Eye an Eagle. Maybe.
Ian Clarke Preserve, East Granby
April 2019
This is a Traprock Ridge Land Conservancy property that used to be called Newgate Farms. References to “EGLT” below refer to the East Granby Land Trust which became part of the Traprock Ridge Land Conservancy in 2023.
A lot of land in East Granby has been set aside for recreation. And recreation in my case almost always means hiking. Notably, the Metacomet Trail cleaves the town along the prominent north/south ridgeline that shares the name of the trail. This page is not about that trail, however. Many land trusts hold land with no easy or legal or worthwhile access, simply to protect that block of land. A noble pursuit, but certainly not something I need to explore.
This place is a perfect example of why it’s impossible to always stay on top of everything it is I do for CTMQ. Sure, I caught the name change from Newgate Farms to the Ian Clarke Preserve. That happened in mid-2018. This was done when Mr. Clarke retired from the EGLT board to honor his many years of service. Shout out to Ian Clarke.
But as I was poking around looking for why the name changed, I noticed that the EGLT has had a few work parties on the property, installing new bog bridges – and therefore making the trail a much more pleasant experience for future hikers. In other words, the trail has presumably been markedly improved since my visit in April 2019.
Furthermore, I know that work parties are planned for some of the other not super awesome EGLT trails in 2019 as well. But I’m comfortable with my hiking experiences being my point-in-time experiences and leaving it at that. Except when I simply can’t. Woe is me.
The preserve’s trailhead is on a suburban road and there is plenty of parking. The sign, placed high up on a white pine, is very nice. The trail, I found, could use some work. (See work party, above.) Still, I was actually a bit surprised that a trail existed here at all. This was my very first non-Metacomet East Granby hike and owing to its suburban-squeeze location and lack on online trail map (at the time I walked it), I wasn’t really expecting… anything really.
And while it’s clear very few make this trek – perhaps local dog walkers do – the trail was more or less cleared. Except where it wasn’t. (See work party, above.) Several boards were placed to help me navigate the wet areas, but after three months of rain in early 2019 in Connecticut, they didn’t really cut it. (See work party, above.)
My experience took me through a beautiful pine forest, across a marshy area, into another pine forest up to the border of the state-owned Newgate WMA and… that was it. I bumbled around for a while and found some deer trails and perhaps a hunter’s trail or two, but nothing worth pursuing.
This fun and easy half mile loop trail, with plank “bog bridges” across the wet areas, is used as a story trail by the East Granby library between April and November. There are three vegetation types: red maple in the southern wetlands, white pine on the drier east and north borders, and a former agricultural area in the northwest which is now forested with grass, shrubs, juniper, and younger maple and pine trees. Bears, deer, coyotes, fishers, foxes and raptors are transient visitors, while songbirds and small mammals reside on the property. Rare turtles have been spotted here as well.
The trailed woods here are really quite stunning, and now that you’ll keep your feet dry (see work party, above), it’s worth a walk around if you have nothing better to do.
Traprock Ridge Land Conservancy
CTMQ Hikes Traprock Ridge Land Conservancy’s Trails
Leave a Reply