West Granby - Holcomb Farm & Diamond Ledges

Date Hiked:  Thursday, Dec 13, 2012
Number in Group: 4
Estimated distance round-trip: 1.5 miles
Weather: 44°F and sunny
Resources: Holcomb Farm Trail Map
Highlights of the trip: rocks

One of the great things about organizing these hikes is that I force myself to explore new areas.  Today, we hiked at Holcomb Farm, but on trails I had never been on before.  Instead of parking at the farm, we drove up Broad Hill Road to a parking area on the left across from a log cabin house.  The road beyond this point is dirt and has been closed for the winter.  (The road continues all the way over to Route 219, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have four-wheel drive and good ground clearance).

We took a short walk up the road to another parking area on the left.  This is where the trails for Holcomb Farm can be found.  We followed the green trail, and when it branched, we took the right hand trail.  A little further along, the purple trail came in on the right, but we stayed on green.  We walked along through the woods and one eagle-eyed member of our party found the biggest mass of Witch's Butter that I have ever seen.  Very cool.

Witches butter (someone played with the vividness setting on my camera).

The green trail was again joined on the right by the purple trail and this time we made the turn.  We were headed back in the direction we came but a bit higher on the ridge.  On our left, was a rocky outcrop and to our right a clearing with a picnic table and bench.  With the leaves off the trees, we could see the nearby Barndoor Hills.  (Note:  The online trail map shows the picnic table farther north on the purple trail.  It is really closer to the 90-degree corner of the property line with the McLean Game Refuge).

Just a short way along on the purple trail, there was a white sign marked "Lookout" and a trail that led around the back and up the rocky outcrop we had just passed.  (My printed trail map that is dated 2007 indicates another lookout on the other side of Broad Hill Road.  Are they really the same, but just improperly marked on the map?  Or is there another nearby lookout?)

View from the "Lookout"

Just loved these little mounds of moss.

We continued north on the purple trail until the junction with the orange trail (shown as brown on the on-line map).  We took the orange trail west out to Broad Hill Road and started down the road to our cars.  On the left side of the road are a couple of Land Trust properties.  The first we came to was the Petersen Preserve.  A little farther down the road was the Diamond Ledges Preserve. 

From the road, across from where we entered the woods to the Holcomb Farm property, was a trail that took us in to the rock wall of Diamond Ledges.  We had come full circle.  Diamond Ledges is apparently used by rock climbers.  I have seen references to it online.  We walked in to the face of the wall and then climbed around to the top.  From here, there was a good view of the Barndoor Hills.

Barndoor Hills as seen from the top of Diamond Ledges.

See the person part-way down on the left for scale.

The rocks here are pretty cool.  Bits of quartz and mica and other neat minerals protrude from the walls. Don't think about rock collecting, though. There are signs along the base letting you know that this is a nature preserve and is used by rock climbers so you are not allowed to damage the rocks and break off specimens.

How long have I lived in the area?  How could I not have known about Diamond Ledges?  This place is fabulous.  This is why organizing these hikes is so great.  It forces me to try out new places.

Canton - Uplands Preserve

Date Hiked:  Monday, Dec 3, 2012
Number in Group: 6
Estimated distance round-trip: 1.5 miles
Weather: 57°F and sunny
Resources: Canton Land Conservation Trust, Uplands Preserve Trail Map
Highlights of the trip: stone walls, quartz

When a beautiful December day like this comes along, you have to get outside!  As I told others in the group, I had originally planned a different hike.  But after reading the description of the rugged trail and feeling a little sluggish after too much good Thanksgiving food and not enough exercise, I chose this hike as a way to get moving again.  We'll work our way up to my more strenuous plans.

The trail for the Uplands Preserve starts at the end of Westwood Drive, a neighborhood of very nice homes on a hill in Canton.  The car ride took care of most of the "up" in Uplands, so the hike was as easy as described on the Land Trust's website.  When you first enter the woods, you pass through a recently made break in the stone wall and come to a kiosk.  We turned to the right on the yellow trail.  There was a little confusion at first because the blazes were small and hard to see, but we soon found our way.  I suspect the trail is more obvious when there are leaves on the trees and bushes.  With the leaves down, everyplace you look seems like it could be the trail.

There were a couple of things we noticed as we walked along the beginning part of the trail.  We saw a large nest, out on a limb, near the top of a tree.  I would say it was a squirrel's drey, but it just looked too well formed.  Most of the ones I see around my own house seem a lot "messier".

It just didn't look like a drey.

The other thing we saw were a lot of trees along the stone walls that had very shaggy bark.  I am familiar with shagbark hickory, but this didn't seem the same.  I will have to come out here again once the trees are leafed out and figure out what it is.

Does anybody know what kind of tree this is?

We went past the first left-hand turn for the yellow trail and took the next.  The trail ran along one of the many stone walls on this property.  Given all the trees, it is hard to imagine that this was all cleared land at one point.

Lots of stone walls on this property.

The trail also had some interesting rock outcroppings.  I don't know why we didn't explore them.  The kids didn't seem that interested even though there was a little cave up there.

We should have climbed up there to survey the area.

We also saw a lot of quartz.  In some of the pieces, there looked to be feldspar, as well.

We connected with the blue trail and went around it a counter-clockwise direction back to the kiosk.  Just be on the lookout near where the yellow and blue trail connect as there is another unmarked, but easy to follow trail that goes down the hill.  On the trail map, it appears as the dashed black line that just sort of ends. 

Larger trees growing in a line against the stone wall.

This was an easy hike that got us outside to enjoy a beautiful day.  We'll have to check back in the spring and see if we can identify those trees.