Hiking with Umbrellas?

On the way out the door for a hike on Sunday the forecast was for "scattered showers".  I reached for a rain coat just in case.  My wife said I should take an umbrella instead.  I had one in the car, but I took the coat with me.  At the Turkey Trot Trail the sky didn't look that threatening so I took the umbrella and left the raincoat in the car, what the heck, give it a shot.  Out in the woods over by the powerlines it started to sprinkle, then got a little harder, then harder, then it started to rain.  About as far from the car and my rain coat as possible.

But, I had an umbrella, and it worked fine.  My wife is a genius.  Coming down the hill onto the RecPath by Silent Waters I came across another group of hikers with umbrellas.

They too were happily hiking in the rain without getting soaked.  Great minds think alike.

Further along there was a turtle by Silent Waters.  He or she had it's own built-on umbrella, but it didn't seem to mind getting wet.  

The Mountain Laurel were in full flower, and looked better with a little rain and some cloudy weather.

Silent Waters was really pretty this morning.  There were no crowds, and I found out that umbrellas can be a great hiking tool for summer walks.

Turkey Trot Work Party - Starting Again

The Trails Committee had our first work party on the Turkey Trot Trail this summer. Actually it was the second, but the first was part of an Oak Valley Trail workparty that got ambitious, and then there were wasps. This section of the Turkey Trot has been closed due to Eversource Transmission Line Construction most of this summer. Now they are starting to wrap up the southern end of their project, and moving into restoration. So the trail may be closed from time to time this August and September, but we were able to get out and do some badly-needed cutting on Saturday. It's amazing what a summer of sun and rain will do for briar growth out in the open. But we had a good crew of 13 volunteers who came out and got to choppin.

Derek used one of the brushcutters clearing out the trails. Nothing like a little quality time with hot, messy machinery.

There was one older blowdown on the Turkey Trot Bypass that needs to be sawed, but the rest of the trail was cleared and cut back.

Hopefully Eversource is able to remove their bridge and leave a good crossing for us to use mowing the trails in the future. We have to appoligize that we did not get more photos of all the folks who came out and worked. Thanks to Annie, Mike, Matt, Declan, Val, Ellen, Niko, Lorenzo, Matteau, Mark, Derek, Luis, and Terry for helping out. Hope that whoever got hit by the wasps near the footbridge was OK. Some of us went through there, quickly, and managed to not get hit. We got a lot done along the Turkey Trot, powerlines, and portions of the RecPath. These were areas that would ordinairly been maintained earlier, but due to Eversource's construction, have been off limits technically to the public. The trails in this area were very busy today however, and we got some nice comments about how the trail work was appreciated. It was really pretty out, and it was fun to be able to work on some of Shelton's trails that have been closed during all the powerline construction this summer.

The Woodland sunflowers were doing great along the portion of the RecPath at Silent Waters. Try to find time to go exploring and enjoy them while they're in bloom this August.

Spring Brush Cutting

 Ah Spring, the time when everything is flowering and green along the trails.  Including all the invasive species and briars that crowd out native plants and clog the trails.  Time to start cutting things back.  Volunteers started this year's Spring cutting Saturday along the Turkey Trot Trail north of Rt. 108.

About 11 volunteers armed with loppers, hedge trimmers, and brushcutters worked north along the trail taking out briars, burning bush, Russian olive, and other trouble plants along the trails.  Best to take them out now before they start really growing out into the trails.  We left some of the slower growing native plants that don't cause a problem, like Highbush blueberry, for birds and other wildlife.

 

Ralph and Ellen cutting briars near the junction with Turkey Trot & powerline trails.

 There were thick briars near some of the trail junctions.

A "Before" picture of one stretch of trail going to a small footbridge.  The combination of open canopy along the powerlines and wet areas makes a fertile growing area for some species.

"During" - Matt and other volunteers cut high and low in locations.

The "After" picture has a much clearer trail and we'll be ready for some growth in the coming months without the trail being blocked.

Andrew was using long-handled loppers in many thorny areas.

Ralph was using one other hedge trimmers in other areas.

We also cleared out beech branches and saplings on the Paugussett Trail from the RecPath to the powerlines and along the Turkey Trot Trail.  One area that was focused on was making sure the trail blazes were visible, and that you could see around the inside of curves so the trails were easier to follow.

It was a productive morning and thanks to Ralph, Ralph, Bill, Andrew, Matt, Ellen, Graham, Luis, Bob, Mark, and Terry for helping out.