Groff Park

So I have driven by this little park many times over the past few months. I even drove in the parking lot and looked around through the truck window one cold winter day. A nice little neighborhood park but nothing special for someone who doesn't have little children, or so I thought. I recently learned there is an interpretive trail here. So I headed back after work today, still not really expecting much. It turned out to be a great little trail full of surprises.

According to the sign at the trailhead at Groff Park the Emily Dickinson Trail was built by the members of the American Society of Civil Engineers. It generally followed the Fort River upstream for 0.9 miles until it hooks up with the Norwottuck Rail Trail.

The trail started out a little rough. There were no guides in the trail box, most of the posts were either missing or their numbers were vandalized and the trail was obviously not being maintained. It was muddy in a few places causing the treadway to widen, the wooden stairs have seen better days and one of the bog bridges was unstable. But there were nice areas with sandy places along the river and sun-dappled hemlocks next to the trail.

There is also evidence of a busy beaver in the area. He has been working hard trying to build a damn across the river and I'm sure he would succeed if not for human interference. Mr. Beaver did leave an interesting pattern on this tree trunk though.

Then the trail opened up into field. The scenery was again surprising. Not what I expected to find behind the swingset. The trail winds through these fields for awhile before joining up with river bank again.

Next the trail followed a rusty barbed wire fence bordering a field on one side and the river on the other. Unfortunately the land owner felt the need to use this area as his dumping ground. The river bank had collapsed and was being shored up with rip rap and bales of hay.

I came across a wooden bench next with one of the largest Oriental Bittersweet vines I have seen in this area. It had wound itself around a tree and literally snapped it in half. The old railroad bridge which is now the Norwottuck Rail Trail came into sight next which is where this trail ends. More information and pictures of this vine in my Oriental Bittersweet Primer post.