Hike a New Trail, Search for Geocaches

I had the wonderful experience on Saturday of being with a great group called the Newtown Forest Association.

It is a nonprofit that maintains, marks and enjoys around 80 trails in Newtown. The Board of Directors include Bob Eckenrode, Ed Kelleher, Bart Smith, Guy Peterson, Bill Watts, Martha Wright, Brian Hennessey, Wes Gillingham, Coke Cramer, Dan Dalton, Dr. Aaron Coopersmith and Tim Gagne.

Rob Urfer, a geocache guru, made, hid and maintains the caches (treasures) on the preserve. GPS coordinates are needed to find the items.

An example of Clue  No. 1 is that you have to find it before you can LOG it. See the photos of the cache hidden in a log. It's pretty cool and fun to do.

The father-son team of Andrew and Andrew Buzzi Jr had a great morning on the trails even venturing off to the red trail for some swamp action. Lifelong Scout, Andrew, had a great time with his Boy Scout son on the trails and sharing some quality time together. They are a part of Troop No. 70 in Newtown.

The goal of NFA is to have extended outreach to neighbors of Newtown  to let them know that almost every neighborhood has a trail in it.

Yale Forestry and Environmental Sciences use the trails for studies as well.

Aaron also led a group of about 20 on the yellow trail for a little over an hour and half. The family of Bonnie, Brendan and Lydia Shugrue came with loppers for assistance in trail maintenance. There are a few pictures of Brendan helping Aaron trim dead trees and branches.

For more info, go to www.newtownforestassociation.org