Spotlight on Middlebury Land Trust properties – July 2016

#MIDDLEBURY

Send in your guess identifying the July 2016 “Can You Guess The Location?” mystery Middlebury Land Trust property. (Janine Sullivan-Wiley photo)

By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY

The July mystery location is shown in the photo with this article. As before, email your best guess for the location to mbisubmit@gmail.com, and please put “Guess the location” in the subject line. If you missed any of the previous “Spotlight” articles, you can find them on the Bee’s website or its Facebook page. In August, we will name the correct email respondents; the first respondent is the winner.

The June mystery photo was in fact a complete mystery to all the readers! It was taken on the newest of the Middlebury Land Trust properties, a property acquired from the Goss family earlier this year. The photo was of Goat Brook right before it crosses under Tucker Hill Road.

Shaped rather like an angular crescent, the property’s 25.49 acres are bordered by Middlebury, Chase and Tucker Hill Roads with residential properties behind. Goat Brook flows along one “side” of the angle. The other angle is the long wooded stretch along Tucker Hill Road, from past the bridge right up to that almost 90-degree bend in the road. These wetlands and woods are now protected.

Thanks to MLT member Wayne Foote, there already is a half-mile long trail to hike. It runs close to the boundary of the new property. You will see pink surveyor’s tape in some places, evidence of its newly surveyed status. The trail is blazed with blue paint, but as this is a new trail it is advisable to hike it in good light or you could wind up exiting the tract through some seriously mucky areas as I did.

The entrance to the trail is at the parking lot on the Greenway at Chase Road. You can find it just to the right of the large rocks by the road. There is orange tape there, making it a bit easier to find. This is where you will want to have worn long pants as quite a bit of poison ivy is there.

After following along Goat Brook for about 350 feet, the trail crosses the brook – not with a bridge but with rocks you can walk on. This is where – in addition to the long pants – you might want shoes that can get wet in case your footing is not as sure as you thought. Walking sticks are recommended!

From that crossing, the trail climbs steeply to a flat area, then up again, bearing to the left. At that point you can easily exit the trail out to Tucker Hill Road at the intersection with Fenn Road. If you choose to go on, after another 250 feet there is a turn to the right and up the hill. You will see the two blazes on the tree here: the hiking signal that the trail turns.

The trail ends at the point of the sharp curve in Tucker Hill Road. There is a wide, low shoulder there where parking would be possible, but it is safer in the lot at the beginning.
With use, this trail should become more visible without risking any of the plants or animals that live there. I have heard coyotes traversing it and it is excellent habitat for the animals that share Middlebury with us.

For those interested in geocaching, there are four geocaches hidden on the property; each one is next to the trail. A description of each one can be found at geocaching.com.

Happy viewing and hiking!