Come enjoy impressive displays of mountain laurel, the Connecticut state flower, at the beautiful Red Hill Woods Preserve on Sunday, June 7 at 2:00 p.m. The Branford Land Trust is offering two walks — a 1.2-mile walk will include some botanical tidbits along the way, and a 1.6-mile option will give you a chance to stretch your legs and explore some of the unique features of this expansive preserve. Both walks will at one point be on a segment of the Branford Trail, where we will remember the trail’s creator, Chet Blomquist, who will have turned 100 on June 14.
The event is free and open to the public. Total duration, including stops to look at and talk about plants, is 1.5-2 hours. All ages welcome but no dogs, please. Park at the very end of Red Hill Woods Road, off Leetes Island Road.
Rain or shine unless weather is dangerous, in which case the walk will be postponed to the following Sunday, June 14. If in doubt, check our website, branfordlantrust.org or Facebook page. For more information: info@branfordlandtrust.org.
As with all our walks, please wear appropriate clothes and comfortable, supportive walking shoes. Expect terrain with rocky underfooting, some declines and inclines, and one steep downhill slope. Some muddy spots are possible if there has been rain. Bring water. Walking sticks are advised if you’re unsure of your balance on slopes.
The Branford Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, accredited by the Land Trust Alliance, established in 1967 to protect Branford’s open space and natural resources. Run by volunteers and supported by member families and businesses, the Land Trust maintains more than 30 miles of hiking trails, manages and protects over 1,000 acres in more than 130 parcels and holds conservation easements on another 400 acres in Branford. For more information, visit www.branfordlandtrust.org.
Photos by Clare Hambly
ABOUT RED HILL WOODS PRESERVE
Drive down Red Hill Road, past the Van Wie Pond to the very end of the pavement. On your left, across from the high rock ledges on the Land Trust’s Sullivan-Red Hill tract, is a low, flat, shady woodland generously dotted with skunk cabbage in the spring. Park your car and walk down the rocky path until you see the Branford Trail’s white circle blazes. Follow the blazes as the trail crosses a small brook over two low foot bridges, climbs a gradual slope through a mountain laurel thicket and heads east toward Guilford, passing a display of historic Selectmen’s stones.
This is the RED HILL WOODS PRESERVE, a very special 29-acre parcel acquired by the BLT in 2017. The same family had owned the property since 1925 when Oscar Kelsey and his sons Howard and Frederick purchased it.
The preserve features a loop trail and elevated bog walk through a large sedge-red maple floodplain. This floodplain is centered on two small brooks that converge and drain southeast across a corner of the Stony Creek Quarry Preserve and on to Guilford’s Towner Swamp. The rest is upland forest with high ledge outcrops that overlook a vernal pool at the southern end and a reputed Native American rock shelter at the northern end.
Red Hill Woods provides rich habitat, with seven state-listed plant species (five Special Concern, one Threatened, one Endangered) known to occur around the property. In addition, three state-listed animal species, spotted turtle (Special Concern), eastern box turtle (Special Concern) and northern long-eared bat (State Endangered, Federal Threatened) occur in the area and depend on the property’s habitat types.
Red Hill Woods is part of a large unfragmented area of environmentally sensitive protected coastal forest that is more than 950 contiguous acres in Branford and Guilford. Crossing only two roads, one can walk from Stony Creek almost to the center of Guilford! Together, the protected open space in the Hoadley and Jarvis watersheds, Red Hill Woods, and the larger part of the Westwoods area to the east of Moose Hill Road form one of the largest blocks of relatively unfragmented coastal forest from Guilford to the New York border.