West Stafford Conservation Area

The trails here start from the front corner of the school behind a weathered kiosk. The trails climb the hill and quickly split a ‘back entrance’ from the school playground, the red blazed Judy Sullivan Trail (a former teacher instrumental in the creation of the trail), and the yellow blazed Stone Table Trail.

I stayed right following the yellow Stone Table Trail heading down among towering pines. The woods are lovely through here and aside from one fallen tree the trail was clear.  It bends at a vernal pool where there is a stick hut and the stone table is more of a stone bench.

The trail then rejoins the red blazed trail on an old woods road which heads due north. Gratuitous blazing directs you left onto the blue Diamond Ledge spur which takes you down another woods road to Diamond Ledge Stream. There is an large old bridge to cross the small stream and the trail climbs a small ridge to end abruptly near the view for a small cascade.

Returning to the red trail you could continue north passing the old quarry into a parcel of the Shenipsit State Forest towards Crow Hill.

Note: Mineral collection is not allowed here

From the ECRS Report on the area:

The Diamond Ledge area of West Stafford has been an attraction to mineral collectors for years because of quartz veins that cut the bedrock. Many such veins may be found in the old stone quarry outcrops located on the West Stafford Fire Department property behind the West Stafford Elementary…

The rock that makes up “Diamond Ledge” is quartzite of Silurian age. It is variably micaceous which allows it to split easily along parallel foliation planes. This characteristic makes the rock desirable as dimension stone and indeed it was quarried for such use in the past. The quartzite observed on the parcel has rusty weathering testifying to the presence of an iron sulfide mineral. The quartzite is referred to as the Clough Quartzite by Pease (1975) and Rodgers (1985).

• CTMQ – SCC: West Stafford Conservation Area (2017)