Past Events
New Year’s Day 2024 Hike with a Lyme Land Trust Board Member
Time: Various times
Place: 2 different locations in Lyme
Contact Email: education@lymelandtrust.org
Start 2024 off with a refreshing hike in the Lyme woods. The Lyme Land Trust is offering two walks this year. Register with the walk leader for the time and location you prefer. Space is limited. You may sign up for more than one walk if space and time permits.
- 10:00 am to 12:30ish pm: Pleasant Valley Preserve with Tony Irving. Notice glacial geology and its effect on colonial agricultural practices on a moderate 3.5-mile walk with a long gentle incline to a spectacular overlook. Meet at pull-in parking lot, Macintosh Rd, Lyme, about 1/4 mile west of the intersection of Macintosh road and Rte 156.
Register: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com - 1:30 to 3:30ish pm: Selden Creek Preserve with Wendy Hill: Hike to beautiful overlook vistas of Selden Creek and surrounding marshlands. White to orange to blue and back. a moderately easy 2 plus miles. Meet at Selden Creek Preserve parking lot on the west side of Joshuatown Road, about 4 miles north of the intersection of Joshuatown Road and Rte. 156, Lyme.
Register: openspace@townlyme.org
For more information about the preserves and directions. Walks are moderate to moderately easy unless noted. Everyone is welcome. End times are approximate. Allow extra time. Bring a bottle of water. Inclement weather cancels. Check for updates on the LLT website.
FULL – Winter Solstice Luminary Walk along Roaring Brook
Time: 4:00-5:30 pm
Place: Banningwood Preserve. 19 Town St., Lyme CT
Contact Email: regan@reganstacey.com
Celebrate the Winter Solstice with a Luminary Walk along Roaring Brook. Renew your connection with yourself and the Earth as we tap into nature’s rhythms and the four elements of earth, fire, water, and air on a guided meditative walk. A small closing ceremony will take place at the water’s edge as we then prepare for our return walk along the illuminated path. A restorative time of year, the winter solstice marks a solar turning point, where the darkest day turns the corner to renewed light and we welcome the season of winter—a rebirth of the sun.
Registration: FREE (donations to support Regan‘s offerings to the community are welcome)
Please register here.
Regan Stacey is an artist and environmentalist whose passion is to reconnect humans to nature for the betterment of themselves, their communities, and our beautiful planet, Earth. Through her private practice, she offers forest bathing walks, spiritual life coaching, and mindfulness training. She is also co-founder of The Forest Therapy School, training forest therapy guides to share this work around the world. Find out more about her work at reganstacey.com
Tuesday Trek: Saunders Preserve in East Haddam
Date: Tue December 19, 2023Time: 9:30 am
Place: Sanders Preserve, Honey Hill Rd, East Haddam
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Presenter: Wendy Hill
Saunders Preserve lies atop both the Pattaconk Brook Fault and the Honey Hill Fault, revealing geology in the northern half of the preserve that is fundamentally different from that in the southern half. We will walk about 2 miles, mostly moderate with a few rocky inclines.
The 69.5 acre preserve was acquired by East Haddam Land Trust in 2023 from the family of John and Diana Saunders, longtime East Haddam residents who wished to see the land preserved in perpetuity.
Directions: Follow Rte 82 onto Honey Hill Road. At the first three-way intersection, stay on the center road. Then take a left at the next intersection. It is 1.5 miles from the intersection of Rte 82 and Honey Hill Rd. The parking lot is on the right.
Contact: openspace@townlyme.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Tree Collective- Teen Hike and Steward Group Meet-up
Time: 1:00-3:30 pm
Place: Register to learn location
Contact Email: reganstacey@gmail.com
The Tree Collective is a program designed to engage young conservationists ages 14-18 in outdoor fun and education while working to maintain trails in our beautiful town of Lyme, CT. It is sponsored by the Lyme Land Trust under the leadership of environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey. Each time we meet, we offer a different topic, often with a hike and trail work in a selected preserve.
Tools and gloves provided.
Registration required: reganstacey@gmail.com.
Click on flyer to enlarge.
Lymes’ Senior Center Take-A-Walk Wednesday with Wendy
Time: 9:30 am -11:30ish pm
Place: Hartman Park Goodwin Trail Head Parking, Gungy Rd. Lyme
Contact Email: sgould@oldlyme-ct.gov
Darling Road Preserve – We will walk along a portion of the Goodwin Trail and visit a giant ancient oak tree. About 2.5 mikes.
Directions: Meet at Hartman Park Goodwin Trailhead Parking, Gungy Road, Lyme about 2 miles north of the intersection of Beaver Brook, Grassy Hill and Gungy Rd. For a map: Hartman Park
Reservations are required. Please email sgould@oldlyme-ct.gov or call 860-434-4127 to reserve your spot. Free to Lyme’s Senior Center members. $5 for non-members.
On the 2nd Wednesday of each month the group will get together at various hiking areas in Lyme and Old Lyme. Hikes will be led by Wendy Hill, Open Space Coordinator of Lyme and the Vice President of Lyme Land Trust. The walks are moderately easy, unless otherwise noted. The trails are dirt paths and may have uneven footing with roots and small rocks. There will be moderate inclines. Wear sturdy footwear and bring a hiking stick or pole if you would like. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather. Everyone welcome. Inclement weather cancels the hike.
Sponsored by the Lymes’ Senior Center.
Special Meteor Observing Session
Time: 7:30 - 9:00pm
Place: Trail 53 Observatory
Contact Email: astronomy@lymelandtrust.org
The Geminids peak the next two nights, and we have a clear sky with no moon. It will be FREEZING out and meteor observing means sit in a chair, so… bundle up, and bring a chair. I will also place an object or two in the observatory telescope, too, to observe one or more planets and other objects of interest.
Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.
For more information and to register: Astronomy Events
Tuesday Trek: Selden Creek Preserve
Date: Tue December 12, 2023Time: 9:00 am
Place: Selden Creek Preserve
Contact Email: ryan.p.quinn@gmail.com
Presenter: Ryan Quinn
Winter is here. Bundle up for a 2-mile trek to explore this preserve during the quiet time of the year. Meet at the parking lot and entrance on Joshuatown Rd.
Contact: ryan.p.quinn@gmail.com
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Astronomy Observing Session
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Place: Trail 53 Observatory
Contact Email: astronomy@lymelandtrust.org
Young or old, experienced, or totally unfamiliar, we look forward to exposing you to our uniquely dark skies here in Lyme. We have several different telescopes that are on display including a 14″ Schmidt-Cassegrain housed in a permanent observatory.
Registration required. Upon registration you will receive a link to directions and observing session guidelines.
For more information and to register: Astronomy Events
Tuesday Trek: Thach Preserve
Date: Tue December 5, 2023Time: 9:00 am
Place: Mt. Archer Woods
Contact Email: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
Presenter: Tony Irving
This gem of a preserve contains a variety of vibrant natural habitats in a 1-mile round trip walk over a rocky prominence to an active beaver pond that attracts an abundance of wildlife.
Contact: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
FULL – Ceremonial Stonework Walk with Markham Starr
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
Place: Upper Three Mile River Preserve, 106 Four Mile River Road, Old Lyme
Contact Email: education@lymelandtrust.org
This walk is full. Email education@lymelandtrust.org to be put on the wait list.
Join us for a walk in Upper Three Mile River Preserve in Old Lyme to see ceremonial stonework left behind by the indigenous population that has inhabited New England for at least 12,000 years. Documentary photographer Markham Starr will lead the walk. The walk brings us along high, craggy ledges and broad hilltops with a few steep climbs. Some of it is off-trail. Wear sturdy footwear and bring a walking stick for stability. Bring your own bottle of water or beverage.
Space is limited. Registration required.
Parking is along Four Mile River Road at the preserve entrance, which is across the road from the Old Lyme Transfer Station.
Native Americans built several distinct types of structures in our area, ranging from cairns to stone serpent effigies, and these spiritual offerings remain standing in now long abandoned woods. While Native American stonework is widely recognized out west and to the south, New England’s stonework remains obscure, having blended back into the woods. We will walk about two miles.
Markham Starr is a documentary photographer concerned with the disappearing working cultures of New England. He is the author of a dozen books, providing glimpses into the lives of people such as commercial fishermen, farmers, and cannery workers, and has written about other subjects such as historic barns in Connecticut. His work has appeared in national magazines and is part of the permanent collection at the Library of Congress and other museums throughout New England.
