Take the Shelton Trails Marathon Challenge

Many people have already started the 2016 Shelton Trails Marathon Challenge.  Anybody can do it, and you don't need a passport, thousands of dollars, a plane ticket to Brazil, or to even be an athlete.  You certainly don't need to get naked and run through the woods like the ancient Greeks (please don't - it's prohibited by the Open Space Ordinance).

You only need to get out and start walking.  It's that easy.

The 2016 Shelton Trails Marathon Challenge coincides with this year's Olympics.  A number of people know that we have trails in town, but they don't know all of them.  We want you to have fun exploring all that Shelton's greenways have to offer.  You just have to hike 13 routes totaling 26.2 miles between June and Thanksgiving, fill out a form saying when you hiked them, mail the form to the Shelton Conservation Commission, and you get a free unique pathtag medal suitable for putting on your favorite jacket, pack or whatever.  And you get to brag to your friends that you did a marathon.

You don't have to do all 26.2 miles at once, but you can.    You don't have to run the trails, but you can.  You don't have to take your dog, kids, or spouse along, but you can.  You can even do it walking backwards (bring a mirror).  You can do the hikes in any order, whenever you feel like it, take as long as you want between now and Thanksgiving. Take some cool pictures of caves, overlooks, wildlife, plants, friends, sunsets, sunrises, moonrises, or whatever looks fun and send them into the Shelton Conservation Commission.

Forms and Maps are on-line.  A series of guided hikes is also listed under the events page.  So channel your inner Phidippides and explore Shelton's trails and greenways this year. 

National Trails Day - 2012

Weather and events affected this year's Trails Day hike, formerly known as the "Bridge to Bridge" hike. Originally scheduled for Saturday, rain forced a postponement, and our hike had to compete with other events in town. Nevertheless, we had a decent turnout for what turned out to be a gorgeous morning for an end-to-end walk on the Shelton Rec Path.

 

 We will gather at the river...I mean Pine Lake

Terrance briefs the hikers and points the way. Fortunately, most participants followed!

Some hikers had it easier than others

The start of the journey...crossing Pine Lake

Happy hikers!

No question, the Shelton Rec Path traverses some scenic and tranquil environments

The Trails Committee had cached cold drinks half way through the hike. It was much appreciated!

Even the pooches got to drink.

Another satisfied traveler

Teresa led a side-trip to the hidden waterfall

Most of the participants (no comments from the canine contingent) enjoyed the scenery, exercise, socializing, and spot lectures common to all of our hikes, and the Trails Committee looks forward to our future guided events.

Rec Path Celebration Unmarred by Satellite Impact

Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, a cut-off Low Pressure System, and a falling NASA satellite (maybe somebody's trying to tell us something?) failed to stop the Rec Path Celebration from being a success on Saturday.

The start up at Pine Lake drew a good crowd of participants despite the gloomy weather. Over 4" of rain had been forecast for the night before & Saturday morning, but we did not have to use the rain date.

Mayor Mark Lauretti was there to say a few words about the recent improvements to the Recreation Path and citizen efforts. Approximately 2 miles of Rec Path were built & the final key 13 acres of Great Ledge open space purchased this year.

A number of local people were there, including the Dikovsky Family & Terry Jones (second from left). Terry, along with Harriett Wilber, came up with the concept of the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path when they were chairmen of the Conservation Commission over 10 years ago. Our Rec Path is modeled, in part, after the Stowe Vermont RecPath. It's taken a looong while to get this built, but we're getting close to completion.

The Mayor presented an award to Bob Van Egghan of PerkinElmer in recognition of all the volunteer efforts of their staff to help complete finish grading and landscaping along the Rec Path. PerkinElmer sponsored 3 days of work parties for dozens of employees as part of their For the Better campaign.

The Mayor also presented an award to local poultry farmer Basil Dikovsky, who generously donated some of his land to help build the Recreation Path near Wesley Drive. The City also formally renamed the stream that runs along that portion of the RecPath "Basil Brook" in honor of Mr. Dikovsky earlier this year. The Brook is one of the scenic highlights of the Rec Path.

Teresa Gallagher explains how to find the hand-carved stamps for the Rec Path Passports that were handed out. Sassafras Restaurant in Huntington Center was giving participants ice cream cones when they presented their passports at the end.

Tom Harbinson, Conservation Commission Chairman did his auctioneer imitation as part of a charity raffle before the hike began. A number of local businesses and individuals donated prizes for the event & it made for a fun hike - especially for the kids - even the "older kids". Some of the people and businesses that donated things included Beechwood Market, Center Deli, Connecticut Forest & Parks Association, Bill Dyer, Gallagher Family, Gifts on the Green, Tom Harbinson, & Royal Bakery. Sassafras partnered with the Shelton Conservation Commission for the ice cream at the end.

The crowd took off and broke up into groups of runners, bikers, strollers, and dog walkers. The Rec Path was in good shape following last night's storm and there were a lot of people out enjoying it even if they didn't start at Pine Lake. Here are Sandy & Rich overlooking Silent Waters from the top of the dam.

We did pass the debris field from NASA's satellite (at least we think it's theirs). Or it could be part of of '53 Buick.

The debris was clearly marked with an official NASA sign to deter souvenir seekers.

We also want to thank the guys from Pruzinsky & Sons, and Fairview Tree Farm who attended. They did a great job with the recent construction on the Recreation Path; on-time, under budget, & really nice craftsmanship working the Rec Path into the landscape. We got a lot of positive comments about their work. My personal favorite is the section west of the the Iroquois Gas Pipeline.

Basil's son & his dog Flocka were really rubbing it in our face for most of the bike ride. He had run past us while we were biking (we did stop to stamp in and catch some breath), and they had made it to Huntington Center and were running BACK when we showed up at the Lane St. Boardwalk. They were the winners of the Fastest to Huntington Center division.

But the Bike Brigade did make it to Huntington Center and earned the first ice cream cones. And we needed them; the air was pretty thick & we were hot by the time we got there. Thank you Sassafras. Maybe we should have seen the chiropractor too while we were there.

Then after some refreshment we started the ride back to Pine Lake. We passed various groups of walkers on their way to Huntington Center.

A couple of hikers were stamping their passports to earn their ice cream cones.

This is a copy of what the inside of the Passport looked like. Teresa Gallagher carved all the stamps for this event showing scenes along the Rec Path.


The Shelton Police Dept. loaned us some cones and signs along Huntington Street to help with traffic protection; thank you Sergeant Zakowicz. We really need a good concrete sidewalk built here to connect from 90 Huntington St. to Beechwood Market.

Teresa, Biscuit, and Laurie Gianotti from the DEP Greenways Office were the official sweepers making sure everyone made it out alive.

Sandy & Terry posing at the End of the Trail back at Pine Lake starting point. We had a fun 10 mile round trip.

Here's the real End of the Trail Party at the Huntington Street Cafe. It was a good time for everybody. Thanks to all the businesses and individuals who helped make this a fun Shelton Lakes Recreation Path Celebration. Wait until we get the center section completed & can have a real grand opening ceremony next year.

Saturday Events

This Saturday will be a busy one for trail & greenway fans around the state.


At 8:30 the Shelton Trails Committee will be hosting a Work Party on the Boehm Pond Trail opposite 98 Farmill Street. Mostly clearing brush and removing leaves on a neat little neighborhood trail. If you haven't explored this open space on the West side of town then Saturday is your opportunity.


And if you don't give a hoot about trail work parties then maybe the Connecticut Association of Conservation and Inland Wetland Commissions is more your cup of tea. CACIWC will be holding their annual meeting in Wallingford on Saturday & one of the workshop speakers will be our own Teresa Gallagher. Teresa will be talking about the State's greenway program and how the Shelton Lakes Greenway is a case study. Shelton has had one of the most aggressive Greenway programs in the state recently & it's nice when our efforts are used as an example for the rest of the state.

Also the Connecticut Bike & Walk Summit will be held Saturday in New Britain at Central Conn. State University. The summit will feature talks and information about rails-to-trails, greenway planning, and safe street programs from around the state. The summit will discuss how better networks of safe streets and trails can improve the quality of life in Connecticut's communities and why it will be more important in the coming years. This is reflected in a number of local efforts like the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path, The Riverwalk, the Huntington Center & Ripton Road sidewalk improvements, the Sunnyside Safe-Routes-to-School program and other local projects.

So, there is a lot going on Saturday, in Shelton and around the state, to improve our communities with better trails, greenways, and safer streets. If you can, plan to come out and join us for our trail work party on Farmill Street.

And be on the lookout for information about the upcoming Birchbank Hike - it should be fun.