When was the last time a trail in Willington opened without anyone cutting a new path through the woods? That is the story of the Petix Trail at Fenton-Ruby Park. The town has owned the land under it since March 2025, and the trail has had a name since May 2026. It still has no blazes. Volunteers plan to paint them on Saturday, October 24.
The Petix Trail shows how this park grows. The town buys land first, and a commission vote names the route. Someone draws a map, and then volunteers with paint, planks, and wood chips make it something a hiker can follow. Each step happens months after the last one, and the step happening this month is the one you'll see on the ground.
A trail made by vote, not by chainsaw
The Conservation Commission minutes say the town closed on the Dean and Laura W. Petix Sanctuary on March 18, 2025, and officially added it to Fenton-Ruby Park. At that point the parcel had no designated route in. The minutes also mention an access road on the Ashford side that neighboring landowners didn't want opened again. The plan was for town officials to meet with those landowners and secure that road from public use.
The Commission settled access at an April 25, 2026 site walk and a vote on May 20. Members looked at a herd path, an unofficial path hikers had worn from Ruby Trail toward the sanctuary. They decided against making it a new trail, because hikers can already reach Petix on the unmaintained part of Burma Road.
Emergency response shaped the choice too. P. Pribula was mapping the park's trails for CT Trail Finder and Tolland County 911, and someone asked how responders would find a path to the Petix Sanctuary. The answer was to mark a route starting at the Ruby trailhead and running up the unmaintained stretch of Burma Road. The group agreed on orange blazes. The motion put the Petix Trail on Burma Road "from the Ruby trailhead to the Petix Sanctuary sign," and it passed unanimously.
That means Willington's newest marked trail is a road it already had. No new trail is being cut through the woods. The work is marking an existing route clearly enough for a first-time hiker or a 911 dispatcher to follow.
Eighteen months, step by step
The Petix addition has moved forward in small, separate steps:
- March 18, 2025. The town closes on the property. Members discuss signs, a possible bronze plaque on a rock in the picnic area, and updating maps, brochures, and the park webpage.
- By November 19, 2025. The bronze plaque is on the sanctuary's entrance rock.
- November 22, 2025. The town holds a public Petix Sanctuary hike. The December minutes say nine people came.
- May 20, 2026. The Commission names the Burma Road route the Petix Trail and picks orange blazes.
- August 19, 2026. Rick Peck is appointed steward of the Petix Trail, and Jackie Kulig has updated a park map to include it.
- September 16, 2026. The new map is posted on the Commission's website, and blazing is set for the October workday.
- October 24, 2026. Volunteers plan to paint the orange blazes.
Nothing on that list needed a contractor. Every step after the purchase was a decision, a drawing, or a volunteer job.
Why the signs come last
As of the September 16 meeting, the park's existing signs didn't show the Petix area. Kathy Demers, who has led much of the Petix follow-up in the minutes, talked with Mark Drobney about new signs. He would need to make new ones, and he can't get stainless steel. That means plastic signs without color, so the Commission is looking for options that include color, and Demers is getting quotes from vendors. A QR code for the kiosk is also planned but hadn't been added yet.
The emergency mapping is also unfinished. The same minutes say there has still been no response from Tolland County Fire 911, and H. Alexson planned to ask the fire chief for help making contact. UConn's CT Trail Finder has agreed to write a trail narrative for the park. As of mid-September, it hadn't been published.
If you walk out this fall, the posted map is your best guide to the Petix Trail. The orange blazes come next, and the park signs will probably come after them.
What the October 24 workday covers
The Fenton-Ruby Park workday runs Saturday, October 24, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Demers has told the Friends of Fenton-Ruby Park and the trail stewards. The Commission voted to buy boardwalk repair materials and paint for the Petix blazes. The jobs on the list:
- Trimming trails
- Replacing boardwalk planks
- Blazing the Petix Trail in orange
- Spreading wood chips that public works is being asked to drop at the start of the trail. The research ties this mulch to the Taylor Pond Trail entrance.
Steward Patty Phillips reported a broken tread on the Julia's Trail boardwalk, and Chris Demers replaced it. The minutes add that the whole boardwalk needs replacing soon. The Commission hasn't decided whether a boardwalk is still needed there or whether another option would work better. If it stays, work could start at this workday. This is a different structure from the Taylor Pond Trail boardwalk. Stewards said in March 2025 that the Taylor Pond boardwalk needed replacing soon. The research didn't find a later update on Taylor Pond.
Trail Steward Recognition Day starts at noon, right after the work ends. The Commission will give stewards hats and certificates of appreciation, and it approved up to $150 for pizza and soft drinks. The stewards the town is thanking are the same people whose reports fill these minutes. In March 2025, volunteers Joe and Nathan Philippi cleaned the park's duck boxes and found nesting signs in all seven from the year before.
The riverbank got the same treatment three weeks earlier
The Petix Trail isn't the only part of the park being fixed by volunteers this fall. At the April 25 site visit, the Commission looked at the stretch of Fenton River beside the parking lot access and picnic area. Public works and contractors had been mowing right to the river's edge, which leaves the bank open to erosion and runoff. The Natchaug Watershed Advisory Board had money for native shrubs and offered to plant a buffer. In May the Commission voted to establish a riparian buffer, a strip of plants along the riverbank, next to the picnic area.
The planting was set for September 19, 10 a.m. to noon. H. Alexson and Maura Robie of the Natchaug Watershed Advisory Board led it, and Girl Scouts and others from Natchaug were expected. Volunteers used free wood chips from public works as mulch, and Jackie Kulig brought a water tank in case it didn't rain. Before the planting, Joe Hendrix of the Ashford invasive plant group brought volunteers to pull out non-native cypress spurge. At the September 21 Board of Selectmen meeting, members reported the project was done that weekend by a large volunteer group that included town employees and committee members.
So the river edge by the picnic area should look different from last summer, with low native shrubs where there used to be mowed grass.
How the Petix Trail fits with the rest of the park
The town's downloadable trail map is the older version, so it doesn't show Petix. It lists these routes:
| Trail | Length on the legacy map | What the research adds |
|---|---|---|
| Taylor Pond Trail | 0.9 mile | Boardwalk flagged for replacement in March 2025; mulch at its entrance on October 24 |
| Julia's Trail | 1.0 mile | Runs along the Fenton River; boardwalk repair or replacement under discussion |
| Weigold Trail | 0.9 mile | No current maintenance items in the research |
| Ruby Trail | 1.2 miles | The Petix Trail starts at its trailhead |
| Connector | 0.2 mile | Links trails within the park |
| Ashford Link Trail | Not stated | Heads east into Ashford |
| Petix Trail | Not on the legacy map | Unmaintained section of Burma Road to the Petix Sanctuary sign; orange blazes |
ExploreCT's trail guide notes that Julia's Trail runs along the Fenton River for part of its length. A 2019 trail write-up puts the large parking area where Moose Meadow Road meets Burma Road. The same write-up says the Drobney Sanctuary was added to the park in 2001. The Petix Sanctuary is the latest in a line of additions. The park has grown by adding parcels and routes over time, not through one big project.
Bigger changes are still on paper. The Fenton-Ruby Park management plan was still a draft under review in September, and its effective date has moved to 2027. In 2027 the town also marks its 300th anniversary. A new plaque and a time capsule will go near the 1927 plaque from the 200th, and the Commission listed an open space map as one possible thing to put in the capsule.
I grew up in this part of Connecticut, and Fenton-Ruby is one of the reasons I still love it here. If you're out for the workday on October 24 and have questions about Willington property, like what it means to border town open space or what an old road near your land might mean for access, I'm happy to talk them through with you directly. Lindsey Niarhakos is just a message away. Let's Connect.
