Hike 8 - Section #7 & #8

One my my goals in this cross-state hike is to include as many of my friends and family as possible, so they can all be part of this experience.   My son, Matt, was up this weekend for the baby's baptism, so it was an opportunity to include him in the hike, too.

The next scheduled section was a 4 mile stint.  "Too short," Matt said.  So we opted to do the next two sections.  This hike was unremarkable in most respects.  The first section traveled mostly along both paved and unpaved roads.  The second section wound through some towering hemlock forests and dense ferns.  Both sections were pretty buggy and, despite the cloudy start, it was hot and humid.  One note of interest, however, was the fact that we hiked through  parts of 4 different towns:  Princeton, Rutland, Hubbardston, and Barre.

We start next to a big patch of roadside poison ivy.  Yuk!

After being on road for a while, we finally enter a wilderness area.

Down Rt 68, you can see the ice cream shop where Mr. O likes to stop halfway through the merit badge 20-miler.

Finally, off road beside a rocky brook.

It is mid-summer, so the vegetation is exceedingly thick.  There were some newly built bridges, too.

This was interesting.  An erratic covered in moss.

The wild blueberries were ripe and delicious.

The trail veered into a clearing and we were hiking in ferns that were up to our waists.

They have frisbee golf at the Barre Falls Dam.  It is an Army Corps of Engineer's flood control project, a so-called "dry bed resevior" because it becomes active only in extremely heavy rainstorms, like the hurricane of '38 (see Barre Falls Dam).

Tiger lilies are seen along many roadways in the summertime.

Completing our hike, the dam is in the background.

Today's hike was 8.66 miles in 3:04.  The sun came out and it was really hot when we finished.