Barrington Conservation Commission Patch

 

Property	Trails	Possible Photo	Date Completed
A Harlan Calef Isinglass Preserve West	Calef Trail	Stonehenge, bridge abutment	Trip Report
	Beaver Loop		Trip Report
A Harlan Calef Isinglass Preserve East	River Trail	Big rock	Trip Report
	Ledge Trail		Trip Report
	Marsh Trail		Trip Report
	Big Rock Trail		Trip Report
	Big Rock Loop		Trip Report
	Corner Trail		Trip Report
Barrington Trail	Barrington Trail	Isinglass River, Mill Site
	Loop Trail	pond view, beaver dam
Brasen Hill Farm	Jeb's Jaunt	Trailings Hill
	Tailings Trail	farm sites
	Two Mile Road
	Farm Road
Goodwill Conservation Area	Pooh Trail	Pooh houses, Champion aspen
	Goodwill Trail	tree, ledge top view, beaver
	Marika's Ledge Trail	pond
	Melvin Trail
	Ledges Loop
	Beaver Dam Trail
Kids of the River Property	Blue Trail	picnic table, top of ledge
	White Trail	bridge abutment
	Red Trail
Locke Falls (Gonic Trails)	Isinglass Trail	waterfall	Trip Report
Newhall Conservation Easement	Forest Trail	bridge over Newhall Brook
	WoodLot Loop	beaver pond
	Pond Trail
	Newhall Brook Trail
Samuel A Tamposi Water Supply Reserve	Tibbetts Road	cedar swamp
	SB Trail	Mt Ripley
	Black Gum Trail	champion hemlock tree
	Rudolph's Run	black gum tree
	Santa Claus Trail	picture post
	Cemetery Trail
	Conifer Way
	Bridge Cutoff
	Rabbitat Road
	Cedar Swamp Trail
	Cottontail Trail
	Hopalong Way
Stonehouse Forest and Pond	Overlook Trail	atop cliff	Trip Report
	Ledges Loop	staircase	Trip Report
	Locke Trail	any hut	Trip Report
	Brook Trail	big concrete monolith	Trip Report
	South Trail		Trip Report
	Marsh Road		Trip Report
	Marison Trail		Trip Report
	Marison Trail West		Trip Report
	Bog Trail		Trip Report
Barrington Town Forest	Beaver Loop Trail	amphitheater	Trip Report
	Deer Trail	cornerstone	Trip Report
	Eagle Trail	bridge	Trip Report
	Cornerstone Trail		Trip Report
	Ampitheater		Trip Report
Turbocam Mallego River Walk	All (weekends only)	bridge over Mallego Brook
		culvert under Rt 125
Village Place Open Space	Village Place Trail	choose your own
	Hemlock Trail
	Mistaken Trail
	Deer Trail

Barrington Town Forest

 It's been a minute. After weeks of rain and conflicting schedules.. Laura and I finally got ourselves back out into the woods. We visited Barrington Town Forest off Swain Road in Barrington. The entrance is a little difficult to see if you're not paying attention, but look for the small sign and there is a decent sized lot. The forest consists of 5 small trails that equaled 2 miles total. They all start on Eagle Trail, which brings you to a clearing and kiosk. We continued on Eagle Trail blazed in yellow, continued onto Deer Trail blazed in blue and then continued again on Cornerstone Trail blazed in orange. At the furthest most point from the parking lot is a small out and back to what is deemed the Cornerstone, which was basically just a cairn on the border of private land. To complete the remainder of the trails we did a couple of short out and backs and loops also grabbing Beaver Trail blazed in red and the connector to the Amphitheater. Nothing really scenic on this network besides a pond in the middle. The amphitheater was becoming overgrown, not sure what it was used for previously. The trails are all in good shape however, well marked and basically no elevation. We did have to deal with some bugs, but thankfully nothing ever annoying enough to bring out the bug nets. 

Strava Activity

A Harlan Calef Isinglass Preserve East

Laura, Vanessa and I wanted to take advantage of a reasonably warm and sunny day and headed out to explore the East side trails of the A Harlan Calef Isinglass Preserve that Laura and I explored the West side trails a couple weeks ago. There isn't a formal entrance on this side, a small sign on a tree and a chained old road. I imagine in non-Winter conditions there is ample road side parking, but today in the snow, we had to creatively park a little further down to make sure we were safely off the road. The trails on this side are well blazed and signed and contain a couple trails that meander down to the river. Starting on River Trail, we followed that to a fork. Keeping left, we did an out and back to the end, which is at the river. Back at the fork, The right branch is now Marsh Trail which follows alongside (you guessed it) a marsh We kept on Marsh Trail at the intersection with Ledge Trail. We'd do that on our return. At the end of Marsh Trail, we turned left onto Big Rock Trail and followed that, keeping left at the intersection with Big Rock Loop and followed to the end, again at the river and at the aptly named Big Rock.. which was snow covered and hard to distinguish as a rock, but we climbed up to get a nice view down the river. We did Big Rock Loop, including the out and back on Corner Trail, which just followed along the river and back to Big Rock Trail. Back onto Marsh Trail, but this time taking Ledge Trail, which climbed up a small incline to a lookout that is grown in over the river. Finishing Ledge Trail, we rejoined River Trail and back to the car. There was a couple of inches of snow on the ground today, but we were able to bare boot with no issues. All that came in just under 2 miles. A perfect way to spend an hour in the sunshine. 

Strava Activity

 

Gonic Trails

 I had visited this area a long time ago with my family. Now with it being part of the Barrington Town patch, I needed to revisit and properly pick up the trails. There is a very small, but really quite great network here on Waste Management property. I imagine in the heat of Summer, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, there might be a bit of an odor, but today was perfect. Some snow on the ground, but the trails were well worn down and I was able to bareboot the entire way. I parked in the main lot and started first with the yellow blazed Isinglass Trail. This was a wide carriage way all the way to the falls. The one negative to this trail network is it's downhill to the falls, then uphill back to the car. I'd say the Isinglass Trail was the least steep. Although the parking area was quite busy, I had the falls to myself. There are lots of rocks to climb around on and a makeshift ladder and rope swing. I always love a frozen waterfall, so I took an extra minute to enjoy the natural art before continuing on. Isinglass Trail continues beyond Waste Management property out to a smaller parking area further down Rochester Neck Road. Once past the falls, the trail becomes more like an actual trail in the woods, but was still well maintained and marked. The trail follows the Isinglass River all the way and was really quite pretty. I did an out and back to the parking area. The Waste Management property portion of the trails includes 2 loops, red blazed Watsons Way and blue blazed Locke's Loop. I kind of made a spiral out of it and went up the outer side of Watsons Way, down the outer side of Locke's Loop, then back up the inner side of Locke's Loop. The 2 loops merge briefly, so at that intersection, I went back down the outer side of Watson's Way.. the way I had previously come up, and then finished the network by coming up the inner side of Watson's Way.. all in, I got about 6.5 miles and the snow started just as I returned to the car. I really enjoyed this little network, and am definitely enjoying exploring so close to home. 

Strava Activity

Isinglass Trail and Locke's Loop from the parking area

continuing out on the out and back of Isinglass trail

Isinglass Trail at the smaller parking area

along Watson's Way

heading down Locke's Loop

intersection of Locke's Loop and Watson's Way

along Watson's Way