A Hike to Remember in American Legion State Forest

I thought of my grandfather while hiking through American Legion State Forest last Sunday. He never told me much about his service in World War Two, but I had read enough of his letters to picture tree limbs shattering above him in the Ardennes Forest. What a contrast to the peaceful canopy hanging above me that Memorial Day weekend.
You can even hear in my grandfather’s words just how unsure he was about ever getting back home: "Someday again soon maybe I shall enjoy wonderful America. It seems so far off though."
He wrote this in a V-Mail to my grandmother in February of 1945. He had been wounded twice in the Battle of the Bulge, a conflict that claimed 81,000 Americans. It’s no wonder he had such doubt.
Ironically, this public forest in Barkhamsted is modeled after places like the Ardennes. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, the first 213 acres of the forest were donated by the American Legion in 1927, just eight years after the organization was chartered. Soldiers who had served in Europe during World War One had been so impressed by the forests there that they wanted to create such a refuge here in Connecticut.
And while these soldiers of the past designated this refuge, it was one particular active soldier who inspired me to go there last week.
Two weeks ago, HBO aired a documentary called Baghdad ER. It’s a graphic film showing the challenges faced at the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq. I watched it with a friend of mine who returned from the war in October.
An experienced hiker, climber and paddler, this friend has taught me a lot about the outdoors in the several years I’ve known him, but sitting with him during this one-hour show taught me more than I ever imagined.
Between scenes of courageous doctors working to save severely wounded soldiers, he pointed out Baghdad landmarks he had become accustomed to seeing each day. He even recognized one soldier’s face. This friend helped make a very distant war into a very local one, and moved me to find a way to reflect on those Americans who have sacrificed themselves.
While reading up on the forest that has since grown to 782 acres, I found an article on the American Legion’s web site called "Take Back Memorial Day" by Christopher Michel. The former Naval Flight Officer writes of his concern that the holiday’s "quiet reverence has slowly been lost to the noise of commerce and the American pursuit of recreation."
My hike, however, was to be more about reverence than recreation, as it would be through the woods that only exist today because of soldiers who served our country nearly a century ago. Many of the veterans who proposed this public forest would later construct and maintain it as workers in Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. This New Deal program was intended to conserve forests, but it was also a way to rebuild the spirit of the young and jobless generation of the Great Depression. The CCC was militaristic in nature and was especially active here in Connecticut. During the mid-Thirties, there were twenty-one CCC camps in the state, including sites in Middletown, Haddam, Portland and East Hampton. Over three million young Americans served in the CCC, planting trees, building dams and constructing footpaths.
The Henry Buck Trail is a great example of their work. One of only two footpaths in the American Legion State Forest, this 2.1-mile trail begins and ends on West River Road in Pleasant Valley. Cutting through dense growth are beautifully constructed stairways, taking hikers to a plaque commemorating the trail’s namesake and the CCC workers that completed its construction in May 1935.
On Memorial Day in 1993, the North East States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum officially opened in Stafford Springs. The site was once a CCC camp itself and now contains photos of state projects as well as tools for tree planting, forest cleaning and logging that were used to construct walking paths like the Henry Buck Trail.
I picked up this blue-blazed path near a ruined dam on the Farmington River, a recreational gem in itself that the National Park Service has designated as "Wild and Scenic." The sound of its water splashing through the ruins soon merged with the rushing streams in the forest. Ferns flashed with the green life of spring while red efts relaxed on mossy stones in the middle of the trail.
Again, the peace of the forest allowed me to reflect on more hostile places. I especially thought of my friend pointing out Route Irish in the film. This 7.5-mile highway running between the Green Zone and Baghdad International Airport is sometimes called the most dangerous road in the world. It has been the site of hundreds of deaths in the past four years.
With so many risking their lives on this highway each day, it’d be an insult not to consider them while driving on American Legion Road. This 1.6-mile dirt path is open to cars and takes you past beaver dams in which you would expect to see moose if you were just a little further north. Drive or walk 1.5 miles into the forest and you will see another blue-blazed trail on the left. A ten-minute walk here brings you to Turkey Vulture Ledges, which offers scenic views of neighboring People’s State Forest and its many more miles of trails.
But whatever American Legion State Forest lacks in trails, it makes up for it with history and the opportunity to reflect on those who have contributed to that history.
Leaving the forest, I thought about the only war story my grandfather ever told me. He and his buddies had made camp in a barn when the farmer who owned it walked in and waved to them. That was his story. No blood. No gore. It simply blew his mind that this farmer had become so used to having a war fought in his backyard.
Hiking in forests like American Legion, I’ve only known peaceful places. And that’s a good thing, as long as we remember why they are so peaceful.