Location: Corner of Clapp Rd North, Windsor, CT Route 159 (10 minutes north of Hartford, CT or 1.5 hours southwest of Boston, MA)
Cost: Free
Parking: There is no parking lot or places to park at Drastic Park. But, you can park on the shoulder of the road on the corner of Clapp Road North.
Summary: Three sculpted monsters in the shape of dinosaurs are located on the corner of Clapp Rd North.
You don’t have to go to Universal Studios or the museum to see dinosaurs. They’re “alive and well” in Windsor, CT!
But, these dinosaurs don’t have bones, tusks or horns. The dinosaurs at Clapp Rd North are made of railroad ties, excavator buckets, air tanks, and other bits of scrap metal welded together.
The sculptures all have names loosely based on the names of actual dinosaurs.
The first dinosaur-like creature is called Erysocialismop.
The second sculpture is called Alloliberalsaurus.
And the third sculpture in the group is called Tuoujangocommunisaurus.
The sculptures were made by a heavy equipment contractor named Lon Pelton. Over the years, they have gone through some transformations. But, luckily, they have just been re-painted recently before my visit.
While these dinosaurs may seem friendly, don’t pet them or try to feed them! They seem to do just fine finding food on their own!
Location: 145 Lang Rd, Windsor, CT (15 mins north of Hartford, CT and half an hour south of Springfield, MA)
Hours: Open everyday, sunrise to sunset
Parking: There is ample parking(about 100 parking spots) in the main parking area as you enter by the soccer and baseball fields. There is also a smaller parking area by the dog park on your right as you enter the park that can accommodate about a dozen cars.
Cost: Free
Size: 473 acres, 12 miles of trails
Trail Difficulty: Easy to somewhat moderate in some areas
Time To Allot For Visit: 2 to 3 hours
Dog Friendly: Yes
Highlights: dog park, ponds, trails, flowers, reservoir, ball fields, wildlife, animals, tobacco museum, venue for events during the spring and summer
Since summer is winding down, I decided to take in one last trip to one of New England’s more popular parks while the weather was still warm.
With over 12 miles of trails, a reservoir and miles of trails, Northwest Park is a scenic, family friendly park that is a great place to take your dog.
At the entrance of the park, there is a small, penned in dog park called the Windsor Dog Park.
In a way, it is odd to have a dog park in a park that is essentially a dog park. I do suppose the penned in dog park would be good for dogs that may be too aggressive to be around other dogs or might be too shy or not yet socialized.
Along the trail past the main entrance, there is a pond with an overlook. The pond is full of turtles, frogs and even Koi fish. One of the visitors at the park threw some bread into the pond. Who knew turtles liked to eat bread!
There is also an organic and community garden at the park.
There is also a barn with farm animals and other animals at the park.
One of the special parts of the park is the art scattered around the park.
The trails at the park are pretty much flat and easy to negotiate with some slight inclines.
There are several trails at Northwest Park. We took the Brookside and Rainbow Reservoir trails. The Brookside trail is heavily wooded without much to see except a few chipmunks. The name Brookside seemed a bit misleading as there really wasn’t a brook to be found from the trail.
Eventually, we found ourselves by the Rainbow Reservoir. The surface of the water was a strange shade of lime green.
There were some boats in the water and even a water skier.
The trails are full of pretty trees, colorful flowers and a few abandoned barns.
You ever notice what the inside of an abandoned barn looks like? Then, wonder no longer. It’s actually pretty boring. The video below gives a better look inside.
There were also a lot of critters to see along the trails. This chipmunk thought she could hide from me.
This squirrel wasn’t any better at hiding.
This bird was a bit better at hiding.
Finally, on our way out of the park, we decided to check out the tobacco museum. The museum shows the history of the tobacco crop industry and the tools and machines they used.
Northwest Park is a great place to take your dog. The trails are not very hard to walk and there are lots of open spaces for your dog to roam. I found two very friendly dogs to photograph during my visit.
Tally is an 11 year old Shephherd mix.
Lada is a 1 year and 7 month old German Shepherd.
Below is a video of the water skier I saw at Rainbow Reservoir and a video of the inside of the abandoned barn I saw along the trails.
Please check out my Facebook Page and like it to see videos, photos and other content not included in this blog:
New England Nomad 