Past Events
Tuesday Trek: Banningwood Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Chestnut Hill Preserve, Sterling Hill Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: stewardship@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Sue Cope
Meet at Banningwood Preserve parking lot off Town Street for a moderate 1.5 mile walk that takes you through woodland wetlands, flood plain areas, fields, and upland forest.
To reserve a space: stewardship@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Space is limited to 5 people. Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Please be safe- wear a mask in the parking lot. Masks can be removed during the walk as long as social distancing is maintained.
Inclement weather cancels.
Sacred Earth Celebration | Winter Solstice Luminary Walk
Time: 4:00 pm
Place: Banningwood Preserve. 19 Town St., Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Winter naturally invites us to slow down in rhythm with the landscape around us. This seasonal cycle of rest and reflection offers balance to our inner lives. When we are quiet and listen, we can often give ourselves what we need. 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.
Please join us for a Sacred Earth Celebration of the Winter Solstice – a rebirth of the sun, with a luminary walk along Roaring Brook to Diana’s field, where a bonfire awaits.
This walk is offered in quiet reflection with invitations to deepen your connection to nature and yourself. A small closing ceremony will take place at the bonfire as we then prepare for our return walk along the illuminated path.
Registration required. To register.
The group is limited to 10 participants. Social distancing guidelines will be followed. Please wear a mask to the parking lot meet-up.
Folding stools are available for your use or bring along your own stool or sit upon (towel, cloth or mat) for our sitting sessions. Bench seats are available at the bonfire. You may wish to bring along some water or a warm beverage. There are no restrooms at the preserve.
The walk is about 1-mile round trip over easy to moderate terrain. Map of Banningwood Preserve.
Rain cancels. Rain date: December 22.
FREE Event.
Regan Stacy is the founder of Awaken the Forest Within, an organization that offers forest bathing walks. Forest bathing is a supportive practice that invites us to slow down, open our senses, and engage with nature and ourselves as we take in the restorative health benefits of being in the forest. These benefits include lowered stress, blood pressure, and heart rate, increased creativity and focus, and a boost to our immune system. Leave calm and refreshed for the day ahead.
Observe Jupiter and Saturn Almost Merge Into One Big Star for the First Time in 800 years
Time: 3:45-5:00 pm
Place: 106 Tantumorantum Road in Lyme
Contact Email: alan.sheiness@icloud.com
Observe the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn as they nearly merge into one. Their absolute closest approach to each other will actually be the next evening, 12/21, however the closure rate is very slow and we will be afforded a great view on Sunday night 12/20. Learn about how conjunctions occur, and then at dusk we will observe the two planets and some of their moons in a telescope. Time permitting, we will observe the first quarter moon through a telescope, too.
For more information about the Great Conjunction. Jupiter and Saturn Will Appear as One Big Star on Dec. 21 for the First Time in 800 years
Registration required: Limit 10 people
To Register, please email Alan Sheiness – alan.sheiness@icloud.com
Walk with Joe Standart, Photographer–Imagining Lyme
Time: 3:00-4:30
Place: Hartman Park, Main Entrance parking lot, Gungy Rd. Lyme. Changed from Thach preserve
Contact Email: Kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
The location of this walk has been changed to Hartman Park. The parking lot is plowed. Wear snow boots or snowshoes. You are invited to a walk guided by photographer Joe Standart, to experience light before and after the sun sets. As we explore, Joe will give insight into his creative process for expressing an artistic vision in photography. Joe is an internationally recognized award-winning photographer and a Lyme Land Trust board member.
The walk is part of the new Lyme Land Trust amateur photography program: Imagining Lyme – A Visual Exploration of Lyme’s Preserves, which encourages people to expand their visual awareness while highlighting the beauty of Lyme Preserves through photographs. Participants will be provided with short, simple non-technical photo-taking tips from Joe Standart. The tips suitable for anyone who wishes to enhance their nature photographs, but aimed primarily at amateur mobile phone camera users.
Reservations are required. Space is limited to 10 people including the leader. Please be safe- wear a mask when meeting in the parking lot. Social distancing guidelines will be followed.
Raindate: Sunday December 27, 3 pm.
To reserve, a space on the walk, email: Kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Tuesday Trek: Patrell Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Patrell Preserve parking lot, Baker Lane, East Haddam, CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Presenter: Wendy Hill
Part of the trail is paved and suitable for mobility-impaired nature lovers. The trail follows more than 3000 feet of frontage on the Eightmile River. The Lyme Land Trust shares this property with East Haddam. It is part of a larger East Haddam property called Chapal Farm.
Reserve a spot: openspace@townlyme.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Space is limited to 5 people. Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Please be safe- wear a mask in the parking lot. Masks can be removed during the walk as long as social distancing is maintained.
Inclement weather cancels.
Tuesday Trek: Walbridge Woodlands/Young Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Walbridge Woodlands/Young Preserve, Gungy Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: Kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Kristina White
A longer hike of over 3 miles that will take you on ridges, through laurel groves, on old wood roads, and past stone outcroppings. The Young Preserve parking lot is about 1/2 mile north of the Gungy/Beaverbrook/Grassy Hill Rd intersection.
Contact: Kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Space is limited to 5 people. Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Please be safe- wear a mask in the parking lot. Masks can be removed during the walk as long as social distancing is maintained.
Inclement weather cancels.
The Fisher in Connecticut
Time: 7:00 pm
Place: Zoom Presentation
Contact Email: programreg@lymepl.org
Presenter: The Friends of the Lyme Public Library and the Lyme Land Trust
Please join us for this fascinating program about the elusive fisher, a member of the weasel family. Its name is misleading because unlike the closely related river otter, fishers seldom eat fish. Common names are fisher cat, black cat, or pekan. An important part of a healthy ecosystem, it was mostly eradicated from Connecticut due to overhunting and habitat loss. The population has rebounded since reintroduction, and they are doing well in the entire state. Paul Colburn, a certified Master Wildlife Conservationist, will present an overview of the fisher cat habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and current research efforts. Alert and secretive, the fisher is a rewarding sight to the wildlife observer.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Lyme Library and the Land Trust. It is free and open to all, made possible with funding from the Friends of the Lyme Public Library.
Registration required: programreg@lymepl.org
When you register, you will receive an invitation to the ZOOM Program. For more information call the library at 860-434-2272.
Tuesday Trek: Roaring Brook Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Roaring Brook Preserve, Day Hill Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: stewardship@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Sue Cope
Meet at the trailhead on Day Hill Rd. ( behind the Hadlyme Public Hall). This small gem offers about a 1-mile loop through a hemlock forest down to the cooling waters of the boulder-strewn Roaring Brook and back.
Contact: stewardship@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Space is limited to 5 people. Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Please be safe- wear a mask in the parking lot. Masks can be removed during the walk as long as social distancing is maintained.
Inclement weather cancels.
Sunday after Thanksgiving Hike – Hartman Park Red Trail
Date: Sun November 29, 2020Time: 1:30 - 3:30ish pm
Place: Meet at Hartman Park Entrance Parking Lot
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Wendolyn Hill, Lyme Land Trust Board member, and Lyme Open Space Coordinator, will lead a walk on the Red Trail in Hartman Park. Work off your Thanksgiving overindulgence on this beautiful moderate trail that winds along craggy ridges strewn with boulders. The route will follow a portion of the Goodwin Trail.
The entire walk is about 3.5 miles. There are some moderate hill climbs and some rocky terrain. We will have a snack break on the bald nubble about halfway through. Bring your own water or drink.
Rain cancels.
Directions: The Hartman Park main parking lot is on Gungy Road about 1.5 miles north of the 4-way stop signs at the intersection of Beaverbrook Road, Grassy Hill Road, and Gungy Road.
Registration is required. Space is limited: openspace@townlyme.org
The Goodwin Trail, overseen by the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic Coordinating Committee, is a an extended trail system crossing four towns: East Haddam, Salem, Lyme and East Lyme. Dr. Richard H. Goodwin (1911-2007) was president of the Nature Conservancy from 1956 to 1958 and again from 1964 to 1966. The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization, was started in 1951, and Dr. Goodwin was one of its founders. Since then, it has protected 15 million acres of land in the United States and 102 million acres in 29 other countries.
Tuesday Trek: Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve
Time: 9:30 am -11 am
Place: Brockway-Hawthorne Preserve parking lot, Brush Hill Rd., Lyme CT
Contact Email: openspace@townlyme.org
Presenter: Wendy Hill
Meet at the Brush Hill Road parking lot. Beautiful stone structures, stone walls, and an old abandoned quarry offer clues to past human activity. We will walk along the old Platt Road to the Selden cemetery – about 2 miles.
Reserve a spot: openspace@townlyme.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
Join us for a refreshing morning walk on a Lyme preserve led by a board or staff member of the Lyme Land Trust. The leaders will alternate each week between Sue Cope, Wendy Hill, and Kristina White with Brady, canine guide. The walks are moderately easy unless noted. Bring a water bottle and dress for the weather.
Space is limited to 5 people. Reservations are required. Contact walk leader to reserve.
Please be safe- wear a mask in the parking lot. Masks can be removed during the walk as long as social distancing is maintained.
Inclement weather cancels.
