CTMQ

Destroying the myth that there is nothing to do here

green mountain modern house
  • CTMQ’s Town Guides
    • Town Completion Celebrations
  • Museums
    • Museum Visits
  • Hikes, Bikes, & Paddles
    • CFPA Trails & Blue Trails Challenge
    • State Parks, Reserves, Preserves, Forests, NAPs, WMAs, & Campsites
    • Land Trust Trails
    • Town Trails
    • Audubon, Nature Conservancy, RWA, and US Army Corps of Engineers Trails
    • Highpointing and Peakbagging
    • Cycling, Multi-Use, & Rails-to-Trails Paths
    • Water Trails
  • Food & Drink
    • Best, Historic, & Unique Restaurants & Foods
    • Classic Diners & True Taverns
    • Homemade Ice Cream, Cheese, & Chocolate Trails
    • Breweries, Brewpubs, & Cideries
    • Wineries & Meaderies
    • Distilleries
  • Everything Else
    • National Designations
    • Firsts, Onlies, Oldests, Largests, Longests, Mosts, Smallests, & Bests
    • Geography
    • Animals, Farms, Gardens, Plants, Trees, Rocks, Waterfalls, & Caves
    • Sports, Thrills, Cruises, Trains, Fairs, Parades, & Events
    • Houses, Communities, Urban Legends, Lighthouses, Libraries, Schools, Businesses, & Theaters
    • Towers, Bridges, Forts, Tunnels, Roads, Canals, Dams, Fishways, Airports, & Ferries
    • Religion, Remembrances, Statuary, & Outdoor Art
    • Cultural, Heritage, & Historic Trails
    • Books, Movies, People, & Stories
  • Non-CT
    • Travel & Vacations
    • World Soccer Stadium Tour
    • Highpointing and Peakbagging
    • Top 100 Novels Project
    • Oscar Movies Project
  • About
    • FAQ
    • Family
    • Smith-Magenis Syndrome
    • Press
CTMQ > Hikes, Bikes & Paddles > Town Land Hikes > Oak Grove Nature Center

Oak Grove Nature Center

March 26, 2017 by Steve Leave a Comment

There’s a Hemlock and a Cedar Grove Too
Oak Grove Nature Center, Manchester

January 21, 2017

As I work my way through the trails of Manchester, I continue to be surprised by how enjoyable almost all of them are. This isn’t a knock on Manchester at all, but rather a comment on the fact that there are dozens of trails somehow inserted in a rather populated suburban town.

And when I find a little trail network two minutes from downtown that feels far more remote, I get a little excited. Oak Grove Nature Center is just such a place.

The Oak Grove Nature Center is a fifty-two acre nature preserve operated by the Town of Manchester and the Lutz Children’s Museum… It is an ideal place to take a break from your busy day and enjoy a quiet walk in the woods.

There is a little building at the parking lot that is used for children’s programs that the Lutz Children’s Museum puts on, but it isn’t open for galoots like me to visit. It has been removed from the official CTMQ museum list now and forevermore.

Cute butterflies on the front though.

Calvin and I visited on a warm winter day not really knowing what to expect. There is basically one loop trail here (the Pond Trail) with another loop at the far end (the Old Cedar Trail). We set off and immediately came upon a bunch of signs telling us what trees and plants we were looking at.

That’s always nice. I appreciate it much more now that I have a little reader with me. Such a sweet boy. Not a creeper at all…

Oh. Never mind.

A few minutes in, we came upon a little covered bridge. Who doesn’t love covered bridges? Everyone loves covered bridges. In fact, Calvin and I had to wait a minute or two for two families to exit the bridge. They were really enjoying the heck out of this covered bridge.

From the bridge, we began circumnavigating the pond counterclockwise. The trails here are marked well enough and are obviously cared for.

Hiking in the winter allows Calvin to engage in his favorite activity: Throwing rocks and sticks on frozen ponds. Five minutes… ten minutes… the boy just loves it. Loves it as much as you love covered bridges.

At the far end of the pond, there is a hemlock grove that sort of fades into a cedar grove. Again, we were a two-minute drive to downtown Manchester here. And that’s still cool to me. a few of the dying red cedars here really show the unique color of the trees.

We poked around the cedar stand for a while and then returned to the main Pond Trail. (The Old Cedar Trail is clearly not as popular as the main loop.) A nice little bridge and then a walk along the edge of a marsh.

Traffic jam

I haven’t seen a proliferation of cattails as profuse as they are here in a long time. Calvin made me hop across the hummocks and hope for the best to procure him some. I hopped like a real pro. After a protracted search for the best cattails, I prolonged Calvin’s wait to hold his own.

Okay, I’ll stop with the “pro” words. I have no idea why I did that.

Calvin couldn’t get over how much the cattail felt like our couch at home, but immediately became distracted by the challenge a nearby jumble of tree roots presented to him.

This is vertical believe it or not


He considers himself a Ninja. When hiking, he often takes on the Rock Ninja persona (rock-hopping). My lesson to him on this day was to watch out for the little nubs that are left when trail maintainers clip saplings that sprout mid-trail. When he found one under fallen leaves, he determined that only a ninja like him could have “sensed” it. Anyway, he was determined to get up this vertical root wall and dangnabbit, he did.

Because he’s a ninja.

Total ninja

That was pretty much it. Calvin and I returned to covered bridge and he politely asked if he could try to find rocks to break the ice. I politely said yes and then politely waited 15 minutes for him to do the impossible.

Super Ninja

Oak Grove is a really nice little property. I was happy to see other families enjoying the walk as much as we were. Manchester has a slew of these small little gems all around town and I’d encourage you to find a few.


Oak Grove Nature Center
Manchester Trails
CTMQ’s Manchester Town Land Trails Main Page

Facebooktwitterreddit

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, New Post, Town Land Hikes Tagged With: Calvin, Hartford County, Hikes with my Boys, Manchester, Nature Centers

Sponsored Links

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Become a CTMQ Patron!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Press & Media Inquiries

Latest Museum Visits

The heart of CTMQ

Totally Random Post!

Five Points Art Gallery & Annex

Sponsored Links

Recent Comments

  • Brenda Rose Iaquessa on RWA: Lake Gaillard
  • ROBERT FINDLEY on SCELBI Computer Virtual Museum
  • Tom N. on 104. Buttolph-Williams House
  • Jamie on Onion Mountain Park
  • Rob on Plainville’s Prickly Pear Cacti
Disclaimer
Mission Statement
Copyright © 2023 - CTMQ