Hamden Land Conservation Trust Trails Intro

I had the idea to sort out the difference between our state’s “Land Trusts” versus our “Land Conservation Trusts.” But once I realized how boring that was, I scrapped it. The HLCT’s properties are quite small and some are not worth visiting, for they are merely small little conservation easements and not suitable for a hike or anything.

However, there are other properties that are most certainly worth checking out – even if for completely ridiculous reasons. And that’s what you expect me to do.

I won’t pretend the HLCT was even on my radar until I was alerted by a Twitter follower to a rare hike at Powder Farm. It’s right off of Dixwell Avenue and it’s closed to the public except for these special rare hikes once ever few years. Why? You’ll just have to read about it after I check it out. Haha, I wrote that like I get revenue for page clicks (which I don’t as of 2013 when I’m writing this.)

When I think of hiking in Hamden I first think of Sleeping Giant of course (I’m a Giant Master! LINK) and the Quinnipiac Trail . I never really thought about the HLCT trails. But now I am and I’m sort of fascinated. There’s a large kettle that may actually be a ditch that was dug during WWII. There’s a skinny easement to a waterfall I had never known about. There’s a glacial erratic with a name. I must find all this stuff. The beauty of it is that it’s possible to see it all in a few hours.

Here’s some info about the HLCT, from the HLCT:

The Hamden Land Conservation Trust protects land in two ways. First, we acquire land by gift, bequest, or purchase. Second, working cooperatively with private land owners, we hold conservation easements, which are permanent agreements that allow the land owners to continue to enjoy their property while assuring that it will remain free from development for all time. The land we protect can be inaccessible, or it can be open to passive recreational use by the public, with trails for hiking and limited facilities. Either way, it provides habitats for plants and animals and contributes to the aesthetic and environmental enrichment of the community…

Just as Hamden contains a diversity of people, so too its wide array of landscape includes urban neighborhoods in the south part of town and rural neighborhoods in the north, salt meadows along the Quinnipiac River and forested hills where the town adjoins Bethany and Cheshire, with lakes, ponds, and streams scattered throughout… Our involvement in all parts of town comes from the recognition that open space, walking trails, nature parks, and wooded parcels are vital, along with flourishing schools, businesses, and housing, to making every neighborhood a good place in which to live and raise a family.

The Hamden Land Conservation Trust website which hopefully will improve in the future.

I hiked/visited/saw 8 of the 9 properties in one afternoon. It would be fine to put them all on one page, but that would be a differnet format from all the other stuff I do here, so some of these pages will be silly… but you shoudl still check them out.

I’ll put them in the smartest order in which to visit them all in a row. Like I did. ‘Cause I is smart. Let’s hike!

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