The Warren Brook easement is a pretty amazing area. Two trips through the area indicate that easement protects some very important and beautiful areas. The walking is not really “easy” but there is real beauty there. The easement also protects the watershed by protecting wetlands and the woodlands from development.
Two trips were taken on the property and they had pluses and minuses. The pluses were the beauty, the minuses were that it wasn’t easy walking……. The first trip was from 109, from the north. Starting from the road the walking was not particularly easy with brush, brambles and a bit of poison ivy thrown in. Then, because the area was heavily lumbered, there were lots of saplings growing up that make travel difficult. Some old lumber roads avoided the saplings but they tended to be wet as the land has a clay layer that makes drainage slow. Making a trail through this area will take some real effort but it may happen. The reward for going the distance is a wonderful view of the swampland. Old beaver dams and views along the lowlands. Moose, deer and coyote tracks were seen as this is a wild area. Recently, probably only a dozen or so people have gone there in the past year so the animals are not worried about humans.
A second hike from the west went down a valley that met the south end of the easement. These woods were nice and open although some areas are a bit rocky. In that valley, the easement hosts the largest yellow birch in Carrol County. It is a big tree with a huge canopy and large trunk. Must have been too difficult to get to through the rocky terrain so when the lumbering occurred, it was too difficult to get to. It still stands. To the west of the tree is a line of cliffs a hundred feet or so high that run for a quarter of a mile.
Hiking east across a side hill from the yellow birch had relatively good footing to the boundary with the Moose Mountain Greenways property. Following that boundary north, the woods were open and pleasant. Turning west at a corner post, the hike followed the south edge of a swamp with some thrashing and then some easy walking along old wood roads. This led to where Warren Brook enters the swampy area that can be kayaked or canoed to from Warren Sands. After this, the last part of the hike was all uphill, about 500 vertical feet.
A guided hike may be provided by the Wentworth Watershed Association this summer but it won’t be an “easy” hike like the one on Stamp Act. The footing is not always easy and you may get to bond with a few ticks in the process.
Trails in this area are a work in progress. A trail from the north may be possible but will require lots of work as the area was lumbered and there are lots of saplings and brambles to deal with. The trail would also have to avoid wet areas. Don’t hold your breath until this trail is built. Entering the area from the south or east has issues in that any trail will have to cross other property and permissions will have to be granted before anything can be built. The southern area tends to be more open so the trail will be easier to make but access is the problem. Again, don’t hold your breath.
A map of the area is given below so you may want to travel on your own to the area but it will be an adventure!
