Hopeful that I could enjoy the shoreline without the overwhelm of thousands of other people on a sunny Memorial Day Weekend, I did some research. It paid off.

To find this 25-acre Old Lyme Land Trust property, without GPS or a map, you have to guess your way through a small maze of streets that are either unmarked are not aligned with what Google Maps provides in its turn-by-turn directions. There is no Visible From The Next County sign pointing you from the main road. Turn away from the neighborhood and toward the woods.

Watch Rock came into possession of the Old Lyme Land Trust on the last day of 1986 and was later renamed Elizabeth B. Karter Watch Rock Preserve to honor the person who organized the town’s first recycling effort. Yes, please — more recognition for people who have made positive changes in their communities!

Maybe it’s the absence of picnic tables and sandy beaches that prevents this site from being overrun with visitors. That’s a fine trade. Immediately upon entering the forest, chatty birds drown out the traffic on Route 156. Lush ferns line the easy-to-navigate loop trail, as does poison ivy. Stray at your own risk.

There were maybe ten other people enjoying the preserve while I was there on that warm, sunny day — most were fishing in this area where the Duck River merges with the Connecticut River, just before that merges with Long Island Sound. Views include Great Island and the Connecticut River Bridge— the Amtrak bascule bridge built in 1907. The latter has been declared in need of replacement, which would come with a $400 million price tag.

If you opt to have a picnic here, take your trash with you. There are no cans in the parking lot or elsewhere, though there is a portajohn that, even on what is a three-day weekend for many, managed to be stocked with toilet paper and was reasonably clean.

Elizabeth B. Karter Watch Rock Preserve is at the end of Joel Road in Old Lyme, CT.