Ledyard — Norwich couple Brynn Dougherty and Ben Meadows recently took their 21-month-old son, Landon, on a hike on the Tri Town Trail for the second time in a month.

“He is a ball of energy, and we like hiking, so we wanted to get him started on hiking,” said Dougherty. “This is a great place to do it.”

The family is hiking more of the trail each time they go, and this past Saturday reached for the first time a bridge over Joe Clark Brook, where they took in the scenery of the water amid the wooded area.

They are among the hikers enjoying the trail in the spring weather after it re-opened earlier this month following a months-long project.

“Everybody is so excited and so happy and out there enjoying it,” said Tri Town Trail Association President Karen Parkinson.

The trail temporarily closed last fall so Eversource could complete upgrades to its electric transmission system in Preston and Ledyard, said Eversource Spokesman Mitch Gross. The work was completed at the end of March, though Eversource may do “touch up” work through the end of the year. Tri Town Trail Association volunteers also plan to install more signage.

Eversource plans to install two gravel parking lots along Colonel Ledyard Highway as a goodwill gesture to Ledyard with one next to the town garage and the other across from Preston Community Park, Gross said.

Working toward a vision

The 2008 master plan for the Tri Town Trail calls for an approximately 14-mile trail in Preston, Ledyard and Groton that extends from the Preston Community Park area down to the existing trails at Bluff Point State Park in Groton. After working on grants, approvals and permits, volunteers began blazing a trail in 2019.

A 4.1-mile loop is in place at the northern end and includes the existing trail system at Bluff Point on the southern end, so the association is working toward filling in the rest of the trail, which will require working with landowners, according to the association. While the master plan calls for 14 miles, the association is exploring other options that might make the trail longer but might make for a quicker route, said the association’s social media coordinator Stephen Edwards.

Part of the original vision for the trail is to enhance the quality of life for residents in all three towns and connect the multiple economic centers, residential areas, parks and schools, said Kevin DiFilippo, the association’s vice president for Ledyard, whose father-in-law David Holdridge proposed the idea for the trail.

The idea is to connect the southeastern Connecticut communities to each other through a trail network and provide free outdoor resources for the public to enjoy nature, Edwards said. He and his wife Peggy, the Tri Town Trail Association board’s treasurer, are trail runners who volunteer with the association.

The town of Ledyard recently received a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection grant to design the extension of the trail from the top of Clark Farm to Route 214. The next steps will be to engage property owners about easements and write a grant for the construction of the trail segment, said Parkinson.

The Tri Town Trail Association envisions the trail as a part of a “spider web” connecting to trail systems in southeastern Connecticut, Parkinson said. The association has been talking with Groton Utilities to see whether the utility will allow shared access to some of its watershed properties in Ledyard and Groton for continuation of the trail.

City of Groton Mayor Keith Hedrick, the chairman of the Groton Utilities Commission, said the Tri Town Trail Association and Groton Utilities have been discussing what the association is looking for and what impact it would have on the watershed area. He said Groton Utilities conducted a study with protection of the water being the commissioners’ main concern. Groton Utilities Commission discussed the Tri Town Trail at its meeting Wednesday, but deferred any vote until its next meeting May 17.

The association said it has been making progress since a ceremony last year in Groton to celebrate the designation of the Groton Cross Town Greenway, an east-west greenway, and Tri Town Trail Greenway, said Tom Olson, the association’s Groton Vice President.

An old homestead with foundations and a well have been discovered on the upper ridges of the Clark Farm in Ledyard, and the association is working with the town’s historic district commission to get it preserved, Parkinson said.

Parkinson also said with the influx of Electric Boat workers expected to come to the region that it’s important to complete the trail because families want to be outside and have trails for recreation.

She said people of all ages use the trail, and the number of hikers has increased since people started heading outdoors after the pandemic.

“We really see it as helping people stay healthy and helping people understand how important it is to protect the environment, getting people outside walking,” Parkinson said.

More information is available at https://www.facebook.com/TriTownTrail/ and https://www.tritowntrail.com/.

k.drelich@theday.com