John Hankins led 5 other Trustees and Ruth, one of our sponsors and owner of NICABM, on a walk on two of our properties that are close together. We parked in the Mansfield Public Library parking lot on route 89, right by the trailhead for Bradley-Buchanan Woods, a 25 acre wooded preserve and one of the Trust’s earliest purchases.
There are several kettle holes on this property, the result of large chunks of glacial ice being buried and then melting, leaving a large hole that often fills with water. Some of these become vernal pools, if they dry out in summer and have no fish. Here John is pointing out the first one we encountered.
Here we are examining the bridge that our volunteers recently built, under the direction of Volunteer Coordinator, Andy Woodcock. This sturdy and extensive bridge replaced the old one that had been damaged by flood water. There is another kettle hole to the left.
We walked on some of the state-owned Echo Woods to get to the Pond Lot, a 10 acre JT preserve. This is a kettle hole on that property. Echo Woods is about 57 acres that also connects with the Mansfield Hollow State Park. There are dozens of miles of trails that can be accessed from our two properties. The trails we hiked were fairly level and wide, with few rocks and roots. Most of the soil is gravel beneath. This makes these trails great for skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, or easy hiking.
After walking along a short stretch of Cemetery Rd, we entered the woods again and came to Echo Lake. The Trust owns and protects quite a bit of frontage on this lake. A few years ago, we contributed to the lake association’s purchasing some carp to introduce in to the lake, with the goal of controlling a pesky algae bloom. Since it’s frozen over, we’ll have to revisit in the summer to see if we can see any positive results.
John brought us on a short side trail which led to the dike that is part of the Mansfield Hollow dam. One could access more trail systems from this dike, which is used by many folks every day for hikes, dog walking, etc., though the little trail is not marked. The maze of trails could be a little confusing if you’re new to the area.
At this point, we are on our way back to the parking lot but we encountered a couple of forks in the path as we went. Luckily John has been walking these trails for his whole life, and was the perfect guide. The Joshua’s Trust trails are blazed yellow, so as long as you keep to a yellow blazed trail, you shouldn’t get lost. If you want to be more adventurous and roam connecting trails, a map would be a good idea, as would a phone with GPS (and maybe extra battery charge!) until you know your way around. These woods would be wonderful to explore when the plants are greening up, or when the snow covers the ground and one can examine the tracks left by wildlife. These two preserves are great because they are part of a larger system and provide several access points with places to park.