209 acres in Seymour, CT
Parking: Shoulder parking near 33 Tibbets Rd, Seymour, CT
Trail Map Trails: 3 miles Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a great area to explore, though the trails are marred by ATV use, the network here is highlighted by the overlook, cascades, an abandoned car, the marble mining history, and the limestone caves on the property.
No sign greets you at the parking area at the end of Tibbets Road to clarify the trailhead, but great hiking waits down what I learned is an old mining road.
The main loop here is the 1.6 mile blue blazed outer loop which catches the majority of the highlights on the property. I started off taking the right fork on a wide old forest road over gently rolling terrain. The trail soon passes what appears to be an old quarry and later ruins of a lime kiln.
After a brief downhill stretch and several sections rutted by ATVs you climb up to a rocky clear overlook of the Housatonic River. Though a bit marred by traffic noise from Rt. 34 the view northwest over Oxford and Shelton is one of the best in the area.
Beyond the overlook are more rocky ledges that I'm surprised aren't bouldered/climbed. The trail then winds down to take a hard turn at a brook crossing where it connects to the white trail. Heading along this brook and them climbing again along another next to a waterfall was a nice surprise. After climbing atop another rocky ledge or two you pass an abandoned car (likely a Corolla or Datsun circa 1980) before passing another quarry and a mild climb back to the parking area.
I have not yet explored any of the interior trails though I understand there are some "caves" in the limestone here, though they amount to a only a couple feet deep.
The property was purchased by the Town of Seymour in 1977. It is named for a combination of Jane Little, a local conservationist who helped preserve the area, the abundance of mountain laurel, the marble (lime) found on the property, and for the ridge that runs above the Housatonic River.
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