Cedar Wood Preserve

I hiked the outermost loop here though at the time a trail map wasn’t available so I just kept taking whatever option looked like it would take me the farthest.  Now there is an official trail map, the loops are clear and well blazed and you can easily get a nice 1.5 mile hike here.

From the parking area, passing the trailhead sign, the trail starts on a wet grassy area and a boardwalk pinched between private property and a flooded stonewall at the edge of a farm field.  The trail then opens largely open fields that I was surprised to learn were farmed as recently as 2o17.  You happen to be looking directly into someone’s back yard but you head back through the fields and among the eponymous cedars.  As you enter the woods you’ll encounter the blue blazed trail which I took right towards the cell tower.

This quickly leads you to the yellow trail which descends gradually and can be used to reconnect to the blue for a shorter inner loop.  I took the red trail which follows a gully down to a marshy stream near I-395 at the edge of the property.  I found it funny that the red trail crosses the stream on a rock hop and 30 feet away behind some No Trespassing signs is a well built little bridge.  Hard to imagine the private property use that wouldn’t just allow the trail to use its little bridge.

The red trail works its way back to connect to the blue and the most picturesque seciton in my opinion with rocky outcrops among old pines.  Two sections of trail were wet here after a day of rain which required careful footwork but I soon connected back to the open fields completing the outer loop hike for 1.4 miles.

Preserved in 2021. The official opening of the trails was on November 19th, 2022.

• Claire Bessette – Cedar Wood Preserve in Norwich offers people with disabilities access to nature (2022)