SCENIC MARSHES OF HAMPTON
An autumn visit to an old woods road, Brown Hill section of Goodwin State Forest
In this week’s Nature column, Peter Marteka visits the Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve and the Brown Hill section of James L. Goodwin State Forest in Hampton.
The Bottom Line: A peaceful hike along an old woods road through deep forests and along the edges of scenic marshes.
Difficulty Level: Easy to moderate.
Total Mileage: There are several miles of trails within the preserve and the loop around Brown Marsh is about a mile, although visitors can extend their trips through the state forest or on the Air Line Rail Trail, which cuts through the heart of Goodwin. Visit www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/education/goodwin/goodwintrailsmap.pdf for a map of the state forest.
Directions: Route 6 into Hampton. After passing the entrance to Goodwin, take a left on Old Route 6. There is a small parking area for Brown Hill on the left. Continue along Old Route 6 and take a left on Route 97 and a second left on Old Town Pound Road. The parking area for the Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve is at the end of the road.
A guided “Abandoned Road Ramble” will be held on Oct. 6 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the preserve. Visit https://thelastgreenvalley.org/explore-the-last-green-valley/walktober/ for more guided hikes within Goodwin next month.
Pet-friendly? Leash and clean up after your pets.
Each autumn, one of my favorite things to do besides leaf peeping and apple picking is checking out the schedule of events in Walktober, now in its 29th year across eastern and southeastern Connecticut. The event includes hundreds of guided walks, hikes, bike rides and paddles through early November.
I always look for a new place I’ve never been. This fall, I discovered the Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve on the eastern edges of the 2,000-acre James L. Goodwin State Forest, which led me to find Brown Hill and Brown Hill Marsh, a seemingly forgotten part of the state forest.
The Edwards Preserve is at the end of alliteration-friendly Old Town Pound Road. Visitors pass a scenic marsh ablaze with the colors of autumn. Areas around water always seem to be the first to show off the season’s splendor.
The preserve entrance is located at the end of the road and visitors can follow an old woods road that leads directly to Governor’s Island in Pine Acres Pond, a highlight of the Goodwin State Forest. Along the journey, visitors pass old stone walls lined with ferns and cross a stone bridge before connecting to Goodwin’s red trail to the island. The trail crosses swaths of huge rocks to a tombolo — a spit of land that connects to Governor’s Island.
Visitors can also take a trail from the preserve’s trailhead marked with yellow and white blazes down to the Brown Hill section of Goodwin. The trail is an easy jaunt through the woods past an old hulking Ford F-350 rusting in the forest. Each time I see an abandoned vehicle in the woods I can’t help but try and imagine its backstory. The trail emerges on Cedar Swamp Road and visitors can connect to the trail system around Brown Hill Swamp.
A mile-long trail marked with yellow blazes loops around the edges of the scenic marsh, its banks lined with huge white pines. Water lilies float on the surface of the water and stumps of a former forest stick out of the depths like stubble.
The trail emerges from the forest and travels along an earthen dam on the southern shores of the marsh. There are information boards that showcase the marsh’s ecosystem and an overlook that provides a panoramic view of the marsh in all its autumn splendor.