Saturday, March 28, 2020

Granby, CT

Granby has many acres of open space.  This map from the University of Connecticut shows the open space as of 2011.  The largest owner of protected space in Granby is McLean Game Refuge (dark brown) which has miles of well-maintained trails.  The State also has a large holding with Enders State Forest.  The trails here are less well defined.  Granby Land Trust also owns a number of parcels some of which have been purchased since this map was created.  The most up-to-date map for the Land Trust is linked below.  Finally, the town owns Holcomb Farm which has hiking trails on both the east and west sides of Simsbury Road.

McLean Game Refuge (map here) - larger maps are available for a few dollars at the McLean Home gift shop in Simsbury.

Enders State Forest - there are no maps for Enders State Forest.  I divide Enders into four areas:
Enders Falls - Parking area off Route 219.  As of March 2020, this area is closed as the state finishes its work to make the area safer.  It is expected to open later this year.  Please, stay out until they have finished their work.
Pine Cone Mountain - Accessed from the Pine Cone Trail in McLean Game Refuge.  No real trails, but David Reik has a blog post and GPS track.  December 27, 2019
Enders Road - Parking area off of 219.  It can also be accessed from Legeyt Road in East Hartland.  There are large blocks at either end to prevent vehicles from traveling.  The road is broken and rutted and if you are out for a hike, there is no reason to go around these blocks and drive on the road.  The Enders Road area does not allow hunting.  Two blog posts by David Reik show his GPS tracks, but there is a lot of bushwhacking.  March 7, 2020  March 11, 2020
Fox Road - Off of Route 20.  Hunting is allowed in this area.  Again, David Reik comes through with some blog posts with GPS tracks:  February 23, 2020  February 27, 2020

Granby Land Trust - (map of the Land Trust properties and easements - turn on and off layers to see other open space owned by state and town)
GLT has been updating the trail maps of their properties using the Avenza Maps app.  Here are the ones that have been updated:
Godard Preserve
Mary Edwards Mountain Property
Holcombe Preserve
Western Barndoor Hill Preserve

The Nuckols Preserve on Simsbury Road (across from Stonewall Drive) does not have an official trail map, but does have a fairly well defined trail, at least initially.  The trail leads all the way over to Barn Door Hills Road, but the last part seems to enter private property.  See OpenStreetMap to see where the trail goes.

Town of Granby:  Holcomb Farm  (trail map)  The trails at Holcomb Farm also connect to McLean Game Refuge.

Granby has a wealth of hiking opportunities.  You can even create a long circuit hike like David Reik did on June 16, 2019.  The most southern part of this loop is in Simsbury, but the vast majority is in Granby using McLean Game Refuge and Holcomb Farm trails.  Longer routes are possible if you take trails on the eastern side of the Game Refuge that David did not use.  (I would recommend hiking in the opposite direction, starting at Holcomb Farm and hiking counter-clockwise).


No comments:

Post a Comment