There’s a Fire Tower In Woodbury?

I have a perfect guide for you. He’s a fellow firefighter in town. He just turned 70 and goes up there just about every morning!

With that Helaine, Doppler and I got in the car, plugged Orenaug Park into the GPS and headed to Woodbury. We arrived around 40 minutes later up a gravel road and behind someone’s house. There was an RV up on wheel ramps, a Pontiac Parisienne and an assortment of other vehicles. We were lost!

Early this evening I went to Facebook and posted:

Looking for advice on a place to photograph tonight’s sunset. It will be setting at 303 degrees (WNW) so Long Island Sound is out this time of year.

Suggestions quickly poured in! The most intriguing came from Dave Lampart.

The fire tower in Woodbury.

They have a fire tower in Woodbury?

As it turns out they do!

The tower is in Orenaug Park behind the police station. The hike is “700 steps” uphill.

Dave added,

I have a perfect guide for you. He’s a fellow firefighter in town. He just turned 70 and goes up there just about every morning!

With that Helaine, Doppler and I got in the car, plugged Orenaug Park into the GPS and headed to Woodbury. Around 40 minutes later we were on a gravel road behind someone’s house. There was an RV up on wheel ramps, a Pontiac Parisienne and an assortment of cars and trucks. We were lost!

Luckily I’d traded phone numbers with Dave who, with wife Tina in the passenger seat, met me down-the-road. I followed them behind the police station to an abandoned parking lot. That’s where we met up with Bud Neal.

Bud is 70, but looks a decade or two younger. He is fit and powerful and set a pace only he could keep! He was wearing a t-shirt from a tree climbing competition. Bud easily could have been the guy on the shirt shown midair, climbing by rope.

The fire tower itself is 80 feet tall. It’s steel with a steel staircase inside.

A while ago someone jumped! It’s tougher to fall from now.

The view from the tower is spectacular and unobstructed through the full 360&#176. You’re in the forest on a platform just above the tree tops.

If only there were more clouds!

Truth is sunsets are best shot through a smattering of cumulus clouds or a thin veil of cirrus. Today the sky was blue. Clouds were few and far between. My sunset shots were disappointing. There were other things to see.

I’ll be back.

sunset over the litchfield hills from woodbury

red sky over woodbury

orenaug park tower walking down at dusk_1

inside the fire tower orenaug park woodbury

orenaug fire tower woodbury

bud tina and dave

7 thoughts on “There’s a Fire Tower In Woodbury?”

  1. Bud looks pretty good for his age. I’ve known him for over 25 years. He used to be the Woodbury Fire Chief, and an officer in the Army Reserves.

  2. Thanks for the awesome pics as I’m thinkin’ I’m never going to see the view from the top of the tower in person if I have to climb it! and Happy Father’s Day!

  3. It’s the looking down the stairway and the descent down the stairs that would be hard for me to do! Those pesky heights…

  4. Love all these shots! Never knew a fire tower was “that close” to home! Hope you and your dad had a magnificent Fathers day!

  5. Interesting that, even with the fall prevention netting on it, someone was smart enough to leave camera ports in the steel so you can get good pictures from inside. Very thoughful of that someone…

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