Lester's Porcupine Named Fluffy LbNA #69543
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Add Location| Owner: | nuggy  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jan 4, 2016 |
| Location: | Nathan Lester House |
| City: | Ledyard |
| County: | New London |
| State: | Connecticut |
| Boxes: | 2 |
| Found by: | SherlockMiles |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Dec 30, 2023 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFUF |
| Last edited: | Jan 6, 2016 |
Lester’s Fluffy #1:
We are on a search for (Helen not Nathan) Lester’s “Porcupine named Fluffy”. Starting from the Visitor’s parking lot head Northward to the trailhead. Enter the woods parallel to the Lester house gardens and follow along the trail. Fluffy use to take the flower petals off the gardens flowers and put them on his quills to make him softer – it didn’t work. The garden club didn’t appreciate it either.
The trail soon turns left and enters the woods away from the house’s gardens. A few standout pine trees in this part of the property are easily visible in the cooler months when all the leaves have fallen. Fluffy used to hide out here as he felt at home amongst the pine needles. Continue along the trail as it winds up a slight rise and through a few boulders, turning slight right. The trail should start to move parallel to the road in the distance as it passes by a big pine tree. If you look up you may see Fluffy’s old bed high in the tree. Squirrel’s in the area used to deliver acorns for fluffy to eat while he lived here. The trail leads closer to the road until veering right and coming to an intersection with another trail leading away from the road. Turn right onto the new trail.
You will soon pass over a worn down old rock wall. In the distance not far from the trail try to spot a 6 quilled tree (may also be called a 6 sister’s tree). Fluffy liked this tree too as it looked like the quills on his back. Keep following the trail as it gets closer to the tree. At the trail’s closest point to 6 quilled tree take a break by resting your back by leaning against the big tree right behind you. Your short off trail adventure begins!
While leaning against the tree, face and walk toward and past the 6 quilled tree to the rock wall in the distance. While keeping both the resting tree and the 6 quilled tree in a straight line you will come to the rock wall. You will know you are at the right location on the rock wall if you turn to face the trees and the resting tree’s trunk is directly behind and mostly blocked by the 6 quilled tree.
This is where Fluffy has hidden his journal in the rock wall. Since we didn’t find him, leave a note to say hi!
Please return contents to the container and bag and place back in its nook. Returning to the parking lot can be done by backtracking on the trails you came in on or, better yet, continue on the trail in the direction you were going and the trail should eventually intersect with another trail. Turn right and you will end up close to the Lester barn. Or even better yet, let’s go visit Fluffy’s friend Froggy at his swamp. Maybe Fluffy is there too.
Lester’s Fluffy #2:
We are visiting Froggy (of London fame) at his swamp to see if we can determine the whereabouts of Fluffy. Returning to the trail by the resting tree continue in the direction we had been travelling. Fluffy would sometimes visit his friend Froggy who lived in the nearby swamp. We will play a little frog hopscotch as we ‘jump’ over a rock wall three times in during our trip. The first time will be coming up soon. The trail will turn slightly to the right and you will see the lester barn and homestead in the distance. Continue along the trail ‘hopping’ across a rock wall again.
The trail soon turns left and arrives at the intersection G. To go to the homestead and the parking lot you would turn right here. We will be hopping the wall one more time as we go back into the woods in the opposite direction. Our travels will carry us along a short winding section of the trail until we arrive at another trailhead that will go down a steep hill to get to Froggy’s swamp. Take care when going down the hill from intersection E. Fluffy remembers Froggy’s face ‘turning more red then green’ the one time he went too fast and tumbled all the way down. Cross the rocks at the bottom of the hill and arrive at the main trail heading to Froggy’s swamp.
At Intersection F take a left and follow to a low point before you begin a gradual rise up the rock strewn trail. Fluffy and Froggy would pretend that the rocks were lily pads and see how far they could get without touching the ground. Soon the trail levels out and you will arrive at a pair of seasonal swamps.
Pass the 1st seasonal swamp (sometimes dry) to arrive at the second swamp. Listen and you might hear Froggy and his family. If you yell out for Froggy you might hear the long reply of “Whaaaaat?” Fluffy, not being a huge fan of water, would scoot up the ridge on the opposite side of the trail to get to one of his favorite trees to wait for Froggy to appear.
Pass the 1st clearing to this swamp the trail will cross a tree that has been cut in half to prevent blockage of the trail. Follow this fallen tree up the ridge to the base of the largest tree in the area. Take a look around to see if you can see Fluffy or Froggy from this vantage. If not leave him another note in this journal hidden in the base of the tree. Please return contents to the container and bag and place back in its nook. Congrats!
To return to the parking lot backtrack on the trail you followed to the swamp. Go straight at intersection F and head toward the Ledyard Oak in the distance. At intersection H turn right to go to the parking lot or left to go to the Ledyard Oak. Plenty of other great trails to explore too.
Hike length: 1-2 miles
We are on a search for (Helen not Nathan) Lester’s “Porcupine named Fluffy”. Starting from the Visitor’s parking lot head Northward to the trailhead. Enter the woods parallel to the Lester house gardens and follow along the trail. Fluffy use to take the flower petals off the gardens flowers and put them on his quills to make him softer – it didn’t work. The garden club didn’t appreciate it either.
The trail soon turns left and enters the woods away from the house’s gardens. A few standout pine trees in this part of the property are easily visible in the cooler months when all the leaves have fallen. Fluffy used to hide out here as he felt at home amongst the pine needles. Continue along the trail as it winds up a slight rise and through a few boulders, turning slight right. The trail should start to move parallel to the road in the distance as it passes by a big pine tree. If you look up you may see Fluffy’s old bed high in the tree. Squirrel’s in the area used to deliver acorns for fluffy to eat while he lived here. The trail leads closer to the road until veering right and coming to an intersection with another trail leading away from the road. Turn right onto the new trail.
You will soon pass over a worn down old rock wall. In the distance not far from the trail try to spot a 6 quilled tree (may also be called a 6 sister’s tree). Fluffy liked this tree too as it looked like the quills on his back. Keep following the trail as it gets closer to the tree. At the trail’s closest point to 6 quilled tree take a break by resting your back by leaning against the big tree right behind you. Your short off trail adventure begins!
While leaning against the tree, face and walk toward and past the 6 quilled tree to the rock wall in the distance. While keeping both the resting tree and the 6 quilled tree in a straight line you will come to the rock wall. You will know you are at the right location on the rock wall if you turn to face the trees and the resting tree’s trunk is directly behind and mostly blocked by the 6 quilled tree.
This is where Fluffy has hidden his journal in the rock wall. Since we didn’t find him, leave a note to say hi!
Please return contents to the container and bag and place back in its nook. Returning to the parking lot can be done by backtracking on the trails you came in on or, better yet, continue on the trail in the direction you were going and the trail should eventually intersect with another trail. Turn right and you will end up close to the Lester barn. Or even better yet, let’s go visit Fluffy’s friend Froggy at his swamp. Maybe Fluffy is there too.
Lester’s Fluffy #2:
We are visiting Froggy (of London fame) at his swamp to see if we can determine the whereabouts of Fluffy. Returning to the trail by the resting tree continue in the direction we had been travelling. Fluffy would sometimes visit his friend Froggy who lived in the nearby swamp. We will play a little frog hopscotch as we ‘jump’ over a rock wall three times in during our trip. The first time will be coming up soon. The trail will turn slightly to the right and you will see the lester barn and homestead in the distance. Continue along the trail ‘hopping’ across a rock wall again.
The trail soon turns left and arrives at the intersection G. To go to the homestead and the parking lot you would turn right here. We will be hopping the wall one more time as we go back into the woods in the opposite direction. Our travels will carry us along a short winding section of the trail until we arrive at another trailhead that will go down a steep hill to get to Froggy’s swamp. Take care when going down the hill from intersection E. Fluffy remembers Froggy’s face ‘turning more red then green’ the one time he went too fast and tumbled all the way down. Cross the rocks at the bottom of the hill and arrive at the main trail heading to Froggy’s swamp.
At Intersection F take a left and follow to a low point before you begin a gradual rise up the rock strewn trail. Fluffy and Froggy would pretend that the rocks were lily pads and see how far they could get without touching the ground. Soon the trail levels out and you will arrive at a pair of seasonal swamps.
Pass the 1st seasonal swamp (sometimes dry) to arrive at the second swamp. Listen and you might hear Froggy and his family. If you yell out for Froggy you might hear the long reply of “Whaaaaat?” Fluffy, not being a huge fan of water, would scoot up the ridge on the opposite side of the trail to get to one of his favorite trees to wait for Froggy to appear.
Pass the 1st clearing to this swamp the trail will cross a tree that has been cut in half to prevent blockage of the trail. Follow this fallen tree up the ridge to the base of the largest tree in the area. Take a look around to see if you can see Fluffy or Froggy from this vantage. If not leave him another note in this journal hidden in the base of the tree. Please return contents to the container and bag and place back in its nook. Congrats!
To return to the parking lot backtrack on the trail you followed to the swamp. Go straight at intersection F and head toward the Ledyard Oak in the distance. At intersection H turn right to go to the parking lot or left to go to the Ledyard Oak. Plenty of other great trails to explore too.
Hike length: 1-2 miles