Posted By auntie on January 3, 2015

3.9 miles; north stonington, ct

i’ve blogged about the yannatos preserve before. it’s the only hike i can do from my front door without having to drive to the trailhead, although, granted, walking safely on country roads is a chancy business at best. but since, once again, i couldn’t really motivate, i figured i’d take a quick stroll there again.

old grist mill

my route to yannatos passes by this old grist mill and its mill pond. more on that later. the mill is for sale, by the way.

yannatos is a tiny avalonia land conservancy-owned property hard by the green fall river, right in the heart of the north stonington village of clarks falls. at one time, this part of town was a bustling, water-powered hub of industry, and there were several mills here.

dam remains

you can see the remains of a dam upstream from the trailhead on the river. it’s at this point that the conservancy property ends. but i can never pass up an intriguing trail, and i figured this is my neighborhood, so i continued to follow the old woods road up into the hills.

of course, i don’t recommend you do this, as you’re likely trespassing on private property. i didn’t see any “no trespassing” signs posted, however, and there was evidence of horses passing through, as well as the fact that the roads (there was more than one) are being maintained, judging by the sawdust and piles of branches i saw. i wandered about and explored until i did, finally, come upon a “no trespassing” sign, at which point i turned around and retraced my steps.

stone bridge

the trail begins (and ends) at this cool stone slab bridge, which i know was put in place by avalonia volunteers. and you can see some big old machinery parts here, too.

once i got off the property and started to make my way home again, i did a bit more poking around the grist mill and the mill pond.

millpond dam

i have to say i was momentarily tempted to cross this dam and see what the other side was like. i got over the temptation. by this time it had started to snow, and i figured it’d be better to finish my walk dry.

i did not edit the entry for this property in the hikefinder, as most of the mileage was either on the road or on possibly (probably) private property.

Categories: Connecticut, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 2–5 miles, CT, North Stonington CT