Windy Hill

Ownership

Redding Land Trust

Acreage

56.8 plus easements

Entrances

Seventy Acre Road; Firetower Road (0.l mile from Old Redding Road); west side of Umpawaug Cemetery

Parking

At trailheads, limited

Trails

Tina Miller (white), 0.6 mile; The Dead End (blue), 0.8

Trail App

Tina Miller Trail
Dead End Trail

Background: This land was acquired in July 1991 as a subdivision setaside. A previous owner, Allan Gerdau, had established a network of trails here many years ago, but most of these are now lost to the subdivision.

Key Features: The Swamp Trail, running north-south, provides a key segment in Westway by forging the link between Topstone Park and the Rock Lot/Scott Preserve. From the north it is accessed on Fire Tower Road, off Old Redding Road. After a zig and a zag, The Swamp strikes out on a fairly level course between the haunch of Windy Hill and a red maple swamp that is said to be one of the largest of its kind in all of Redding. At its southern terminus, the trail emerges at Seventy Acre Road. A 0.2-mile walk west on Seventy Acre Road brings one to the trailhead of the Rock lot. The Dead End, following blue blazes, strikes east from The Swamp Trail, across the powerline and Cemetery Brook to Umpawaug Cemetery. Stretches along the way are fragrant with spicebush, its small, pale yellow flowers brightening the leafless woods in earliest spring. ❧