Stewardship and Trail Walk at Pike Marshall Preserve in Ledyard Recap
Story and Photos by Dennis Main
Nearly a dozen people showed up to support our stewardship efforts at Pike Marshall Preserve in Ledyard on Sunday, September 29, 2024.
Beginning at the parking lot along Gallup Hill Road at the Burton Trailhead sign, we traversed down the Blue Trail (well-groomed by Ledyard Conservation Commission members and Neil Duncan beforehand with all downfalls removed.) A few errant invasives were removed along the way.
Once hitting the property’s border, we found Neil’s surveying tape shortcut to the “causeway.” Given the time limitation of the outing, we did not trim out the original pathway to the causeway (an old woods road), but we did follow its sweeping location on our way out at the end of the work session, with a fair number of deadfalls noted on it – a project for the next outing.
Roughly the first 30′ section of the causeway was pretty wet. Once past the wet section, the group spread out and cleared an initial passable walk to higher terrain on the east side of Pike Marshall. The railroad-tie “bridge” at the culvert appeared in good shape and we saw recent evidence of beaver activity adjacent to the causeway.
After the trimming work, a smaller group followed the boundary on the east side down to the thicker undergrowth behind houses along Gallup Hill Road. Any potential trail work there was left for another day, as well as the completion of a habitat study. It was noted that the apparent woods road in that vicinity led off Avalonia’s property line, so it should not be adapted as-is into any proposed trail system. Leaving Avalonia signage will be placed at that junction.
Great thanks to Patrick Flynn, Mike Marelli, David Cohen, Denise Descheneaux, Janice Harwood, James Harwood, Betsy Graham, Laurie Gorham, Barbara and Jerry Kil for a productive day!
