191 Hagen Road, Salem CT Various trails ~ 3 miles

Today I got to make up for missing Father’s Day with an adventure to Walden Preserve with my dad.

Walden Preserve is a land trust in Salem, CT. It has several trails to explore. We managed to do them all except the white and yellow. The terrain is pretty flat and is a mix of grass, dirt, and swamp. It is all beautiful!

We started the hike in a big open field of wildflowers. Milkweed is everywhere, mixed with black-eyed susans, bird’s foot trefoils, blue eyed grass, cow vetch, deptford pinks, black berries and more.

Once we left the meadow and headed into the woods, the trail changed from grass to dirt and the wild flowers became ferns and trees. If you follow the green path you come across an old Pierce Arrow. It is a shame to see this rotting away in the woods. I found it almost comical that the seats springs are in the grass but there is no sign of the seat cushion or any interior at all.

We continued on the red path which brought us to Turtle Pond. It is covered in beautiful water lilies and pads and true to its names turtles, too! There is a nice bench by the pond in memory of a woman named Wendy Clark which we took advantage of on our way back for a water break.

The trail does get swampy in a couple of areas but there are human made bridges with rocks and wooden planks and there are a few beaver looking bridges too. The beavers are very active here. Not only are there several dams and lodges, but you can also see where they have chewed through several trees. Dragonflies were everywhere and I spent some time trying to get images of these beautiful black winged turquoise bodied ones.

Continuing on red brought us to Wood Duck Pond and the Orange or Knife Edge Trail. Of course this is where I encountered a rat snake. Fortunately he wanted nothing to do with me and slithered into the water. (shivers)

The Knife Edge trail is a narrow path that brought us around the pond and gives beautiful views of more lilies and trees and also the Eightmile River. Eventually we climbed a little hill and ended back on red which took us all the way back to the parking lot.

Adventurers included: Jes and Jon