Bent of the River

Bent of the River Sanctuary

Audubon Center

700 acres in Southbury, CT

Parking: Medium sized lot near 185 E Flat Hill Rd, Southbury, CT

Trail Map            Trails: 3 miles            Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I visited the Bent of the River on a 94 degree day in July.  Parking is next to a sun soaked meadow filled with flowers of all kinds, birds and butterflies flitted about.

I started off on the River Trail through what appears to be a covered bridge that serves as the trailhead kiosk.  The trail follows the edge of the meadow along the river until it enters the trees.  There is a large sculpture resting area and access to the river, though they prohibit fishing.

Beyond that is a raised boardwalk above a sea of ferns which shortly leads to the barn and gardens.  The barn was closed during my visit though the gardens were well kept by the Southbury Gardening Club.

I took Pootatuck Rd north and crossed paths with a tractor who had just been doing a bit of trail maintenance.  I took the overlook trail to a very lackluster overlook.  There is only a tiny peek of a view (at least in the summer) that left me underwhelmed.

Things went downhill from here (both literally and figuratively).  On my 2020 visit I found many of the trails closed due to maintenance, likely from recent storm damage.  Though I have since heard that they have reopened.  I was most interested in the Cascade Tap, but it appeared as thought that particular trail hadn’t been open in years.

I took the Tulip Tree trail back to Pootatuck Rd and the driveway back to the visitor parking.  So while the first bit of the hike along the river was great missing the rest was a bit of a let down.  I look forward to visiting again with reopened trails.

History:

Opened to the public in 2000.  Read a full history on the Audubon’s official page here.

Links:

Peter Marteka – A Trip To The ‘Bent’ Of The Pomperaug River (2014)

CTMQ – 137. Audubon at Bent of the River (2009)

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Last updated July 20th, 2020