Mendell's Folly
A short trail in Bethany to see a beaver lodge and dam!
There are about 1.5 miles of trails in this nature preserve. You can do them in various combinations! A map is HERE.
About this hike:
We parked on Route 42 in Beacon Falls (parking spots are on the map, HERE - this one is just a pull off on the side of the road) and took the trail to the beaver lodge and beaver dam. From that parking spot, the trail splits almost immediately. Go right, away from the road. From there, just follow the yellow blazes! Very shortly, you'll see the beaver lodge in the middle of the pond - it looks like a big pile of sticks. Beavers are most active at dusk and at night, so we did not see any when we went in late afternoon.
As we continued past the lodge, following the yellow blazed trail, we found that the pond water is high enough right now that some parts of the trail are underwater, leading to some careful rock and log balancing in order to avoid going for a swim! Just a bit further is the beaver dam. Still no beaver sightings, but the freshly cut branches with green leaves on them across the dam were a clue that they had recently been at work.
At the dam, the yellow trail crosses the river (via an adventurous looking crossing made up of rocks and a rope handrail!), and the yellow/blue trail stays on the same side of the river you are already on, turning sharply up hill to double back above the part of the yellow trail you just walked on. We took the yellow/blue (which helpfully takes you above the flooded parts of the yellow trail) before rejoining the main yellow trail at the beaver lodge. From there, we went left on yellow back to the parking area.