Shelton 2020 Trails Day, in 2022, Finally

The Shelton Trails Committee celebrated 2020 Trails Day finally on June 4, 2022.  The series of trail improvements and re-routes along the Paugussett Trail at Indian Well State Park along with the Tahmore Trail on the Shelton Land Trust Preserve were completed in 2020, but all the public hikes were cancelled due to Covid and the resulting shutdowns.

There have been a lot of hiking on the trails during Covid, but not a lot of organized public hikes in groups, for obvious reasons.

 So today, under perfect sunny skies, in 2022, a public hike finally took place to enjoy all the improvements as part of the National Trails Day celebrations.

Two dozen happy hikers and 3 more-so happy dogs came together at Indian Well State Park to enjoy a great Saturday morning outside.

Teresa Gallagher gave a run down of the hike route, along with the trail improvements that were done before and during Covid.

We made it up the stairs and worked our way toward the trail junction.  The woodlands were amazing well lit due to the leaf wilt blight hitting the beech trees along the hillside.  It may be a forerunner of another massive die-off of an native tree due to invasive pests.

The view of the Housatonic River from the overlook was fine, if a little hazy.  You could see all the way to downtown Shelton.

Folks enjoyed the view of the river.

We then hiked up to the high point on Tahmore Trail the Shelton Land Trust property.  The views are better here in the Fall when the leaves are down.

The Mountain Laurel were starting to bloom in places.

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There were multiple groups depending on your hiking speed.  Some took the trip to the waterfalls, and others came back to the parking lot on the blue/red trail.

Everyone made it back successfully, and all had a good time.  Thanks to everyone one who helped out: Val, Ellen, Luis, Teresa, Bob, & Terry.  And thanks to everyone who came out to help us celebrate our 2020 hike, rebooted, so to speak.

 

Paugussett Trail Party

Well, after getting complaints that the Paugussett Trail Restoration was "brushy & hard to follow" we did a little well-needed trail maintenance. We worked south from Indian Well State Park, past Rt. 110 and up to Sinsabaugh Heights on Meadow Street.

We parked at the trailhead lot near The Maples on Indian Well Road and hiked in. The DEP had mowed the aisle through the overflow meadow. I don't remember seeing a black bear with us, but Rich is much more observant than me when he takes the team photos. Pity he didn't say "Run, there's a bear behind you."

Here's Sheri, Jim, and Steph Olsen from Connecticut Forest & Parks Association. Steph was a big help (and she drove in from Danbury to work with us). What happened to all the Shelton High students who were looking for community service hours & said they were coming? Alarm clocks work in the summer guys.

Wherever the trail was open we had a lot of brush. We need to go back with some power equipment for those areas, but they're all passable now. Inside the woods the trail was pretty passable, but we took out a lot of barberry.

Climbing the trail above Rt. 110 was pretty tropical following last night's storms. We crossed a number of streams going up the hill.

Bill couldn't be there this morning, so Rich had to do the Carl Spackler imitation with the weedwhacker near where the trail crosses the sewer easement.

And this is what it looked like up by Sinsabaugh Heights. Amazing what a few weeks of torrential rain, sun, and no mowing can do to a trail. This looked like a job for someone who was committed, or who should be committed, so we sent in Jim.

Who had a great time cutting briars, thorns, and other things that wanted to take the hide off trail volunteers. Rich eventually came thru with his weedwhacker; about 10 lbs lighter from all the sweating. The trail is now open from the parking lot at the bottom of Sinsabaugh Heights to Indian Well State Park. The crossing at Meadow Street is a little tough to follow, so we need to add some signs. The adventurous explorers can now find their way from the Shelton Lakes Greenway to Indian Well State Park.

Thanks to everybody who came out. And thanks to Steph from CFPA for coming out and having all the great stories of the petting moose and filming bobcats. It made for a fun and productive, if somewhat hot, morning. There were a number of folks enjoying the hike up to The Well when we left, and hopefully someday will enjoy the restored Paugussett Trail.

Fun Paugussett Trail Work Party 12/11/10

Well, it started chilly, but warmed up as the morning got on. We had a good time clearing the Paugussett Trail south of Indian Well State Park Saturday morning.

Thanks to a good turn out of volunteers, including John, Luis, Kelly, Jim, Rich, Sheri, Terry, & Bill we got a lot done.

Kelly and Sheri lead the lower crew clearing out the trail treadway from fall leaves and storm damage. Access to the trail is at The Maples parking lot for Indian Well State Park on Indian Well Road off Rt. 110. Just follow the blue blazes south through the meadow.

We cleared out briars that had grown into the trail along with other brush & debris.

The new trail passes below historic stone walls built in the 1930's by the CCC. The area was pretty following a dusting of snow last night.

Sheri was clearing out branches hung up in the trees over the trail.
Helpful Trail Safety Tip:
Don't stand under the branch when pulling it down out of the tree.
No trail volunteers were injured in the the making of this movie.

We crossed Rt. 110 and climbed the hill working as we went. Eventually we met up with Rich, "GrandPaw" Bill & Jim working their way down from Sinsebaugh Heights on Meadow Street. Rich said the leaf blowing went better after the sticks and frozen leaves were moved out first.

These guys showed up at the parking lot near the end - a little two late to help with the work party - but good to have around.

We got a really lot done & it was helpful having 8 people so we could split up into 2 groups. Thanks John, Luis, Kelly & everybody else for coming out to help. Enjoy the trail and explore the old CCC stone work at Indian Well Road - you'll see things from the trail that you'll never see from driving on the road.