Day Trip to The Tunxis Trail | Deon Vieira

Standing on top of Mount Spur overlooking Lake McDonough, in Barkhamsted, Connecticut, I felt a vast appreciation of nature’s beauty in its rawest form. Stepping away from school and work to clear my mind, the chirping of birds and the humming of insects become a soothing reprieve from the daily grind. The winding path leading to this beautiful scene on the Tunxis Trail offers more than a fun weekend hike, it offers unmatched tranquility. As great oaks and swamp maples fill out, Connecticut hikers venture out from their cozy abodes, and begin to explore the natural world around them. The therapeutic sounds of spring pull me further out of my daily grind. Near the Burlington Trailhead, the frogs are particularly vocal in the swamps surrounding the mountainous terrain.

The Tunxis Trail is named after the Tunxis, a Native American tribe, who inhabited the area surrounding the Farmington River for hundreds of years. The Tunxis Trail is made up of nineteen different trails, which span northward for eighty-three miles, up to the southern border of Massachusetts. The trail has been a sanctuary for those who want to explore the great outdoors since the 1930s, when a group of six hiking enthusiasts from the Graduate Club in New Haven began blue-blazing the Tunxis Trail (leaving painted markings on trees to form a path). They established the Trails Committee of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, or as it’s known today, the CFPA. The Committee is responsible for the continued maintenance and mapping of the Tunxis Trail. For the last century, they have relied heavily on local volunteers to help preserve over 825 miles of trail across ninety-six Connecticut towns. 

One such volunteer is Tom Burkholder. Burkholder is a chemistry professor at Central Connecticut State University with a passion for hiking. During an interview at Hilltop Café on the New Britain campus, Tom shared why hiking holds a special place in his heart. “I like being outside all year long. I like being in the woods. I really like leading groups of people, because I find that fun.” He got into volunteering after a rather comical experience while on a hike. “I walked through some guy’s backyard, and he yells at me, and that’s how I got into contact with Dan Casey.” In the mid-1980s, Dan Casey took over blazing and maintenance of the Tunxis Trail. But Tom already knew that. “I had known Dan for years at this point, because his son, and his wife’s mother, lived right behind me. I first contacted the Burlington Land Trust because I thought maybe it was one of their properties, and they said, ‘You got to talk to Dan Casey, and here’s his email.’ So I reached out to Dan, and he immediately put me to work.” 

Tom is both a trail manager and sawyer for the CFPA, (and no, not like Tom Sawyer). “I’m a sawyer, so I use a chainsaw. I get called in when there’s something that needs [to be] chainsawed.” He is personally responsible for a section of trail, which he works hard to maintain with various pieces of equipment, all with wacky names. “Some older guys called it a swizzle stick. It has a serrated blade, so it’s not sharp on the edge, but in between the teeth, you sharpen that part so when the stem goes in, it gets cut off, [and] Loppers for cutting small branches.” 

Tom also handles administrative duties. “I also serve on the trails committee. So we approve new trail managers. We approve trails that have been suggested by another committee.” These roles are essential for environmental preservation. From cutting trails large enough for people to walk through to picking up discarded litter, without volunteers like Tom, the trail can become cluttered quickly.

The walls of foliage feel like a corridor, with branches full of leaves stretching eight feet into the air. But it takes work to get the trail to that point. Tom says keeping the corridor visible is key, so hikers don’t get lost, and so folks don’t have to be pioneers in order to enjoy it. “The corridor is four feet wide, by eight feet tall, ideally. We take anything out of that path that’s in that path. If there’s a big branch on the ground [we] pick it up, throw it off, cut it up. If there’s a bigger log, we come in and cut it up with the chainsaw.” By cutting apart fallen tree limbs, painting blazes, and digging out hillsides to make a level plane, Tom ensures that hikers will only become lost in their thoughts while hiking the trail.

Trail managers often patrol for unwelcome guests. Tom knows all too well the trouble these ‘guests’ bring. “ATV and dirt bike use is a big concern in state forests, people just ride wherever they feel like riding, and [when] they go down a hill, and they’ve got their brake on the entire way, they just tear it up the whole way down.” Not only do they disrupt trails, but the loud, un-muffled exhaust disrupts wildlife; not to mention the hazard of riding a high speed vehicle down narrow trails with hikers around every corner. Volunteers like Tom have to clean up after these destructive vehicles, and sometimes, make calls to the authorities. “We often have to get the cops involved with the dirt bikes and ATVs because there’s very few places in the state where you’re allowed to operate a motorized vehicle. Certainly none of the state parks, none of the water company land. They have their trucks that go up and do service on the dams and stuff like that. [So] they don’t have ATVs running all over the place.”

One of Tom’s main concerns is local landowners, who are surprised when hikers show up out of the blue. “I’ve seen dozens of encroachment issues with private landowners, because we’re there at their mercy. We’re there because they’re allowing us to be, and they’re well within their rights to say, ‘I don’t want hikers on my property anymore.’ Sometimes they don’t know state law.” The CFPA constantly has to deal with the appeasement of local landowners, trying to figure out the best compromise so that the trail can stay intact. The homeowners are unbothered by it, but it’s not always so easy. “Basically, if it’s a marked hiking trail, a property owner is held blameless for any accident on that piece of trail. They’re held blameless by state law, which is nice, but a lot of property owners are nervous about that kind of stuff.” Volunteers must be willing to navigate sticky situations such as these to keep the trails operational for all to enjoy.

Exiting the corridor of leaves, the weight of life is lighter on my shoulders. Even though the trail might leave hikers physically exhausted, it brings a kind of calm found nowhere else. When I experienced that feeling, I understood why volunteers like Tom are necessary. Even though my  trek was over for the day, the work Tom and others do to make the trail a serene paradise. Next time, a friend may come along to appreciate the beauty of nature and the hard work the volunteers do. 

As Tom explains, Tunxis Trail is all about community. “A lot of people use them. There are a lot of trails that people like to walk on. They walk with their kids. They walk with their dogs. A lot. They hike sections of it. All my trail buddies, we schedule hikes.” The Tunxis Trail, and nature as a whole, has a way of bringing people together, of making people step back and admire its beauty. Henry David Thoreau said it best in his essay “Walking”: “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least—and it is commonly more than that—sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.” And it is healthy. It’s not only mental clarity that draws people outdoors, it’s a chance to get healthy, to go for a run, or a walk to get the heart pumping, and the body moving. 

Tom is quick to promote an upcoming event. “[There’s] a big event in the first weekend in June, where there are 100 or more hikes in almost every town in the state.” In a world that grows more disconnected and isolating every day, hiking gives reprieve to those willing to ditch their phones for a weekend and explore the great outdoors with a few friends. “I keep wanting to do one for the faculty. I’d like to do that for the union, a union hike.” Tom is well on his way. With his expertise and personal knowledge of the Tunxis Trail, he’s ready to blaze on through, making memories with his colleagues, and fostering a sense of community. He encourages others to get outside and experience the Tunxis Trail, its historic beauty, and the natural wonder of being in the great outdoors.

Featured Image: Map of the Tunxis Trail, | Connecticut Forest and Park Association