GMCT Brisk Winter Walks
Great Meadows Conservation Trust, Inc. Brisk Winter Walks 2022
Post Covid-19! —Join the GMCT Brisk Winter Walks for 2022. If you’re not vaccinated, wear a mask. Walks are co-sponsored by the Land Heritage Coalition of Glastonbury, the Eleanor Buck Wolf Nature Center in Wethersfield, and Goodwin College.
Saturday, January 1, 1:00 pm, Wethersfield. About 1½ hours. Meet Jim Woodworth at 160 Middletown Ave, south of Maple St, on GMCT’s Wood Parcel. Enjoy the new Heritage Walk panels and accessible trail enhancements! Cross the shiny bridge and follow the trail along the marsh and around the loop past the 18th century house site. Hike will continue across the culvert by the Pond, and out along the edge of the farm fields that once hosted the original “Pyquag” Native American summer camp and along the marsh, across the Frechette Field Parcel, and the newly acquired Dowd Parcel.
Sunday, January 2, 1:00 pm, Glastonbury. About 2 hours. Meet Penny Rusnak at the Glastonbury ferry landing on Ferry Lane for a short turn around the Ferry Park trail, to try out the new bench in memory of GMCT’s Betty Scmitt, and then cross Ferry Lane and walk upstream along the River through fields and pastures to the Walker Easement on the Coal Wharf. Nearby are archeological digs dating to the earliest settlement in Glastonbury, and a planting of DED tolerant elm trees positioned to spread their seeds on the spring freshet to the flood plain forests down-stream information, 860-808-9968.
Sunday, January 9, 1:00 pm, Rocky Hill. About 2 hours. Meet at the meadows gate at 78 Goff Brook Lane, off of Old Main St. Join Jim Woodworth on a hike to several of our parcels in the Rocky Hill Meadows. We’ll walk the farm roads, take a turn around the new Goff Brook Trail in the DiPaola parcel, and walk out into the meadows, noting the Nature Conservancy flood plain forest study transect and the planting of DED tolerant Elm Trees.
Sunday, January 16, 1:00 pm, Wethersfield. About 1 hour. Meet Jim Woodworth at 412 Hartford Ave, corner of Jordan Lane, for a short walk through the gate to our Wolf Parcel and DeMille Easement. See habitat improvements made with the help of a WHIP grant and volunteer work. Stay for a longer walk, another two and a half hours, up Hartford Ave. and out along the Hartford dike that divides the Folly Brook Nature area from the South Meadows Industrial Park. We’ll walk through the area slated for “tree removal” for the Brainard Airport approach and learn about advantages of “shrub/scrub” and early successional habitats.
Postponed (!) to Tuesday, January 18, 5:00pm, Wethersfield.
(Originally scheduled for Monday, January 17, 4:00 pm)
As the winter twilight fades in the western sky, meet GMCT’s Mike Monroe and Bike Walk Wethersfield’s Kevin Sullivan, at the Keeney Center parking lot, 200 Main Street, Old Wethersfield. Walkers will stroll down Main Street to Wethersfield Cove Park (about 1 mile), walk through the parking lot to the Cove channel, under the I91 overpass and out to the River’s edge. The Wolf Moon will rise above the trees on the eastern shore, giving a luster to the river below, as the sunset fades in the west!
Saturday, January 22, 9:00 am, Wethersfield. Meet Jim Woodworth and Goodwin College’s Bruce Morton, Program Director of Environmental Studies, at the Putnam Park parking lot, 100 Great Meadow Road, just north of the Putnam Bridge. We’ll peel away the centuries to imagine the river bank before the bridge, and explore the 300+ acre Crow Point property owned by Goodwin College. We’ll observe the process of nature reclaiming the land and waterways excavated for fill to build the highway across the ancient farmland and wetlands of the Great Meadows.
Sunday, January 30, 1:00 pm, Glastonbury. About 2 hours. Meet Penny Rusnak at the Glastonbury Boat House, 252 Welles St. View the beautiful River from the boat house veranda and Riverfront Park. Follow the trail through the park, past the DED tolerant elm trees, and down along the riverbank to the Preissner parcel and the First Church of Christ parcel in the Glastonbury meadows. Return along the trail or loop up to Main Street. Longer distance walkers can continue along the river toward the Matava and Austin parcels.
Saturday, February 5, 9:00 am, East Hartford. Meet GMCT’s Penny Rusnak and Rick Doran, Goodwin College’s Bruce Morton, Program Director of Environmental Studies, and Charley Smith of Land Heritage Coalition of Glastonbury at Hockanum Park, 324 High St. Explore our Wilson-Carvalho and Hockanum Meadows parcels in the “Wethersfield Triangle” of land marooned on the east side as the river meandered. We’ll explore the trails that Goodwin College has constructed with the help of DEEP trail grants, and will soon pave from S. Meadow Rd. along the River to the Putnam Bridge.
Dress for the Weather and ground conditions, including mud or snow. Weather and water conditions may revise or cancel. These areas are used for hunting, so wear an orange vest if you have one. Call Jim Woodworth for the latest information, 860-808-9968. Website: http://www.gmct.org.