are white, but often they are neon yellow, orange and green. I don't understand why these BB's are not banned. Biodegradable BBs can be purchases for just a few dollars more.

Riverview Stairway Repair 7/11/09

We fixed up the stairs on Riverview Trail that were rotting last Saturday. The original steps were installed about 14 years ago & were not pressure treated wood, so some of them had seen better days. We replaced about 12 steps with 6x6's, some iron pins donated by Kelly Walsh, a few dainty taps from an 8 lb. sledgehammer, and some chainsaw work. The steps lead down a steep gravel bank from the Pootatuck Fort monument to the RR tracks. This is a historic link to downtown, and will be a link with the Riverwalk when it gets constructed up to the canal locks.

Cherri Dziubina, Luis Isaza, Bill Dyer, Jim Taradine, and Terry Gallagher were the busy elves this morning. Rich Skudlarek & Bill picked up all the timbers and dropped them off last night.

The crew braved poison ivy & other brush to clear out the bottom of the stairs and the old historic "Bluff Walk" that runs behind the baseball diamond. A new sign has been posted on the fence by the Centenial Oak tree showing the cut off to the Bluff Walk. This is the walk that shows up in Shelton postcards from the 1890's with gentlemen in straw hats, and ladies in hoop skirts watching the rowing races. It's really pretty back there and we hope more people get a chance to enjoy Riverview Trail.

We had a good time talking to Kathy Chacon from the Valley Independent Sentinel about working on the trail system & Riverview Trail in particular. Her article about our trail project can be found on their website here: http://valley.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/shelton_volunteers_clear_the_way/ Our next step here will be to remove oak leaves and improve signs along the trail. We also need to replace some more steps, but we fixed up the worst ones.

A visit to the park on Sunday showed that the steps held up well in last night's rain. We also saw a number of fish, ducks, and a muskrat in the Canal at the foot of the stairs. The public walk out to the Dam is an attractive & underused area in Shelton. The park was being enjoyed by a number of folks at the tot playground, the basketball courts, and picnicing at the Veteran's Memorial. The Trail is a really pretty walk that can be combined with a stroll on the paved drive within the park or on the sidewalk along River Road to make a pleasant loop around one of the Valley's oldest parks with good views of the Housatonic River. Visit www.sheltontrails.org for maps of the trail & other historical information. Have fun enjoying Riverview Trail & maybe we'll see you at our next work party.

Trailside Camping

Richard took this photo of some campers inside Eklund Garden early this morning. Camping is prohibited by ordinance except in designated areas (of which there are none). The deer fence gate was also left wide open. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any deer damage in the garden. By the time I got the message and dropped by to check it out at 9:00 am, they were gone. Amazing that someone would be so audacious as to camp right here on the trail. You would think they would at least find a spot off of the trail where people couldn't see them.

Birchbank Vandalism

It's the wild, wild west at Birchbank Mtn! I (Teresa) spent the entire afternoon repairing blazes that had been painted over and brightening up all the others. As I climbed up the river bank to the loop part of the trail (after passing a labyrinth of new ATV trails a foot deep) I noticed some guys having a war. Another Airsoft game, oh for joy, because I just love being surround on the trail with guys in camo holding big guns. And I especially love the thousands of neon-colored non-biodegradable BB's they leave all over the park.

I spoke to the kids, who were based out of the encampment marked by big wooden spools just off the trail, and took a video of them all. I'll be forwarding that to the Police.

It's not just the Airsoft Games, or the ATVs, or the partying, but the vandalism that comes with it all. Near the Airsoft encampment the official white trail blazes were covered over with gray spray paint, as was one of our open space signs. Clearly someone didn't want the general public to know this was open space or where the trail was.

The picture below shows a pair of offset blazes marking a very important turn ahead, all covered over with gray.

I crossed the stream and started back down the riverbank, and soon came to the blue spray paint. Some of it was over the official white blazes, and some was just random ugliness. The blue went all the way down past the chimney to the Paugussett Trail. One good thing about the blue was that it seems to be fading fast. Cheap paint.

An then we have the particularly obnoxious bubblegum pink blazes. Ewe! There are so many blazes, every ten feet or so. Some were painted over the official white blazes. Others were splats on rocks, tiny saplings, and big trees. I spray over the pink blazes that were on Birchbank trail, using most of a can of black spraypaint. But that turned out to be just a small part of a homemade trail loop that leads, I kid you not, directly to someone's treefort and backyard off of Little Fox Run.

Calling all volunteers! Head out to Birchbank with your camera's, and take photos and videos of these people defacing our trails. Take back our park!

Silent Waters Canoe Launch

Terry, Emma and Biscuit spent the afternoon working on the canoe launch at Silent Waters.

Emma didn't mind getting her feet wet to pull some lily pads out of the way.