Location: McLean’s Game Refuge

Granby, CT

Number of boxes: 3

Clues: Easy

Length: 2.5 mile loop

Hidden: 10/5/02 by The Grandbees

Directions: From Rt. 91 take the Rt. 20 exit toward Bradley Field. Continue to the intersection of route 10/ 202 and route 20 in the center of Granby, CT. Go west on route 20 toward Hartland. Continue for 1.3 miles and then go left on Barn Door Hills Road. Continue on Barn Door Hills Road passing between the two adjacent rock formations for which the road is named. At 2.1 miles you will come to Haven Drive on the right, continue 100 yards and park along the side of the road opposite the wooden gate that provides entrance to the Refuge. Please read the sign at the entrance and abide with the simple rules for preserving the area.

The Honey Bucket

Pooh Bear overheard the conversation when farmer Brown told Elsie the cow about a honey bucket in the woods near the Barn Door Hills. As we all know, bears love honey so Pooh Bear set out to find the honey based on what was overheard. Follow the clues and see if you can find Pooh’s surprise. Pooh would appreciate a short note at each box with your stamp to document your experience on the trails.

Start at the wooden gate and follow the old logging road as it winds around the corn field on your left. When you arrive at the end of the field, after about 15 paces, a trail will cross the logging road marked with purple paint marks about eye height. Take a left on the purple trail and after ten paces, go right on the trail marked with dark blue blazes. Continue on this trail following the dark blue blazes through a pine forest. Enjoy the serenity of tall towering pines and note all the fallen trees which have toppled in the same direction indicating a very strong wind had passed through this area at some point in time. More on this later. To find the first box be on the lookout for an oak tree with a triple trunk right next to the trail. It has a fallen tree wedged between the trunks. The root end of the fallen tree is o the opposite side of the trail and the first box is located at the base. Tree bark is used to cover this and all of the other boxes. Stamp in and then continue on the dark blue trail.

You will have a short steep climb that will bring you back onto the logging road. Go left on the logging road and be on the lookout for a large oak tree with a light blue paint mark at eye level on the left side of the trail. (If you go down a steep hill with a wooden bridge crossing a stream, you have gone past it. Go back up the hill and look again.) Take a left of the logging road and follow the light blue trail down the hill toward the Spring Pond. At the bottom of the hill note all the large fallen trees all uprooted and felled in the same direction. More evidence of a severe wind that must have been near tornado force to cause these trees to topple. Continue to follow the trail as it boarders the pond. In the summer, turtles like to sit in the sun on the trees that have fallen into the water. About midway along the pond look, for a tree that leans from the left out over the trail and forming a high arch. A very large was snapped of near the base and fallen toward the trail. Walk to the point where it had been cut off to allow passage on the trail. The box can be found under the tree on the right side about two feet from the sawed end. Stamp in and proceed along the trail.

At the head of the pond the trail makes a circle in front of a log cabin shelter. If you follow the circle clockwise, you will find a tree with the light blue paint mark about 1/3 the way around the loop. The trail proceeds up a hill, but first, this is a beautiful place to stop and enjoy a picnic lunch, explore the log cabin shelter and take a rest on the bench at the far end of the earthen dam. A great spot for bird watching. After your break, proceed on the light blue trail. This will be a moderate climb up a slope but Pooh Bear must have run up this hill knowing that the honey must be near. Soon after the hill levels out, be on the lookout for the intersection of the purple trail which crosses the light blue. (If you come to an open field, you went past it.) Go right on the purple trail which runs parallel to a field on your left. Shortly, you will find a rusted piece of farm machinery with metal wheels about 15 paces off the left side of the trail abandoned by farmer Browns grandfather who jokingly called it the “Honey Bucket”. Can you guess what it was used for?? The third box has the answer . With your back to the right large wheel, walk 5 paces to the cluster of small fallen trees . Follow the trunks from the larger end for 4 paces. The box can be found on the far side of the trunks. Stamp in.

Now it’s time to complete the loop by back tracking on the purple trail. You will cross the light blue trail and continue on the purple. You will be traveling parallel to the large corn field where you first started out and will come to the logging road you traveled at the start of the search. Go right on the logging road back to the start point. It’s about a 20 minute walk back to the car.