Devil’s Den Preserve, Fairfield County, Connecticut

This was my second trip to Devil’s Den, so for a better write-up of the park and its history, see my post for the first trip.

We began the hike along the Pent Trail and Saugatuck Trail. I didn’t take detailed notes of where I took each photo, and for the most part they are not so distinctive, anyway.

Here I found a few large rocks with some nice texture:

The preserve isn’t completely flat, but at most one would say that it has a few hills.

A low stone wall probably attests to farming activity two centuries ago:

There are a number of streams in the park:

I didn’t realize it at the time I shot this photograph, but the new leaf at upper left is boring a hole through a dead leaf:

Some areas were verdant while others seemed to be slow in welcoming the Spring:

Pond:

I had intended to take the Ambler Trail clockwise through Ambler Gorge and to Den Trail, but missed the turn onto the Ambler Trail. Here’s another stone wall:

We still got to see Ambler Gorge, but just approached it by going counterclockwise on Ambler Trail from Den Trail:

There were a couple of vistas from the Ambler Trail, looking toward the northwest. Here is one:

We then turned onto the Donahue Trail.

My friends at GardenWeb (now Houzz.com) tell me that these beautiful pleated leaves belong to American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana).

This fallen tree would be spooky at night:

We returned to the Den Trail and then headed back to the car. (We had a late start for this hike, and also I had clumsily jammed a toe that morning in our apartment, so I was only up for hiking a few miles.) Here’s a closing view:

Devil’s Den doesn’t offer spectacular vistas or steep climbs, but is still a beautiful place to visit.