Preston - Hull Forest Products and the Preston Redevelopment Agency will lead a Walktober walking tour of the forest management area at the former Norwich Hospital property Saturday, at 10 a.m.

The 2-mile tour is expected to take two hours, including stops for discussions. Participants should wear good walking or hiking shoes. Dogs are allowed and the terrain is moderate, with some hill climbs.

The PRA hired Hull Forest Products of Pomfret last fall to cull the "the poorest one-third" of trees, forester Chris Casadei said. The company's management fee comes out of the lumber sold, and the remaining revenue is added to the PRA's funds for the cleanup of the former hospital property.

The tour will start at the reservoir pond down a service road leading from the main driveway of Southeast Area Transit on Route 12. Participants will walk between two large piles of lumber to a makeshift wooden bridge Hull Forest Products erected across a wet dip in the terrain. The bridge is strong enough to bear subcontractor Lighthouse Logging's heaviest machinery loaded with 2,000 linear feet of logs.

Participants on the tour will see more than trees and lumber. The walk will include views of two scenic ponds on the property and if the logging crew clears a path in time, walkers will reach an old trolley line that crossed over the hill into Norwich.

After climbing a steep hills, walkers will find a wreath of bright red, white and blue silk flowers placed on the rusted landing gear of a Navy fighter plane.

Exactly 69 years ago from Saturday, two Navy Hellcat fighter planes collided over Laurel Hill and crashed in the Norwich Hospital woods. PRA member Frank Ennis said the debris field covered about a 2-acre area in the woods, and signs of it are visible still.

Downed trees show the charred scars of the fire caused by the crash. There is a laminated one-page write-up describing the Oct. 19, 1944 crash tacked to a tree near the landing gear debris.

"Please respect this site and the men who died here," the bottom of the page reads.

Casadei and Ennis do not know who hung the wreath, but they acknowledge that someone still cares about the site to keep it a memorial. Casadei will offer more information about the crash during the tour.

A short distance from the wreckage site, walkers will come to the edge of a steep cliff facing south, the Thames River and Montville visible in the distance. Casadei plans to clear a better path through the freshly cut branches that now cover the forest floor in the recently cut area.

C.BESSETTE@THEDAY.COM