Rocky Hill Meadows/Goff Brook Trail

Goff Brook, not Brooke Goff
Great Meadows Conservation Trust’s Wood Parcel, Rocky Hill
September 2024

Back when I walked around and then wrote about farm road trails just south of here, I said:

The “Great Meadows” is very confusing. It is, as I understand it, a large swath of meadow along the Connecticut River south of Hartford. Ownership of this expanse is all over the place. There’s the Great Meadows Conservation Trust, multiple town governments, The Nature Conservancy, Glastonbury Sportsmen Association, Wethersfield Game Club, Rocky Hill Fish and Game Club. And oh, Goodwin College owns a large swath in East Hartford and Wethersfield.

I know I’m not an authority on where each property line is. Heck, I’m not sure such a person exists. So when I wrote about the southern half of these “Great Meadows” and wrote that the town of Rocky Hill owns that bit… I have no idea how correct that is.

The Great Meadows Conservation Trust owns this northern half of what is essentially the same eastward jutting halfmoon of farmland hemmed in by the Connecticut River. The soil here, when not under water, is among the highest quality you can find. The town of Rocky Hill has permanently closed the gates at both ends of this property which I know a lot of people were sore about – especially birders.

It just means slightly more walking along pancake flat hardpack farm roads. No biggie.

I parked at the end of Goff Brook Lane which is literally only a mile (at most) to a series of Brooke Goff billboards on I-91. (If you’re reading this deep into the future, Brooke Goff is a tireless ambulance chasing attorney who tirelessly advertises everywhere in the early 2020’s… who has nothing to do with Goff Brook itself.)

There is a wastewater treatment plant at the end of Goff Brook Lane right by the big yellow fence that has closed off the farm roads to cars.

Now, walking these paths is absolutely no different from walking the paths from Ferry Park a couple miles south. It’s all the same chunk of Rocky Hill farmland, no matter who the owner of the parcel is. But I was here for a Great Meadows Trust trail, and after half a mile or so, I found it.

I kept going, however, keen to make it to where I’d turned around on my previous walk around here. Past a cornfield, down a long straightaway, and… eh. Far enough. I turned round to where the road bridges over the brook and trudged into the woods.

This is the Goff Brook Trail.

And in September 2024, it is terrible.

It follows the brook through the woods and then circles around back to the road. It is blazed half-decently, but hasn’t been cleared for… years? I knew where it had to go thanks to the brook to my right, but there was no trail to follow for 90% of my trek. As such, I didn’t really see much because I was preoccupied with my footfalls, which sometimes required balancing on felled trees.

There is supposedly a colony of elm Dutch Elm Disease resistant elm trees at the back of the property, but I didn’t see any. Nor was I about to go looking. This was not a pleasant walk.

I tried to follow the “trail” back to the trailhead, but it was impassible. I wound up fighting my way out to the cornfield and following the easier “path” alongside of it down to the road.

I’ll be honest: even if this was a perfectly cleared trail, there’s really just not that much to see here. By far, the best thing about this section of the “Great Meadow” is that about halfway back to the end of Goff Brook Lane there’s a trail heading up the hill and across the train tracks. This trail will take you to Rocky Hill’s Quarry Park.

And Quarry Park is pretty awesome.

I have nothing more to say about these Meadows or the Goff Brook Trail.

Great Meadows Conservation Trust
CTMQ’s Great Meadows Conservation Trust Page
CTMQ’s walkabout the southern half of this place