Coonamessett Reservation

I'm combining my Thursday walks in area conservation lands from 2/11 & 2/18. On February 11th I snowshoed through the Brae Burn Farms parcel, which is a 28 acre parcel abutting the larger Coonamessett Reservation (CR). My goal was to snowshoe into the CR to a spot where there is a bench in the woods where I would use one of my backpacking stoves to make coffee and oatmeal.

Parking is available for both parcels along Ranch Road in Hatchville.

Coonamessett Reservation was purchased by the town back in 1986. The 212 acres of land was threatened by development, and had the town not purchased it, over 200 homes would have been built forever changing the character of the area. I've included links above to The 300 Committee Land Trust's website for property description.

 The only trail on Brae Burn. This is an old power line easement. The power lines were moved around the late 80s and run alongside the highway that boarders the parcel to the north.

 My mode of transportation for the day.

 One of many trees swallow/bluebird houses at Coonamessett Reservation. I will likely spend time again this spring cleaning out and repairing the boxes.

 Last spring, a kestrel box was added.

The field pictured above has undergone a lot of changes in the 30+ years I've been here. Decades before this area was part of a resort and known as the polo field. For a brief period in the 80s it was a golf driving range. After the town purchased it, it was left to regenerate. It began to be overgrown with invasive shrubs such as autumn olive. A volunteer effort a number of years ago was undertaken and many of the shrubs were removed, even using teams of horses to rip out the roots.
It is reverting to a sandplain grassland which is becoming a rare habitat. Further efforts may take place this spring to remove more trees and have controlled burns. Fire is key to helping the grasslands growing and free of shrubs.
 

 On the east side of Ranch Road are trails through a mostly oak woodland. It is here where I intended to have coffee and my oatmeal, but I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to snowshoe out to it, so I had to turn around and head home before it got too late as I had to be to work that afternoon.

My gear for the day.

A week later, on the 18th I returned to the woods and made it to the bench. In the week between the hikes we had amazingly warm weather and rain, which took away much of the snow cover.

My snowshoe tracks from the prior week. I was fascinated how they did not completely melt away. I imagine because I compacted the snow, the sun and rain could not penetrate it as easily.

I hiked in on a green marked trail, also known as the Keith Smith trail. I don't have handy the information on who Keith Smith was, but one of the trails in this system is named for him.

 Bench overlooking Little Jenkins Pond, which is just that. Little.

 Heating water in the GSI Minimalist over my ultralight Esbit stove.
It took about 15 minutes to get 16 ounces of water to a near boil. I imagine this would be a bit faster in warmer weather. It's a great system for going lightweight.

 I had enough water for a Starbuck's Via coffee and a double helping of oatmeal.

Not much snow left in the woods.

I had enjoyable walk both days and am happy I went back to have breakfast in the woods.