Hike 13 - Section #13B

Sunday, October 28 - Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the whole eastern seaboard (see local paper spelling error), but it's still a good day to get out for a hike.  Well, maybe.

This section of the hike goes mostly through Charlton and traverses the famous "cow tunnel" under 4 lanes of US Route 20 (Boston Post Road).  That was my pitch, anyway, to entice Betsy to join me on this stretch, in less-than-ideal weather conditions.  Driving to the start is now a bit easier because we are close to major highways once again (I-290, US 20).  To get started earlier, we leave directly from church after Youth Ministry Band (YMB) practice. Once again, we jockey cars so that I have a little longer hike  and Betsy joins me in the middle. I start walking at 1:52pm.

Betsy takes a photo of me through the car window back at Four Chimneys.  You have to look very carefully, but there are raindrops on the windshield.

Several parts of today's hike were over pipeline, which made for easy walking.

Some of the roads I was on are designated "scenic", apparently meaning narrow and winding, with lots of trees, but no views.

Lots of variety on this hike.This is the major east-west rail line from Worcester to Springfield.

And somebody painted a welcome message for me on the bridge.

This appears to be a monastery or retreat center of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which separated after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.

It just seems odd that it should be behind such heavy security.

Betsy joins me after two miles.  It is still misty and drizzling a bit, but we're well prepared for weather.

You don't expect to see pink and purple leaves in the fall, but these almost match Betsy's backpack.

We make it to Rider Tavern, home to the Charlton Historical Society.

Across the street is a muster field, used well into the 19th century.  Betsy thinks I sometimes use my trekking poles as weapons, so I posed with them for this photo.

Passing over the Mass Pike, there's lots of westbound traffic evading the hurricane's path.  The rest area is in the distance.

This tree was being strangled by this heavy vine.

We finally arrive at the cow tunnel.  Inside, Betsy had an unfortunate fall because it seems someone left a bread-loaf size rock in the middle of the very dark path.

But we make it safely to the car, only another 0.1 mile away.

We were a little soggy at the end of 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 5.05 miles, but a Dunkaccino and hot tea on the way home really warmed things up. 

Hike 12 - Sections #12 & #13A

Today's hike was an audible (that's football talk for "changed from the original plan").  You see, I was supposed to be hiking tomorrow, but the forecast for tomorrow afternoon is dismal.  And since Nathaniel (home for Columbus Day break) would rather chill than go to a Renaissance faire, my Saturday just opened up.

I recruit Alex to join me for this 6-mile jaunt.  Including "getting lost time" it takes us 1:10 to locate the cars before we start hiking at 1:12pm.  It is warm today, temperature in the mid 70's (unseasonable for October) and very humid.  With the exception of fall colors, there was very little of interest along our route today.  Most of the colors were yellows and quite a few of the trees had already lost all their leaves.  Like my last outing, this  hike is entirely in the town of Spencer.

Starting out on the south side of Rt 9.  The trail crosses just west of the Leicster town line (for those of you outside Massachusetts, we pronounce that "lester").

We hiked through some Mass Audubon property that had a trail system of it's own.

This photo reminded me of the Windows 7 wallpaper on my computer.

Once again, I saw wildlife along the way: Garter snakes slithering off the path, ducks in the swamp, and this colorful tree toad.

OK, this was not in the trail guide.  Apparently, a piece of the trail has been replaced by a handful of new houses and a new street named Candlewood Drive.

No matter what, when Alex hikes with me, we can't avoid swamps.  At least this one was colorful.

We get a break from the forest under some power lines.

Here's an actual re-route sign.  From here, we have to tread on private property.  Thanks to the homeowners allowing us passage.

The tail end of the hike had us walking local roads for about 2 miles.

We finish at the Four Chimney's Wildlife Area.

The trail underfoot at the beginning of this hike was very rocky and wet, making for slow going.  By contrast, at the end, we were entirely on roads.  The partly cloudy skies we started with gave way to dark and threatening ones, but we finished before any rain fell.  On the way back to my car, we drove on some of the same roads we had just hiked and also criss-crossed the trail a couple times.  It was like deja vu all over again.  Our totals for today:  time 2:07, mileage 6.59 miles.