Photos
Description
Shafran Conservation Area
65.3 acres in Tolland, CT
Parking: Shoulder parking near 104 Eaton Road Tolland, CT
Trail Map Trails: 1.4 miles Rating: ★★★☆☆
The Shafran Conservation Area has 1.4 miles of trails. Though I’m guessing their, or my, distances must be off since my figure eight hike was 1.54 miles and I skipped the parts of the orange trail.
Hiking
From the parking lot, the trail soon forks and heading left enters a stretch of pines which the Tolland site calls a “small dense stand of Pitch Pine.” That continues downhill until reaching the white trail. I took the short white loop around the tiny pond with little to note.
Next was the crossing of Cemetary Brook which has the highest obtainable water quality at Class AA. The water was clear, fast flowing, and certainly looked good enough to drink. The brook flows into Charter Brook which empties into Shenipsit Lake, a public drinking water reservoir. The yellow loop trail was lush and green when I hiked it in August, it was also amazingly bug-free and peacefully quiet.
I like the description from the Tolland site,
“There is a Red Oak/Low Blueberry forest with a shrubby understory composed of blueberry and Mountain Laurel. At the east side of the property, the trail passes through a grove of Mountain Laurel. In the moist lowlands, the dominant canopy tree is the Red Maple with Cinnamon Fern forming a nearly uninterrupted understory.”
I’ll be happy to revisit this property in other seasons and hope to get the same peaceful beauty.
History:
Established as a conservation area in 2002 when the property was purchased from Raja Peggy and Dimitry Shafran.
Links:
Peter Marteka – Shafran Area Offers Rich Variety Of Nature (2004)
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