Dean Easement and Hatch Lot
Posted By auntie on October 5, 2019
6.1 miles; East Haddam, CT
Had this hike on my “Hikes I’d Like to Do” list forever, and just decided to go for it today. Glad I did… It’s a very nice property.
Cool signage
This is actually a combination of two properties. Imma just let the Town of East Haddam take it from here:
The 280-acre Dean property has a Conservation Easement with the Town of East Haddam. The easement was acquired with the assistance of a grant from the State of Connecticut. It is one of the few remaining working farms in the town. The acreage includes 70 acres of active farmland, producing hay for the farm’s beef cattle, as well as additional acreage of useable agricultural land. The remaining land is forest. The property has over two miles of woodland trails open to public use. This beautiful property connects to the Hatch Lot and a planned trail will connect to the Harris Property. The trails are maintained by the East Haddam Conservation Commission.
Some more detailed signage
This place is very well-marked.
Young Ganoderma
This is a very young specimen of Hemlock Varnish Shelf, a polypore mushroom. It has similar medicinal properties to the Reishi fungus of Chinese medicine.
Pretty Red
Still not a lot of color in the woods here, even tho we’re at the beginning of October. But this little branch was nice…
The Farm
Getting a glimpse of the working farm from the trail here. Don’t know what that big ol’ tower is, tho.
No, really???
Sign here seems a little unnecessary.
Overlook
No real sign of the promised views of Connecticut River and Long Island Sound from the overlook area here, although to be fair, the pdf file (linked, below) does say “…can have phenomenal views of the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound.” CAN have. Not today, apparently.
You can find out more about both of these properties from these two websites (trail maps are linked pdf files on these pages): Dean Easement and Hatch Lot. As always, click the image above for details about this hike and to download the gps track.
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