Member Highlight - Quinn Nagel

Since we have an environmental theme going this issue, we wanted to find a member that epitomized the wild side of Winding Trails. We put out the word and I was told in short order, “Check out the Nagel kid.” You can find him most afternoons somewhere up on Walton Pond. “You will know him by his perpetually wet pant legs and shirt sleeves.” I was intrigued and set off the next afternoon to meet the young Grizzly Adams of Winding Trails. I met his mother, Carrie, and we exchanged pleasantries. All of a sudden there was a commotion in the brush further up the trail. I thought it was a bear moving through, which was strange, because we have not had a sighting in over a year. Through the brush barreled Quinn, yelling “Snake!” I jumped behind Carrie to protect myself. It was kind of a George Costanza move, but I have issues with miniature people and snakes jumping at me. He did not have one in hand, thank goodness, so I scanned the brush expecting a giant snake to be hot on his tail chasing its next meal. I composed myself and apologized as he recapped his encounter with the snake on the island. I focused on the mighty Quinn. He just topped three feet and couldn’t weigh more than 45 pounds soaking wet. He did indeed have his signature wet pant legs and sleeves. He was a tow-head with piercing blue eyes. He had a mud splatter pattern up his back like a mountain biker. Since he had no bike, I chalked this up to his blazing speed while hunting and gathering. I pocketed my two pages of interview questions because our young grizzly Nagel was five years old.

Quinn told me, “I’m going fishing!” I asked him if I could join him and he reluctantly agreed like I was some city slicker he would have to take care of. His casting was chaotic as if he was swatting flies, but when he released, he sent the lure sailing to the middle of Walton Pond. Impressed, I asked where he learned to fish. Without missing a beat, he responded, “Here!” He later credited his Dad and explained that he fished Walton Pond for bass and Dunning Lake for trout, sometimes in a “rented canoe”. He added, “Me and my dad are going to buy a boat.” Quinn was a little more reserved when it came to trading secrets on where to fish. He did respond with the general observation that, “The ducks tell me where to fish when they peck in the water.” But he had no comment on the best places to fish. He did volunteer that once he had come to Walton Pond and, “Two men were in his great spot.” He promptly went and told on them to his Mom. Always the diplomat, Carrie finished the story. She reminded him that Winding Trails is for all members. Therefore, Quinn went back and joined them in “his” spot and promptly reeled in two fish without either of the men getting a bite!

According to Quinn Nagel, he joined Winding Trails for the, “Fishing and Frogging!” He then promptly landed the bass pictured to the left, and the interview was suspended. His family moved up from New Jersey five years ago. Carrie and Troy have two daughters; Bailey age 12 and Hanna age 7, in addition to young Quinn. While maybe not as intense as Quinn, the entire family are outdoors people. Bailey has attended Winding Trails Summer Day Camp and the family takes advantage of the campsites on the property. They also spend a good part of their summer at Dunning Lake. Hanna and Quinn are regulars at the nature programs and both have become expert froggers. Vernal pools landed three out of five top spots on Quinn’s list of favorite places at Winding Trails which included Walton Pond and the Dunning Lake playground. The “cat like” Quinn has snagged dozens of unsuspecting frogs out of the vernal pools in the late spring. Quinn has even bagged the wise old elusive bullfrog that Miss Judy has named “Grandpa”.

Winding Trails salutes Quinn on his catch and release ethics. Quinn reminds us that our environment is beautiful, alive, interactive and worth exploring. Grizzly Nagel has been a member as long as he can remember. Keep an eye out for him around Walton Pond. You will know him by his signature wet pant legs and sleeves. He may not be willing to give away his secrets, but his excitement and energy is enough to inspire all of us.

Blast from the Past

This drawing, above right, was the lead story in the INVIGORATOR in December of 1972. The Invigorator was “News About Local Fun And Recreation—Published by the Recreation Association of Farmington.” (Which was Winding Trails). The article was as follows.

Skating at Walton Pond will once again highlight the winter program sponsored by the Recreation Association. Everything is in readiness for this program that will get underway as soon as the 4-inch thickness of ice is retained which is considered a safe minimum by most experts. A warming house is close by, complete with a wood-burning stove and ample firewood for those who wish to build a fire and relax momentarily. Rest rooms on the upper level and a paid outside phone at Garmany Hall is maintained for the convenience of skaters. Skating will be permitted daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The area will be brightly illuminated by a series of reflectorized mercury lights for those who prefer to skate in the evening. For the convenience of local residents, information concerning the condition of the pond will be posted at the entrance road to Winding Trails Recreation Area.

Ice skating at Walton Pond drew hundreds of people on the weekends in the early 1970’s. Today Skating at Walton Pond is still a feature of our winter program. Leave your shovel at home because Winding Trails’ staff will keep the ice clear and resurfaced regularly. Join those who have gone before us and introduce the next generation to the perfectly imperfect world of natural ice.

Historic View

In the fall newsletter we shared information on the glacial period and its effect on Winding Trails. With the retreat of the glacier, the area around Winding Trails was soon covered with tundra plants, such as herb, sedges, dwarf spruce and birch trees, much like one would find in present day northern Canada. As the climate warmed, the landscape changed. First were the spread of spruce, fir, pine, and larch trees, which soon harbored increasingly bigger animals. This culminated with a variety of large animals such as dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, and even the mastodon. Mastodon remains were found on the Hill-Stead Museum property in 1913.

11,000 years ago, the Paleo-Indians made their way into Connecticut. With Clovis spear points, these Indians hunted large mammals, including massive migrating herds of caribou, which likely roamed across our property. They also collected shellfish, gathered wild plants, and fished local ponds and streams. Over the next couple thousand years, our forest was being replaced by white pine, oak, elm, ash, birch, ironwood, sugar maple and other deciduous trees.

The Early Archaic Indians entered the property around 7,000 years ago. The caribou had moved north into Canada by this time. The Indians were hunting smaller game with narrower projectile points and used dugout canoes for travel on waterways. By 5,000 years ago, the Late Archaic Indians were finding black bear, white-tailed deer, moose, beaver, and turkey to hunt in this area. Their homes would be circular buildings from 30 to 66 feet in diameter, called “snail-shell” houses because of their shape.

The Algonquin (Woodland) Indians had arrived by 300 A.D. The land had thick layers of humus that supported farming. This allowed growing domesticated crops of corn, beans, and squash in the floodplains along the Tunxis River, now known as the Farmington River. They ate wild plant foods on the property, which included groundnuts, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, whortleberries, hickory nuts, acorns of the white oak, walnuts, and maple syrup. Their homes were now wigwams and longhouses.

The Tunxis natives were members of the Algonquin Nation. They were a subtribe of the Saukiogs, from the present day Hartford and West Hartford area, who settled mainly on the Tunxis River. Winding Trails, with its forest and the Poplar Shade Brook, which flowed into the Tunxis River, would have been visited by these native people. The Tunxis natives were fishermen because the salmon, shad, and alewives were plentiful in the Tunxis River and its tributaries. They were also hunters of the deer, bear, and rabbits of the forest, and maintained life in this valley until the colonial period.

SOURCES: Rooted Like the Ash Trees – New England Indians and the Land edited by Richard G. Carlson; The New England Indians by C. Keith Wilbur; A Short History of Farmington, Connecticut by Lydia Hewes

Words of Wisdom

In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught.