Where is the Quiet Corner?

If you go by a marketer’s definition, then we’re talking about Pomfret, Woodstock, Putnam, Thompson, Eastford, Brooklyn, and Killingly. If you broaden this to include the “Last Green Valley,” then you can add Ashford, Canterbury, Chaplin, Coventry, Franklin, Griswold, Hampton, Lebanon, Lisbon, Mansfield, Norwich, Plainfield, Preston, Scotland, Sprague, Sterling, Union, Voluntown, Windham, and some towns in Massachussetts to the list. I would subtract some from that second list, but add parts of Windham and Tolland. Why can’t I take some liberties? Connecticut’s official tourism bureau certainly does by dubbing nearly the entire eastern section of the state as “Mystic Country,” a description I’m pretty sure that nobody identifies with outside of Mystic itself.

Fine. Let’s not call it the Quiet Corner. This is really about eastern Connecticut’s woodlands. Get out the map, find the green areas, and go there.

The road to Connecticut’s Audubon Center at Pomfret is lined with pine trees and it feels like you are going to be transported to Twin Peaks.

The Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret is upwards of 700 acres next to the Audubon Center. While bicycles are not allowed on the trails, the Audubon Center has a bike rack next to the building — something that is not a given in this part of the state.

I look at birds, but I’m not a birder. That feels like something to evolve into. There are over 200 species to potentially spot on the ten miles of walking trails, so getting binoculars and a field guide might be the next logical step. For now, I’m content with seeing cute yellow birds and those black ones with red on them for a change instead of shitty Blue Jays. For more guidance, there are group walks. This autumn, they have two scheduled talks about climate change. I did not spend much time in the Center, but enough to report that there is a preserved bobcat.

It’s easy to forget, from atop the hill with eight circling Red-tailed hawks in view, that this is still the same state where one can find the stale smokiness and perpetual din of the casinos or the tacky greenfield exurban sprawl taking over Ellington and East Windsor or the monument to consumption at the edge of Farmington, New Britain, Newington, and West Hartford.

Nearby Hampton offers more opportunities for birding, or just rambling through the woods. Trail Wood — which seems to go by several other names — has an artists-in-residence program. Word and visual artists can spend a week at what was the home of Edwin Way Teale, a naturalist writer and photographer whose works include a book all about living on the farm. Now, anyone can explore the 168-acre sanctuary on Kenyon Road, managed by the Audubon Center in Pomfret. There is a museum on site and various programs, from walks to a non-fiction book club to nature journaling workshops.

Neighboring Goodwin State Forest, with its 2000 acres, offers its own range of programs, which have included fungi foraging, geocaching, and taxidermy. Coming up: opossum facts.

They even host walks connecting Trail Wood to Goodwin State Forest.

Does your travel companion want consistent boundaries or naming conventions? You’re going to need to find a way to get them to loosen up when it comes to this region, where properties often blend together neatly and there are a dozen variations on what a place is called.

Goodwin State Forest trails, depending on who you ask, go for five, fourteen, fifteen, or nineteen miles. It’s possible none of those are accurate. What is more agreed on is that the loop around Pine Acres Pond (AKA Pine Acres Lake, 135 acres) is in the vicinity of three miles.This is not a strenuous hike, but there are challenges: If you worry about mosquitoes, ticks, or poison ivy, this trail offers a triple anxiety cocktail. The path, in places, is overgrown enough for the ticks and poison ivy to become a worry, but not so much that getting seriously lost becomes a threat. As you can guess from the names of area streets and features, this is swampland. I’ve had visits where the mosquitoes were relentless, and then more recently, one where the weather seemed perfect for those jerks, but they must’ve relocated. Portions of the loop trail around Pine Acres Pond are without much shade, so wear your hat and sunscreen.

When walking around this pond, you will find yourself very close to Route 6. Uncomfortably close, even. It’s loud for a few minutes, but then you move away from the highway and back into quietness. It was here that I wondered about what kind of hearing herons have, since the one I saw was at pond’s edge closest to the roar of Route 6. Maybe the fishing prospects canceled out the irritation?

Goodwin State Forest’s Forest Discovery Trail, across from the parking lot, is groomed, with interpretive signs and labels aplenty. These make nature more accessible to those who didn’t grow up in it, or who had lackluster science classes. This mini-park within the park explains the different species that will be encountered on the more rustic trails. That might sound boring, but I saw a massive frog here, and it was a nice change of pace to not be on the constant look out for poison ivy. (Note: you can also just dress appropriately and have fewer concerns about natural world nuisances.)

Beyond this is a youth group camping area, and beyond that, more trails: Air Line State Park Trail and the blue-blazed Natchaug Trail, the latter of which is nearly eighteen miles long and connects to the Nipmuck Trail, taking hikers to either Mansfield Hollow State Park or to the Massachusetts line via Bigelow Hollow State Park. If you jump on the Air Line State Park Trail, you can wind up any number of places. Seriously, check out this trail network to see how you can reach Hartford from here with almost never needing to ride on the road. It goes from Thompson to Portland, and hooks into other trails.

By the park’s entrance is where you will find the Conservation Education Center, portapotties, and a picnic pavilion. There is also a picnic table on an observation area by the boat launch. You can make a day of this, or you can move along north to a park whose name is so fun to say that you’ll be composing limericks in your head all day.

Mashamoquet Brook State Park is almost a place of silence on a weekday morning. Even Route 44 is hushed by the forest. The trail that breaks off into other trails goes up, up, up for a few minutes. Then, there are choices that narrow into smaller-than-single-file passages through the ferns. A snake suns itself in the middle of a trail. There are stonewalls. Woodpeckers. There is also the story of Israel Putnam, one of the many men whose statue can be viewed in Hartford. He’s known for various boring-to-me military exploits during his lifetime (1718-1780), and for his deed at Mortlake, a region that spanned parts of modern day Pomfret and Brooklyn. The story is that he shot the last known wolf in Connecticut. The details of this vary, but the account I find most believable involves him being assisted by several other locals who were also upset that their sheep were being taken hunted. Is it heroic to kill an animal, in its own den, for doing what it was designed to do? That would be a “nope” from me, but if that status is what preserves interesting rock formations and large swaths of forest, so be it.

There are over 900 acres, mostly woods, at Mashamoquet, with camp sites, picnic tables, a swimming hole, and the brook. Brayton Grist Mill is at the main entrance off Route 44; they have very limited hours, so if you want to do more than look at its exterior, confirm before making the trip.

Still needing the outdoors? There’s the scattered site Natchaug State Forest. One segment is adjacent to the south side of Mashamoquet Brook State Park. Another, adjacent to the north side of Goodwin State Forest. To date, NSF can be found in Pomfret, Eastford, Ashford, Chaplin, Hampton, Brooklyn, and Windham. Backpack camping is even allowed in some places.

FOOD AND DRINK: Bringing your own snacks is prudent, because who knows how long you will be roaming around. The Vanilla Bean Cafe in Pomfret has food, desserts, and beverages. There’s a little park at nearby Pomfret Station if you want to tsee art and read about history while eating your sandwich, rather than ogling bikers at Vanilla Bean. We-Lik-It in Abington and Fort Hill Farms in Thompson are a few ice cream stops. . . but hey to you people who ignore your lactose intolerance when ice cream is involved — this is a rural area and you might not find a bathroom when you need one.

TREE WARNING: Between droughts and damaging insects, Connecticut’s trees, especially Ash, have been suffering. This is sad for the trees, and we definitely are losing all the health and environment benefits by seeing such a loss. It’s also dangerous, especially on windy days. Be aware of what is overhead and take precautions.

Pictured:
1: Mansfield Hollow State Park
2, 3: Audubon Center and Bafflin Sanctuary at Pomfret
4, 5: Mashamoquet Brook State Park
6: Goodwin State Forest
7, 8: Mashamoquet Brook State Park
9: Who knows?!
10: Discovery Forest Trail in Goodwin State Forest
11: Air Lane State Park Trail in Goodwin State Forest
12: Natchaug Trail in Goodwin State Forest
13, 14: Goodwin State Forest
15, 16: Pine Acres Pond in Goodwin State Forest
17, 18: Pomfret Station
19: Brayton Grist Mill
20, 21: Mansfield Hollow State Park