WESTPORT - About 25 adventurers showed up at the 50-acre Herb Hadfield Conservation Area on Aug. 3 for the first guided tour since it was officially opened in mid-July.
The gray skies that Westporters have been experiencing this summer didn't dampen the spirits of the hikers, who were led by Dan Herzlinger of the Westport River Watershed Alliance and Ben Guy of the Westport Land Conservation Trust. The two leaders provided a great deal of information about the flora, fauna and history of the new conservation area during the morning's expedition.
The trails were blazed last year by B. G. Reed and are clearly marked with red fluorescent paint. For those who might be directionally challenged, there is a straight-as-an-arrow trail leading directly to the ruins of Herb Hadfield's cabin. Hikers will have no problem finding their way back to the small parking area on Adamsville Road, from which the trails begin and end. Even at shopping cart pace, a hike takes less than an hour.
An alternate loop of the trail feels like the Lewis and Clark version and traverses the Angeline Brook twice before ending up at the remains of the Hadfield cabin. Luckily, the cabin itself found a new home. Herb Hadfield was a well known local artist with many friends and admirers who did not want to see the cabin torn down. It had to be moved, however, for the state department of Fish & Wildlife to be able to help purchase the open space.
The first crossing of Angeline Brook is a test of a hiker's balance, or tolerance for wet shoes. The passage here is over a narrow, wiggly, eight-foot log. The second traverse of the brook involved several easy steps over stones.
One hiker exclaimed, "Do you know how many machines have tried to emulate the sound of a bubbling brook like this?"
The sound of that peaceful bubbling reinforces the opinion that Angeline Brook is the jewel of the property. It's certainly worth ending up with a pair of wet shoes to discover and experience this beautiful brook.
If you go...
*Location: Adamsville Road, Westport, approximately 1.4 miles from Main Road in Central Village.
*Parking: in a small lot in the entrance off Adamsville Road.
* Open: sunrise to sunset
*Activities: walking, fishing, hunting in season, picnicking.
What to see...
Looking down -- Among the things to keep an eye out for are swamp azaleas, club moss, ferns, sassafras bushes, summer sweet, skunk cabbage, witch hazel and spice bushes.
Looking up --Beech trees, oak trees, red maple trees, sassafras trees (note the mitten leaves with three blunt fingers), scarlet tanagers, oven birds, and other more common birds.
Why protecting the open space here is important:
Dan Herzlinger of the Westport River Watershed Alliance gave three reasons why preserving the Herb Hadfield property is important:
*It protects the watershed and Angeline Brook, perhaps the cleanest tributary of the West Branch of the Westport River. Unlike other tributaries, which are affected by development, this brook adds more clean water to the river at its mouth at Angeline Cove since the surrounding land is forested and undeveloped.
* The area us ecologically significant since it supports wild brook trout, which were formerly found in all cold water New England streams, but are now losing habitat in developing areas. The brook trout are being replaced by warm water species and hatchery trout.
*The area is one of the only public places in Westport where people can hike through trails in woodlands.
By Paul Tamburello