The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
TALKING TRAIL MAPS
Housatonic Valley Association creating comprehensive guide for hikers, visitors
>> The warmer months of the year draw many visitors to the northwest corner, and many of those visitors come to enjoy the great outdoors. State and town parks provide plenty of recreational opportunities and a section of the Appalachian Trail draws hikers from around the world. Preserves and conservation areas such as the 4,000acre White Memorial Foundation in Litchfield have their own network of trails to explore.
But if a traveler wants a comprehensive map of all those hiking trails, he or she wouldn’t have much luck finding one — until now.
Tim Abbott and Ryan Williams of the Housatonic Valley Association came before the Northwest Hills Council of Governments Thursday to offer an update on a trail map, which is not yet available to the public. The council awarded a contract for this effort to the HVA in February, according to the minutes for that meeting, choosing the group over four other bidders.
Council members were briefed on the development of the map, including a digital version.
Representatives of the HVA said they met with the land trusts and spoke with the majority of the trail owners in the council’s 21 towns in recent months to learn about the trails in the area.
“We’re adding new information daily,” said Abbott.
Data to be included in the digital version of the map, in addition to the various routes, included official parking areas, land owners and managers, descriptions of surfaces of the trails, and the sites of trailheads.
Users of the digital map will be able to click on various parts of the region to find a trail and enter an address to determine what paths are nearby, Williams said, among other features.
A photo of the trailhead will also be available, Williams said. Other relevant information, such as whether the gate to the trail is locked in the evening, will be posted.
“It’s a pretty intuitive system,” said Williams.
Abbott said some hurdles to the effort do exist — for example, strong mapping data for White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield is not available — and submitted data has been shared in a number of formats, included hand-drawn.
The Appalachian Trail and blue trail system are both included on the map, Abbott said.
Towns can veto inclusion of trails, Abbott said, if they deem it inappropriate to be included. That could include the notorious Dark Entry Forest and the ill-fated Dudley-town in Cornwall, which are off-limits to visitors in the fall, and other areas that may not be safe to visit.
The map is expected to be completed by the end of June, Abbott said.
Once the fruits of the effort are made publicly available, Abbott said, an app will be released, allowing users to pinpoint their location as they walk along the various paths, and likely provide assistance to emergency responders.
Trails were included as an element of future development when the council developed a regional transportation plan, which was approved in September 2016.