Branford

◂︎ Mandy & Lexi's Connecticut Adventures

Branford

Branford Trail

(including the Stony Creek Partnership, Washburn Preserve, Weil Preserve, and Jarvis Creek Farm Preserve)

Dates visited: 6/16/2021 & 11/26/2022

After our first visit here in June of 2021, this became my favorite wooded trail in the state. At that time, there was no signage or anything at the parking area off of Route 146. We followed the map on All-Trails, which simply called this "Branford Trail". In actually, a segment of the Branford Trail runs through this property, or should I say "properties". When I got home I consulted Google to learn more about this great spot. Most of this area is managed by Branford Land Trust. The trail connects the Stony Creek Partnership with the Washburn Preserve and Weil Property. It starts off as a pretty standard trail climbing a small hill at the beginning, before reaching a clearing directly adjacent to a corn field. The trail runs between the corn field and the railroad tracks, before going through a tunnel underneath the tracks. There's a half mile loop that goes through the "Stony Creek Partnership" land. This loop has some nice views of the marsh, partially blocked by the foliage. This might be one of the rare ocassions that the view is better in the off-season with less leaves on the tree. The second part of the trail goes out to the Washburn Preserve and Weil Properties. There are some cool bridges that connect the trails. There are great views of the sound, out to the Thimble Islands. There are also Osprey nests, and I managed a couple nice shots of one of the Osprey's after she caught her dinner. The weather was perfect, mid 70's and sunny.

More Images From June 2021

Fast forward, about a year and a half later. We returned here, actually hiking with family visiting for Thanksgiving. It seems that the property near the parking area at the start of the hike, including the farm, and up to the railroad tracks is now called "Jarvis Creek Farm Preserve". There is a banner sign at the trail head now with that name. It was recently purchased by the Branford Land Trust, which owns and maintains the other connected preserves here. The trail is still great, even with the lack of foliage on the trees. We pretty much hiked the same route as last time, but added on another connected loop on the Weil Property portion of the trail. This was more of a standard hike in the woods, but the trail passed by a mysterious domed structure with glass walls. There are "No Tresspassing" signs, so we observed the structure from the trail without getting that close. We could see through the glass wall that there appeared to be an elevator. I can only imagine what kind of secret base is located here under this structure. It honestly looks like something from a science fiction movie. Does someone live here? Is there a whole underground secret control center? What does it control? The domed building has made my imagination run wild!

More Images From November 2022

Young Park

Date visited: 10/22/2021

This is another great spot in Branford. I didn't expect to be greeted getting out of the car by a Keeshound. Evidently, the large grassy field area is a popular spot where dog's can play unleashed. So it's basically a big dog park. We walked the trail first, before the dogs played at the park. The trail was very nice too. I love the pictures of the dogs in the chimney ruins. The foliage wasn't quite peak here but it was still very nice. After the hike, I let the dogs run in the park.

More Images

Branford Supply Ponds

Dates visited: 10/22/2021 & 7/1/2023

This is a very popular hiking area in Branford. It's another dog friendly spot, where dogs are allowed off-leash. Mandy and Lexi stayed on leash for the hike. We hiked the green blazed loop around one of the ponds.

More Images

The next time we were here, we hiked a completely different trail. This was mostly the red blazed loop trail, though we hiked on the white blaze one at the beginning. This trail was more difficult than the green one from our first visit. There are some steep hills and some rocky and rooty portions. After finishing the loop, we also took the trail on the peninsula that jets out into one of the ponds. I actually chose this place because Branford had slightly better air quality than the rest of the area. I'm getting tired of the Canadian wildfire smoke!

More Images

Trolley Trail

Date visited: 9/8/2020

This is a short trail that follows an old trolley line, that offers some nice views of the shoreline.

More Images

Stony Creek Quarry Trail

Date visited: 12/5/2021

Branford has some great trails...this is another one! This was a fun one! The pictures below don't do it justice. The trail features a wide variety of rock formations, rock walls, rock scrambles.... well, you get the idea, lots of rocks! It required some care, because the trail would sometimes go right over the rock formations. We walked the two mile loop described in the All-Trails app as "White Circle, Red and Green Loop." There are a whole network of trails in this area, that connect to nearby trails including the most excellent Branford Trail. Some of it is on town land, other sections are on various land trusts. Some cross the town line into Guilford. We will have to come back and explore more of them one day.

More Images

Beacon Hill

Date visited: 6/4/2022

It was Trails Day 2022. Over 100 Connecticut Towns had organized Trails Day events this year, but we just did our own thing and came here. The section of the trail past the railroad tracks is really nice. It reminds me of the most excellent Branford Trail we hiked last June, but not quite as nice. We climbed a hill that had a nice scenic view at the top that was pretty cool too. The rest of the trail was pretty much an ordinary walk in the woods.

More Images

Short Beach Nature Preserve

Date visited: 6/4/2022

Despite the name of the place, there is no beach here. In fairness, I knew that going in, but this place was disappointing. We hiked the All-Trails path, which actually includes two loops that are connected together. The larger loop was overgrown and muddy, and not well marked. We took wrong turns a number of times and a lot of backtracking. The path was supposed to be about 2 miles, but we wound up hiking a half mile extra looking for the right way to go. I had to carry the dogs over muddy spots a few times. Up to this point, all my visits to Branford have been great. But this place can certainly be skipped.

Stony Creek

Date visited: 12/6/2024

We are at the point where we are making up our own adventures now. This was a 3.5 mile walk through the Stony Creek village of Branford. There are two small parks in the village. We parked on the street near Madeira Park. This park features nice views of the Thimble Islands. There is a very small beach located here. The sign with the beach rules states: "No animals are allowed to roam on the beach". I'm guessing that means that means animals are allowed as long as they are not loose, but the sign oddly worded. It was barely 35 degrees, so Mandy and Lexi were not going in the water anyway. The other park, Bayview Park, is across the street and features a playground, a pavilion, picnic tables and some benches. We walked through the neighborhood as well. Besides being mostly residential, there are some shops, a small marina, a theater, and a museum along Thimble Island Road. There is access to the Trolley Trail from here, as well as the Branford Trail, one of my favorite hikes in the state. We didn't visit either trail this time around, since we've already been to both before when the weather was nicer.