Scenic New “Sandy Brook Trail” in Colebrook

The Rockwell Trail, though slightly less than a half mile long and easy to hike, provides rewards that you might expect from a much longer trail. This land has been used for only three purposes since the 1760s: harvesting trees for making charcoal and timber for lumber, stone quarrying and sheep raising. The last time it was lumbered was in the 1980s (timber will never be cut here again); the larger pieces of slash (woody debris) from this operation are still evident. The small trees that are trying to regenerate as a result of this timber cutting are a good example of an intermediate forest.  In a few years most of them will have died as a result of aggressive competition for the limited amount of sunlight. When a more mature forest is established much of the underbrush and small branches that litter the ground will be gone, resulting in easier walking and better views.

After the first 100 yards, the trail splits, and forms a loop.  Bear right at the split, and the first point of interest is a large white pine at the top of a small rise. This pine survived timbering because it does not contain a straight trunk, thereby yielding a small amount of usable timber in relation to the effort required to harvest it. Lumbermen refer to such trees as “wolf trees”; in this case a “wolf pine.”

A few feet behind the wolf pine, a cliff becomes visible off to the right that will continue for the next two or three hundred yards. This is the area that was quarried during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

You can still see evidence of this operation a little further along the trail that now bends to the right in the form of a rock that defied the best efforts of the quarrier to split it in half. The weathered metal objects you can see embedded in the stone are called plug and feathers; two tapered pins (feathers) are inserted into a hole drilled in the stone and the plug is pounded between them, causing the pressure to split the stone.  If the quarry man miscalculated the grain of the stone, he was unable to split the stone and the feathers and plugs remained stuck inside, as seen here.

As you gaze down upon the massive boulders at the base of the escarpment, note that some of them are covered with a short, dark-leaved fern named Common Polypody.  These ferns don’t like competition, and often blanket rock surfaces spurned by other vegetation.

There are two things to be observed about the Beech trees that are prevalent around you. Some have smooth gray bark. These are healthy specimens; the ones having bark with deep striations are dying with a disease that is killing off the Beeches just as the Chestnut blight has eliminated the American Chestnut. The other point of interest is the deep scaring around the base of several Beech trees, which was caused by Porcupines eating the bark and often results in the death of a tree if the bark is removed all the way around.

The land descends from here, and as it levels off you will see a broken tree trunk with small hemlocks growing from its upper surface. One end is five feet above the ground and looks very much like a camel’s head. As the trail passes near the left of the broken tree, close observation will reveal a virtual miniature garden of plants and mosses growing on its upper side. Several more yards bring you to a large boulder on the left side of the trail. The flat surface facing you is the result of quarrying (note the drill holes).

Shortly before rejoining the main trail, notice the stand of Striped Maples, most of which are on your left. Some of these have a circumference of two feet – giants of their species. The largest specimen in the state grows in White Memorial Reserve in Litchfield and has a girth of about 30 inches.

The Colebrook Land Conservancy asks you to please be careful when stepping over the several moss-covered logs that have been left across the trail.  Close inspection reveals them to be covered with very delicate and beautiful plant life.

The majority of trees that will be encountered along this trail include Ironwood, Rock Maple, Red Maple, Striped Maple, White Pine, Hemlock, Beech, Black Cherry, White Birch, Yellow Birch, Black Birch, Red Oak, White Ash and Basswood (you may find others).

Depending upon the season, some of the flowering plants along the trail are Trillium, Wintergreen, Indian Pipe, Sorrel, Gill-over-the-ground, Red Clover, White Baneberry (doll’s eye), Lamb’s Quarters and many varieties of mushrooms.

Check out the printed trail guides in a box at the trailhead for additional historical and botanical information.