Doh, a Deer

It was a splendid Saturday morning at John Dominick Drive for the beginning of the work party to cut brush along Nells Loop Trail.   The trail head at the end of the cul-de-sac made for a shorter haul to get tools out to the powerlines.  

Mike Flament noted that there was a blow down hanging over the trail by the Paugussett Trail crossing so we brought the chainsaw too.

This trail junction must be cursed for trees.  I think this is the third blow down that we've had at this spot in the last three years.  It was a smaller cherry tree that was partially hung up, but it came down without too much trouble. 

 

  

And it was another blazed tree too.   But the trails are clear now.

This portion of Nells Loop passes along the powerlines.  Ted was cutting brush and collecting trash to haul out.

There were some scenic views along the powerlines.  The trees and shrubs were just starting to turn color.

The greenbriar had little blue berries on them.  Other shrubs along the powerlines were also showing berries or seeds as their summer growth was starting to die back.

Ellen and Mike worked up along Nells Rock Trail.  The open sun along the powerlines creates a lush growing environment.  The others spread out along Nells Loop, Basil Brook Bypass, and portions of the Paugussett Trail and the RecPath.  

Bill noted that there was a small tree down across the Basil Brook Bypass.

Another dead ash tree - sigh!  You could climb over it, but it was an obstacle for mountain bikes so we cut it out.

After, much clearer.

There was a small bridge south of the tree that was in not so great shape.  The bridge was built by mountain bikers, not actually part of the trail system, and maybe should be replaced some day.

Going back to the group I heard some snorting and stamping noises as I collected the chainsaw and gear.

The deer was watching me like a trailside superintendent.  I couldn't tell if she was unhappy with my cutting job, or annoyed with all the noise we were making.  The doe just kept stamping and snorting, and for some reason a verse from a song came to mind.

We worked our way back toward John Dominick Drive cutting as we went.  We got a lot done.  Thanks to Mark, Mike, Bill, Ellen, Ted, Graham, and Terry to today's effort.  

There were a lot of people and dogs out using the trails later in the day around Shelton Lakes.  And a lot of activity around the farms in the White Hills too.  People getting apples, vegetables, pumpkins, wine, or just getting scared at haunted hayrides.  It was a fine weekend to get outside.
 

Nells Rock Work Party

Saturday's work party was brush clearing along Nell's Rock Trail.  Seven volunteers met at the trailhead parking lot on Nells Rock Road across from Chordas Pond and L'Hermitage Condos.

All masked up and generally distanced for Covid safety guidelines when together.  We split up into teams to spread out around the trails.

The entry was pretty shaggy.  A lot of briars, and invasive species like Japanese knotweed were cut back hard near the entrance.  Controlling invasive species that crowd out native plants is usually toughest nead disturbed areas where there's a lot of sun and water.  The area near the parking lot used to be a municipal bulky waste dump.  It looks much nicer today as an open space park.

The parking lot fence and gate could use some work, and the trash barrel needs to be replaced. 

Various individuals and smaller groups tackled brush along the trails.  Further in the woods the trails were in pretty good shape.  A couple of step over blowdowns were left in place for now.

The trails were brushed out all the way from Nells Rock Road to the powerlines, RecPath, and Basil Brook Bypass.  They are in good shape for some good Fall hiking weather.  Thanks to Ellen, Mark, Ted, Bob, Mike, Bill & Terry for coming out.

Shelton Winter Hike at Nells Loop Trail

We finally had snow yesterday just in time for our Winter Hike.  We schedule these events far in the future and hope that the weather will play along.  This year's hike was at Nells Loop Trail on Nell's Rock Road across from L'Hermitage Condominiums.

Thanks to Emma Gallagher for re-painting our snowman sign for the event.  It came out looking great.

After the snow the sun came out and it warmed up to around 40.  The snow wasn't quite enough to snowshoe in, but we did get in a good walk.  We had a great turn out of about 2 dozen hikers and 3 happy dogs.

We did the loop counterclockwise out to the powerlines, stopping at various trail junctions along the way.  The snow was soft but slippery in some of the steep sections.  It pays to have a trekking pole, walking stick, or micro spikes for differing snow conditions.

We didn't see any coyotes, but we did see a lot of coyote tracks along the trails.  We looped back crossing the Paugussett Trail (blue), and turned left (north) just before John Dominic Drive.

Winter Hiking Tip:  You can park in the cul-de-sac at John Dominic Drive off Buddington Road to access the trails in this area if the parking lot at the trailhead isn't plowed out.

The hike actually went quicker than anticipated (about 1 hr. for 2 miles), and everybody had a good time, fresh air, and seeing friends.  Thanks for coming out.  Now off to the football and hockey games on TV.

Nells Loop Trail Workout

The Trails Committee and some great volunteers tackled clearing brush and hay along the Nells Loop Trail on Saturday.  Like many of the past few work parties it got steamy as we cleared along the powerlines.

This was actually the "After" picture showing how wet it was.  Shown are Mark, Rich, Bob, Graham, and Mike.  Not in picture are Tyler, Luis, Jim & Terry.  As we said it was warm work.

 
We cleared out a bit at the entrance to start.  We met at the Abby Wright Open Space across from L'Hermitage Condominiums on Nells Rock Road.  Parks and Rec was going to cut some of the brush behind the gate and we didn't want to take all their fun from them.

We fired up the power tools and headed into the the woods.  Here's Graham with one of the hedgetrimmers.

Jim and Rich took a little time getting the other hedgetrimmer going; possibly even resorting to reading the switch directions.

We worked our way out through the woodland sections to the powerlines, where the trails were pretty overgrown.  It looked like mountain bikers had kept a single track open, but it was pretty brushy.

Tyler and Mark used the new sickle bar trimmer for clearing out the trail.  It works pretty good and having 2 brushcutters speeds things up a lot.

The "After" trail is much easier to walk or bike than the before picture.

We also did a lot of manual cutting.  Here's Jim along the powerlines.

Luis, Jim, and Rich also trimmed back sections of the Basil Brook Bypass trail.

The Sweet Pepperbush were in bloom along the wetlands.

The crew cleared back from the powerlines, out to John Dominick Drive, and back along the white trail to the parking lot.  We kept going till we got everything or ran out of gas, whichever came first. 

It was a good turnout and we got a lot done.  A few bikers and hikers passed us, but it seemed most were waiting for nicer weather.  Thanks to Luis, Tyler, and Graham, as well as the trail committee for helping out.

Spring has Sprung

Nothing like mid-60's and sunshine to bring out trail users.

Including these folks out riding on Nell's Rock Trail.  We don't traditionally get a lot of horseback riders so it was fun seeing them. 

We had dog-walkers, joggers, mountain bikers, nature observers, and now horses.  It was a busy day on the trails.

The Nell's Loop Kiosk is one of several that are being upgraded with new maps and content for Spring.

Someone left some cheery painted rocks below the kiosk.

And over on the west side of town the Spicebush is just starting to bloom yellow along Boehm Brook.  The recently relocated bridge was looking good.

Trail Tip:  Remember that it's Mud Season.  If a trail is wet and mushy don't create a muddy mess by over use.  Spread out to some lesser used or higher and dryer trails, or wait until things dry out a bit to use the trails.  The RecPath and The Riverwalk are good all-weather surfaces.

A series of trail work parties and hikes are planned for the coming weeks to repair erosion and explore spring trails.  See the events and workparties pages for more info.

Nells Loop Trail Blowdowns

The Nells Loop Trail off the Abby Wright parking lot (on Nells Rock Road by L'Hermitage) took a big hit from Hurricane Irene. A couple of weeks ago Jim & Rich spent the better part of the day clearing blowdowns so the trail is now passable.

Some trees were so badly broken that they had to take the whole tree down just to clear the widowmakers that were hung up.

This big oak was across the trail near John Dominick Drive. It took a while but the guys were able to clear a path thru the end of this.

There is still some work to do but the trails are passable. Thanks for all the hard work guys.

We'll be working on the Far Mill Trail behind ASF Sports on River Road 10/15 at 8:30. There are a lot of blowdowns and washouts in there, so the more the merrier. Come out and help maintain your trails.

25 & 25 - The Nell's Loop Frost Hike

Twenty five degrees with 25 mile per hour winds; gusting to 50 mph. What lovely weather for our Nells Loop Hike today.

We had 13 hardy souls & 4 dogs out for a sunny, but cold walk. It was so cold that Emma's tongue apparently froze to her face.

We met at the Abby Wright Parking Lot (opposite L'Hermitage Condominiums) on Nells Rock Road. We had been worried that the trails might be too wet when it was 50 degrees on Sunday, but everything was frozen, so we had that going for us. Lynn led us off to the powerlines and we ran the hike counterclockwise from the route described on the Shelton Trails website.

Everybody was pretty well bundled up so we didn't have too many problems. Even the dogs had sweaters.

Aayah, that north wind's a might nippy today. Did I mention it was gusting to 50 mph today on the ridgetops? Normally we stop for a bit at the powerlines to enjoy the view, but today - not so much. Click here if you want to see a wind chill chart to see what 50 mph feels like. Geoff Fox on Channel 8 Weather said that this was one of the coldest days he had seen in Connecticut because of the strong winds, and there was various damage around the state from downed trees. We had no problems other than some red noses and rosy cheeks.

We did stop (briefly) at various spots, like this turn off on the Bridge to Bridge hike to Wesley Drive so everybody could get their bearings. The Nells Loop Trail is good because the terrain is easy and there are a lot of access points to various other trails and neighborhoods that make it easy to create an enjoyable loop. The Nells Loop Trail is used by a lot of dog walkers, and is good for cross county skiing and snowshoeing. See the Shelton Trails website for additional maps and measured routes.

This girl gets the prize for the most stylish hiking outfit of the day. She was bundled up with multiple warm layers & everybody liked the shades and fluffy scarf. She and her dad had a good time on the invigorating hike.

The wind wasn't as fierce when we were in the woods and we did the whole 1.56 mile loop in under an hour. Thanks to Rich for taking pictures and everybody for coming out on a clear but windy winter day. We hope all the hikers were able to enjoy the hot chocolate or brandy of their choice when they got home.