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05/10/2016 12:00 AMOne year after ownership passed from private to public hands, the thousand-acre Preserve is now ready to receive public perambulators. Color-coded hiking trails have been marked with blue, red, and green discs corresponding to trails shown on the new Preserve trail maps. By next week, the last of three trailhead map kiosks will be built.
On each of the three kiosks is posted a large map showing the color-coded Preserve trail system. Below the map are wooden holders in which paper Preserve trail maps are stored and available for hikers to take with them. Since the trails, especially those in the Old Saybrook portion of the Preserve, are still interim routes, users are encourage to bring a compass with them to guide them back to the trailheads, should they lose their way.
“The maps were just published and made available in April with support from the Trust for Public Land. They’ve been going fast. We’ve printed 1,000 so far and they’re already gone,” said Bob Nussbaum of the Essex Land Trust.
Digital versions of the new Preserve trail map are also now posted on the Essex Land Trust website essexlandtrust.org under the “Trails” heading, on the Old Saybrook Land Trust website oslt.org, on the Town of Old Saybrook website under the Parks & Recreation Department, and on the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) website. Since the trails are color-coded, it is best to download and print the maps in color.
The Essex Land Trust Preserve portion consists of two roughly 35-acre parcels that each abut the 900-acre Old Saybrook Preserve land on their southern borders. The eastern Essex Preserve parcel also abuts the Essex Meadows trail system. The trailhead for the eastern parcel’s blue loop trail is at a 10-vehicle parking lot entered via a driveway on Essex’s Ingham Hill Road. This trail loop is designated for walkers only; no bicycles are allowed. The access driveway for the lot is marked at Ingham Hill Road with a green Preserve sign with a directional arrow.
The Essex Preserve blue trail loop that starts at the East Lot is about one-mile in length and begins with a climb up into the hills. A second blue loop that begins at the southern boundary of the Essex Preserve land and extends southward through the Old Saybrook Preserve lands is about 2.2 miles in length. Hiking both blue trail loops would total more than 2.5 miles in distance.
The second Essex Land Trust Preserve trailhead is at the parking lot known as the West Lot located at the end of Essex’s Ingham Hill Road. This trailhead lot, with space for 10 parked cars, provides access to the Preserve’s green and red trails, which can be used by both hikers and bicycle riders.
The trails of the Essex portion of The Preserve have been marked since fall of the 2015, but the maps identifying the trail system were finalized and printed for the first time in late April.
The Essex Land Trust has posted signs marking the intersection between the Old Saybrook and Essex Preserve parcels to identify for users when they have moved into land that may be governed by different rules.
“We have posted the same rules for the [Essex Preserve] properties as are in place for other Essex Land Trust properties. Dogs are allowed when under control. Trail bikes are allowed except where prohibited. No horses are allowed at this time. Motorized vehicles are prohibited, and no camping or open fires are allowed,” explained Nussbaum.
While dogs must be “under control” while on Essex Preserve trails, in the Old Saybrook Preserve trail system, dogs there must be on leash.
The trail system on the Old Saybrook portion of The Preserve, held in joint ownership between the State of Connecticut and the Town of Old Saybrook, took longer to complete. Before an interim trail system could be developed, other tasks had to be done.
More than 1,200 percolation test pipes and some trash had to be removed. With old trails criss-crossing this land, trails to be used were identified and trails to be abandoned, blocked. Signs had to be posted at regular intervals around The Preserve’s 900 acres to mark the perimeter of the open space land. Only then could an interim trail system for The Preserve be developed and then be marked with color-coded metal discs. Those tasks are now completed thanks to the leadership of Chris Cryder and his team of volunteers including Nussbaum, local scouts, and Bob Czepiel of Old Saybrook.
“These are simply trails that were already there. They range from easy to moderate in difficulty—the Essex end has more hills,” said Cryder, who is a member of Old Saybrook’s Ad Hoc Committee on The Preserve. “Over the course of the summer, we will be adding way-point signs along the trails to mark points of interest.”
By next week, volunteers working with Cryder will have finished building the third Preserve trailhead kiosk at the end of Old Saybrook’s Ingham Hill Road. This Preserve entrance point has a lot with space sufficient to park up to five cars.
The fourth planned Preserve trailhead and parking lot is planned for a two-acre parcel in Westbrook located about one mile north of I-95 Exit 65 on Route 153 (Essex Road). Currently, large rocks block vehicular access to the flat open area of the parcel on Route 153 and a locked metal gate blocks access to the driveway that runs along the parcel’s southern edge and into The Preserve.
A conceptual plan developed for the new Westbrook Preserve access parking is being discussed with Town of Westbrook land use officials.
On Saturday, June 4, as part of Connecticut Trails Day 2016, Cryder and Jonathan Paradis of the Old Saybrook Parks & Recreation Department will lead a 3.75-mile Preserve hike from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. starting at this Westbrook trailhead. Participants will meet at the parking lot in Westbrook next to 1226 Essex Road and carpool to the trailhead. To pre-register for the hike (pre-registration is required), email Jonathan Paradis at jonathan.paradis@oldsaybrookct.gov. The rain date is Sunday, June 5, starting at 10 a.m.