Pale winter farm fields rose beyond the Shepaug Dam on Wednesday, February 12. The yellowed swaths of dried stalks at Southbury’s Mitchell Farm mirrored a steep hillside in Newtown where hikers stood in the Upper Paugussett State Forest off Albert’s Hill Road.

Exploring a section of the ten-plus miles of Al’s Trail winding through town were Bike & Trails Committee members and advisors and two National Parks Service (NPS) representatives. The group “wanted to focus on the existing trail and get it back open,” said committee Secretary Geordie Elkins.

The Bike & Trails Committee recently began planning with Stephanie Stroud and Stephan Bastrzycki, NPS grant advisors with the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, who in January introduced the committee to the NPS trails grant.

Among the initiatives the grant will target are the various sections of Al’s Trail, which crisscrosses through town.

On February 12, Mr Bastrzycki and Ms Stroud met with a small group including committee advisor Peter Cloudas, Mr Elkins, advisor Mark Lurie, and committee member Brad Accettella, who were joined by resident Glenn Boyle.

An “avid user of Al’s Trail,” Mr Cloudas “advocates maintenance on Al’s Trail,” and has himself over the years improved terrain to cross streams and fallen limbs for mountain bikers and hikers.

The afternoon’s “trial run” of assessing this and other trails in town was meant to develop a method “to document things that are priorities,” “to open trails,” do some clearing, assess the trail’s safety, and determine problems potentially preventing it from being continued, said Mr Bastrzycki. He also suggested seeking volunteers to assist with property audits, “and today we’ll come up with a way to track audits.”

Passing around an “Unpaved Trail — Repair/ Update Assessment Form,” he discussed how volunteers and committee members could document a trail’s location, condition, type of maintenance needed, and whether the work needed is “urgent,” or “low.”

Bastrzycki then recommended establishing a “core group,” that would “know the procedure.” Reaching the many trails in town could be time consuming, and he said breaking into small groups could “cover more ground.”

The group then spoke about general trail-building approaches that would avoid too steep a grade or building or repairing trails to minimize rainwater runoff and erosion. “This comes into play if you find an area that is really eroded and the trail needs to be rerouted,” Mr Bastrzycki said. He added, “These are all sustainable trail techniques.”

Signs indicating trail locations and trail markers also need improvements, members agreed. Volunteers should bring GPS tools along on hikes, Mr Bastrzycki said.

In The Woods

Walking briefly along Albert’s Hill, Mr Cloudas stepped into the woods, his walking stick firmly tapping uneven ground.

Fallen trees tore up the terrain after May 2018, when tornado-like conditions ripped through Newtown and surrounding towns. Several hundred yards along ground that tracked down a steep valley are now clogged with an abundance of fallen trunks and limbs.

The trail “was more defined before the storm. Now, nobody walks it,” Mr Cloudas said.

He strode through a strip of land adjacent to areas cleared for power lines downhill from Albert’s Hill and heading to the dam. He walked over, under, or around large patches of mature forest now laying on the ground.

Crossing streams and stone walls and “stone armories” he had built, making wet or wooded area more passable, Mr Cloudas said he has not ridden his bike through the area in two years on the “hard-hit” piece of trail.

The steep forest floor skirts Albert’s Hill neighborhood properties, including Cornerstone of Eagle Hill, a now-abandoned alcohol and drug treatment facility, before heading down into a valley adjoining trails extending from McLaughlin Vineyard property.

Members spread apart, individually seeking a way through the web of downed trees. Rumbling water spilling over the Shepaug faded as hikers pushed deeper into the woods. Mr Cloudas spoke of ideas to either reroute or reestablish portions of trail unusable after the storm.

Thinking out loud, Mr Bastrzycki thought they should “build with the least amount of maintenance,” after the trails are repaired.

As different ideas arose about trail placement, Mr Bastrzycki noted “a lot of enthusiasm,” and “a lot of different ideas,” about future trail building and restoration.

Soon the group was accidentally separated, and a majority abandoned the hike and headed straight uphill to reunite with other members.

Related Business

On Sunday, March 8, from 11 am to 1 pm, at the Newtown Community Center, 8 Simpson Street, the public is invited to the Bike & Trail Committee’s open house and symposium to learn about trails and plans to improve them. The afternoon will also offer information about volunteer opportunities as trail ambassadors and maintenance crew, the Friends of Newtown Trails Society, the Connecticut Trail Ambassador Program, the local children’s bike lending program, spring events, and more. The event is presented in conjunction with Newtown Parks & Recreation. Call 203-448-0758 or contact newtown-ct.gov/bike-trails-committee for more information.

During a Parks & Recreation commission meeting earlier in February, recreation department Director Amy Mangold had said the Bike & Trails Committee members also were looking into building a temporary bicycle playground within Fairfield Hills, according to meeting minutes.

Pending Planning & Zoning Commission approval, they plan to build the playground with volunteers, while Ms Mangold contacts the American Ramp Company (ARM) for potential project assistance.