Got out for a short, easy walk with my dad and Kalli at the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance's Chestnut Hill Education and Research Site, located at 187 Brainard Road in the town of Stephentown. For further information please refer to
www.rensselaerplateau.org/chestnut-hill. Here is a trail map, which can be found on the website or at the kiosk at the parking area.
Brainard Road is a quiet, rural, dead street with a relatively new sign and parking lot, located on the left(north) side of the road.
A loop trail, referred to as Lila Jean's Walk, begins just past the kiosk and enters a rocky, damp woods.
The trail heads up through mixed woods high up on the Rensselaer Plateau, with slight elevation gain up above 1400 feet and eventually up past 1500 feet.
In a tiny, open meadow is a memorial to Ken James, the man who donated this land.
Dogwood blossom.
A fierce wind storm blew through Friday evening, leaving wide ranging power outages and a path of destruction in its wake. At the far northeast edge of the property we came across a large area of wind damage and downed branches.
Broken tree limbs scattered about.
The trail turns and climbs up to the top of a tiny knoll, with an open canopy.
Eventually, the loop trail drops down to a long ago extension of Brainard Road, which we followed all the way back out the main road.
The last part of the walk is along Brainard Road, passing by several residences on our way back to the parking area. Total mileage is just a touch over 1 mile.
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