Hike 9 - Section #9

According to my original plan, I was not going to hike in August.  Why?  Because it's hot and buggy and there's lots of other things to do in the summer.  Like paddling.  Yes, I spent a lot of time paddling in August.  Betsy & I have already been on some really cool water adventures in Marblehead, Chatham, and Gloucester.  But that's another blog.

So it's Labor Day weekend, and it's time to hit the trail once again.  Alex wanted to name this trip "Let's Hike 5 Miles on the Edge of a Swamp", but I would prefer to call it "Baby's First Hike".  Alex and Cassandra shared the baby carrying duties, and although it wasn't terribly hot, it was still pretty buggy.  In addition, there were some diversions from the trail descriptions in my book (you know, I've got to order a new edition soon).  The hardest part of the this hike was finding the end point to drop the car so as not to make the hike too long.  Once we found the right spot, we took an extreme detour west to Barre thinking it was easier than the way we came.  NOT!  Betsy, Cassandra, and Dominic had to wait nearly an hour for Alex and me to return from dropping the car.

The five of us at a picnic pavilion at the Barre Falls Dam.  The most people on a hike since #1.

An interesting old cemetery just 0.1 miles after we got started.

Taking a quick stop to break out the bug spray.

Betsy was trying to right this marker tree that had fallen across the trail.

Cassandra and 2-month old Dominic.  He loves his "Ergo" carrier.  But at 11.5 lbs, his days in there are numbered.

These granite benches were in the middle of a small meadow (actually, nowhere).

It looks like it was an Eagle Scout project or Scout memorial of some kind.  Really cool engraving.

This rickety bridge is actually a collection of pallets laid out over a swampy area.  Again, we are nowhere near a road, so it must have been fun hauling them in.

We finally figured out where we were on the map.  I'm standing next to "Dike #3".

The trail opened up to a  wider dirt road.  We are happy to be leaving the swamp.

This bench marks the spot where the Mid-State crosses the Central Mass Rail Trail, an unpaved bike trail traveling east-west.

Alex and I let the women and child rest back at a parking lot for Rutland State Forest.  We hoofed it another 0.6 miles to pick  up the car.  Believe it or not, all five of us will fit in Cassandra's Honda Fit. (har-har).

Because of all the trouble dropping the car at the beginning of the trip, we finished much later than we wanted to (5:18pm), but I'll know better for next time.  The mileage for today was 6.06 miles in 2:46.  There are seven sections of the trail left to hike, so I should make it before the cold weather arrives.