Parking at 154 Holton Rd, North Franklin, CT – various trails, mainly yellow loop ~5 miles

The land preserve offers various trails for a “choose your own adventure” type hike. We primarily followed the yellow trail and looped it around with white and maybe a few others.

Overall most of the hike is easy, a few small inclines here and there, until one section which is tricky, steep, and rock. I tried to photograph the steepness, but I failed.

The land preserve is very pretty and features a look out point, two waterfalls, a kind of creepy fairy trail with an awesome carved owl, some meadows, and my favorite section: a walk amongst pines, atop a cliff, with the Shetucket river below (white trail).

Mike spotted a new plant (for us). It was identified as Mapleleaf Vibrum. We were spotted by a deer who definitely sized us up before deciding to leave. We also encountered a long black snake who crossed up the hill and circled back around us — slightly terrifying.

I would definitely return here and explore the other trails. I believe there are around 11 miles in total.

Adventurer’s included: Jes and Mike