Beautiful Fall Day on The Shelton Lakes RecPath

It was a beautiful Fall Saturday on the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path.  The sun was shining brightly thru the leaves.  It was a little chilly to start but we warmed up with a little trail work.

Here's the sun coming through the beech trees at Lizard Head Rock off Wesley Drive.

Jim, Michael, and David were working along Lane Street.  We had multiple groups working from Lane St. to Oak Valley Road cutting grass, spraying, mowing, unclogging drainage pipes, and cutting brush.  The storms earlier in the week caused some wash-outs and Bill will be working with Parks & Rec to try to get that fixed.  In the meantime watch your footing in a couple of spots.

Michael was raking leaves to clean out some of the turns, while Paul and David were clearing out brush along the lower Wesley Drive Crossings.

A lot of people were taking advantage of the weather to go biking, running, walking, and dog walking.  There were a lot of hellos and thank yous.

The little American Chestnut tree before Wesley Drive looked good in the fall colors.

The Maple Leafed Viburnum was turning scarlet and showing off its black berries.

The Winterberry in Spooner Swamp near Great Ledge was also bright red.

Val & Sheri were cutting back brush along Great Ledge near Oak Valley Road.  It had gotten pretty thick in there this summer.  Jim mowed sections of the RecPath from Great Ledge to Lane Street and back.  Hopefully things will stop growing soon.

David & Jim weedwacking and mowing along the RecPath.  It felt like we got a lot of things done with a good crew.  Thanks to Paul, David, Mike, Jim, Val, Sheri, Bill & Terry

So enjoy the RecPath during the rest of the Fall.  Don't forget to finish your lollipop hikes, and join us for the Full Moon Night Hike next week.  

Get Outside Today!

It's a beautiful Fall weekend - perfect weather - get outside & enjoy it!

Father & son fishing off the RecPath Bridge at Pine Lake last weekend - not many more days like this ahead.

Strollers using the RecPath crosswalk near Constitution Blvd. North headed toward Silent Waters.

Trail runner taking advantage of the RecPath along the Land Trust Meadow off Lane Street in the early morning.

Friends out walking on one of the new RecPath sections near Wesley Drive. New fences have been installed on some of the steeper sections to help protect younger bikers.

So get out today & enjoy the trails and open spaces.

Boehm Pond Ramble 10-17-09

We had another guided hike today on the Boehm Pond Trail. Here we are trying to figure out which way is North with Jame's help. Rich Skudlarek was our official photographer for today.

I thought that we were going to get washed out by the nor'easter, but we got the hike in ahead of it. One woman & her friends who came down from Litchfield started the hike early just to get it in before the rain. The trailhead is across the street from #98 Farmill Street.

Here's Ryan Gallagher with Mike Gjoni, Mike's mom & their very well-mannered puppy. They use the trail often since they live around the corner. The Boehm Pond Trail is a good example of a "neighborhood" trail in a local open space which helps make Shelton an attractive place to live.

And off we go! The trails were very easy to follow because Bill Dyer had blown all the leaves off yesterday. His biggest problem was moving tons of acorns off the trail. I tried to explain to some of the folks that there may be times when they hike on our trails that they are not as immaculate at this.

And here we are over by the Pond on the other side of Wintrop Woods Road. Nobody wanted to go for an invigorating swim though. Boehm Pond Trail is a short, easy walk with a lot of attractive spots to sit, read, or enjoy a picnic lunch.


Here's Sherri & her cousin & friend exploring the public open space on the back side of Boehm Pond. There is a small footbridge on the north side of the pond that let's you get around the pond for fishing.

All in all we had a good time, beat the storm, & most of the hikers made it out of the woods alive. Boehm Pond is a very pretty neighborhood trail that folks should explore.

Visit the Shelton Trails website for a trail map & additional information. There has been a lot of ATV trespassing in the park & it's good to have a map for following the blazed trails.