Shelton Lakes Greenway Slideshow

Here's a slideshow of the "Shelton Lakes Greenway from Bridge to Bridge." It starts at Pine Lake then passes the school campus, Silent Waters, Hope Lake (Nells Rock Res.), Eklund Native Species Garden, the Nells Rock area ("the Wilderness" - which is why I put mostly pictures of animals there), Huntington Woods, and the Lane Street Meadow. It ends at the Huntington Street Cafe, where the volunteer usually congregate after an event. Letterboxers might note a feature towards the end of the slideshow that's referenced in one of my Shelton mystery boxes.

The first 1.25 mile is an "improved" handicapped-accessible path and the remain 2/3 of the route follows regular hiking trails. You start on the yellow-blazed Shelton Lakes Recreation Path ("Rec Path"), turn left onto the orange trail just after crossing Shelton Avenue, then turn right onto the yellow once again in the Nells Rock area. Bring a map! See www.sheltontrails.org.

Eklund Vernal Pool

Yesterday I was speaking the the Booth Hill School 4th graders, so I stopped at Eklund Garden in the morning and took a few swipes with a net in the skeegy pond down below to see what I could bring to show the kids. I already knew wood frogs breed there (quacking in the spring); spring peepers (peeping, of course); spotted salamanders (a breeding swarm were witnessed this spring); and the eastern spotted newt, which I had previously caught by accident while fetching water for the plants (I also caught a crayfish once that way).

That's the newt I caught yesterday (above). It's the same species as the red eft, which we find up in the garden. He was quite lively and is seen here trying to make a break for it.

In the photo above you can see a wood frog tadpole and the newt. There were lots of macroinvertebrates, too. At the top you can see a predaceous diving beetle larvae (these things get really nasty and actually eat tadpoles) and a hellegramite. On the right are a water strider (they walk on top of the water), a damselfly larvae (the long one), and a dragonfly larvae (the squat bug).

There's a close-up of the newt and damselfly larvae.

And here's the water strider and a backswimmer (top right). The backswimmers hang from the surface upside down.

Most people, when they see a scummy little pond without fish, immediately think it should either be filled in or perhaps enlarged and filled with fish. But ponds without fish are critical breeding habitats for amphibians like wood frogs and spotted salamanders. And there may be a rich ecosystem thriving in the pond. (Although you never know. Some promising pools turning out to be just mosquito larvae and scum).

Take a Break

If you force yourself to sit down and relax for awhile when hiking, you're more likely to take notice of the plants, animals, and rocks along the trail. Today on Shelton's Bridge-to-Bridge Hike I took a good break at the powerlines (long enough for my puppy to fall asleep on a bed of moss).

After a bit I suddenly noticed the birds twittering in the small tree nearby. They were making quite a commotion so I finally got up to take a look. It turned out to be a couple of fledgling birds out of the nest and singing for their parents. An adult chickadee flew in so that's probably what they were.

Then I noticed some tiny blue flowers along the trail, only about 1/4 inch long and about a foot high. Very easy to miss if you are walking fast. These are Blue Toadflax (Linari canadensis) and they are native to Connecticut in dry, sandy areas such as roadsides.

Here's one of the many species of Hawkweed, most of which are not native to North America. Another roadside species.

So take a break when hiking. You never know what you'll see.

Chestnut Blight

Chestnut trees were wiped out by a fungus many decades ago, but the same amazingly persistent roots keep resprouting, only to be attacked once again by the fungus as soon as they get an inch or two in diameter. They die back and resprout over and over. Here is a Chestnut sapling located on Dominick Trail, just north of Nells Rock Trail, that recently succumbed another round of the blight. There were still some brown leaves attached to the otherwise bare sapling, and the fungus had a fresh orange color.

Only a few inches away a much smaller Chestnut sapling, probably from the same root system, was untouched by the fungus. For now, anyway.

"Til We Meet Again"

Here's a mystery engraving along the Far Mill River off of Mill Street at the old dam near the sign kiosk and bench. XXX may stand for kisses, and "Til We Meet Again" was a very popular song in 1918. No idea what "RE IV" is, perhaps someone's initials.

Update 6/9/2009: A reader reports that a 20-yr-old committed suicide at that spot in 2004 and his friends commissioned the engraving. How sad.

Garlic Mustard Pesto

Garlic Mustard is an herb that was planted in America by Europeans for use in foods, but the plant has become highly invasive. The stuff grows everywhere, like dandelions. It especially likes roadways, but also grows in both wooded and open areas. The herb has a strong smell of garlic with a touch of onion, and there are plenty of recipes you can find online, but the most commonly recommended food is Garlic Mustard Pesto.

I decided to give it a whirl, fully expecting it to taste like crap, because stuff they say you can eat from the wild usually does. Dandelion greens, for example, I find simply revolting, but people have been eating them for ages.

This time around, however, I was amazed. The pesto was delicious, assuming you like garlic, especially spread over Triscuits, but like any pesto you can also put it on pasta or whatever. My teenage son and husband liked it. I took it to work and people loved it and wanted to know all about Garlic Mustard and where it can be picked.

I used almost the entire bag of Garlic Mustard in the above photo to make one batch of the recipe, which requires 3 packed cups of Garlic Mustard (it's more than you think) along with walnuts, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan Cheese and Romano Cheese, chopped up in the food processor. There are many Garlic Mustard Pesto recipes on the internet, but here is the one I used. Important tip: The pesto is better after sitting in the frig for a day.

Here's where I got my Garlic Mustard: Birchbank Trail, just in from the parking area on Birchbank Road. In the photo above, all the plants growing right along the trail are Garlic Mustard. Yes, there is an ordinance against picking plants in the open space but trust me, it's more than OK. You will be doing us all a favor by removing this invasive plant and you could be pulling it up for hours at Birchbank and there would still be lots more. In places it is smothering out Dutchman Breeches and Trillium, and that's just not right. And please, bare root the plant, but don't throw the remains on your mulch pile, or it'll take root. There are an infinitive number of other places Garlic Mustard grows (quite possibly in your backyard, for starters), but I don't recommend eating anything right along the roadway due to possible contamination of the soils with heavy metals.

CT Blue Blazed Trails

There are over 800 miles of official CFPA "Blue-Blazed" trails in Connecticut (sometimes also called "Blue-Dot" trails), shown on this map (click to enlarge). I'm surprised how often people refer to any one of these particular trails as "the blue trail" as if it didn't have a name and was no different than any other local trail. Would you refer to the Appalachian Trail as "the white trail?" These trails date back to the 1920's and 1930's, and many were created by the stimulous package of the 1930's as CCC projects. They tend to be regional trails that span more than one town. In Shelton and Monroe we have the Paugussett Trail (pronounced Pau-GUSS-ett), which originally ran from the Lake Zoar area to Roosevelt Forest in Stratford before it was cut off by the construction of Aspetuck Village and other projects. The Monroe East Village section of the Paugussett was originally part of the Pomperaug Trail, now limited to Southbury (Kettletown State Park) and Oxford.

So next time you're hiking on a blue trail, consider whether the trail is part our state Blue-Blazed system. If you're at Sleeping Giant, that's the Quinnipiac Trail. If you're hiking the trap rock ridges in central Connecticut, chances are you on the Metacomet or Mattabesett Trails. Excellent maps and descriptions of these trails are located in the Connecticut Walk Book (east and west editions) sold by CFPA through bookstores and their website. The trails are maintained by volunteers with CFPA, and when you purchase the books you are helping to support this great organization to maintain the trails.

One last note: More than half of the trail system is on private property with only a handshake agreement from the property owner. It is therefore critical that trail users stay on the trail and respect private property - no bikes, fires, camping, and no geocaches in private areas.

New Trail Companion

Sorry, I can't help it, I've just got to show you my new puppy and future trail partner. Here's Biscuit, a fox terrior bred to hunt down vermin to the death, next to my daughter's psycho guinea pig "Cookie", who I prefer to call "Miss Piggy". Our other guinea pig is much more sane and rightfully too afraid to go near the puppy (she would run away in panic, inviting a brisk chase). But Miss Piggy is far too grumpy and bossy to be intimidated. Instead, she turns to face the puppy and expresses her annoyance with a throaty sound reminisent of Marge Simpson.

Obviously I won't let Biscuit use the guinea pig as a chew toy, so with a measure of frustration she begins copying Miss Piggy by eating whatever Miss Piggy is eating, usually lettuce or grass. Then she eats the piggy's poo. Ewe. I going to make a long-shot attempt and teaching her to help me find letterboxes, in which case she'll be my box terrior ;-)

Industrial Turkey

Welcome to Connecticut. Wasn't it just 15 or 20 years ago that wild turkey were a real novelty and everyone was excited to see them? Now look at them, they're all over. Even in this industrial yard in Norwalk. This time of year I see them nearly every morning at Wells Hollow Farm on Bridgeport Avenue.

Rec Path Rock Stash

Rock Stashing is yet another treasure hunting game touted as the 'green' alternative to letterboxing and geocaching because no plastic tupperwares or ammo cases are left hidden in the woods. Instead, clues direct you to special rocks that have been placed in favorite locations. The rock may or may not have something painted on the underside. I've planted a Rock Stash - Letterbox hybrid, which means not only do you find an interesting rock, there will be a letterbox containing a hand-carved rubber stamp and logbook nearby. Please sign the logbook, preferably using your trailname and a rubber stamp. Note there is no ink in the letterbox. I recommend bring red and black markers for inking up - crayolas will work fine.

The rock you will be looking for is the one in my previous post about the Stb rock formation near Old Mine Park in Trumbull (see photo above). One side is coated with Pyrite, also called Fool's Gold. It came from the nearby corporate park in the 1990's when they were blasting during construction. You'll know you have the right rock if you look closely and see the word "Trumbull" on one side and a "T" on a white spot on the other.

Clues to the Rock Stash - Letterbox
Shelton Lakes Recreation Path and "Bridge-to-Bridge" route.
White vacant house at corner of Nell's Rock Road and Shelton Avenue, owned by the City.
Closest parking is at the white house, which leaves you 400 feet of walking.

The yellow-blazed path, south
Turning into the woods.
A long rock wall, 400 feet.
It ends.
Another begins.
Four steps along the new.
Resting at the "table."
Before you sit down to admire my rock,
Look under the table
And find my black box

Note: You can log your letterbox find at http://www.atlasquest.com/