Sunday, October 25, 2015

North-South Trail - Hike #4

It's been too long since I've been out on the North-South Trail.  To be sure, it was a very busy summer and so far, a busy fall, too.  The thing is, before this hike, I still had completed less that half the mileage of the trail.  It's time to get going!

Being mid October in Rhode Island, one would think there would be a lot of fall color to see, but with overcast skies dominating all day, there wasn't a lot of vibrancy.  Betsy was busy in Providence in the afternoon, so it was providential that she could drive 30 minutes when she was done to pick me up.  I had no company today, but I enjoyed the extreme quiet along almost the entire route.

To start the day, I taught Orienteering to Boy Scouts from Troop 85 Weathersfield, CT at the annual Scout-O at Nobscot.  At 9:30am, it was still only 45 degrees, so a fleece was absolutely required.  From there, I drove straight down to the access road to Stepstone Falls where the last hike ended.  I did not drive down to the falls themselves, recalling from last time how terrible the rutted dirt road was.


From the top of Falls River Road I'll hike down to Stepstone Falls. This is the road I wanted to spare my cars from.  The ruts and rocks get worse the further you go down the hill.

Here's the river just above the falls where Dominic was wading back in the spring.
I didn't realize at the time that I was hiking through an old ski area.  This was the parking lot
for Pinetop Ski Area back in the day.  Afterward, Betsy and I were both asking, "Where's the hill?"
Two small cemeteries across the street from each other. I visited the grave of one
"Rebecca , wife of Calvin Wilcox; died Aug 4 1862 in her 53 year.
These historic cemeteries can be found all over the Rhode Island countryside.

A ways down the road, I come across a managed conservation area.  The guide book reports this area as under the auspices of Audubon of Rhode Island.  While the sign shows the management evidently has changed, at least the area is still available for recreation.
Very colorful with nary a sound to be heard.
I'm standing 75' from the Connecticut border.  This logged out area goes back for a over 1/2 mile.
Now I'm officially halfway done with the North-South Trail as I'm passing by the cleared trees (back left).
It was the ground cover (mostly blueberry bushes) aflame in this scene.
    
This was the most interesting feature of the hike.  This trestle is from an old railway line that was removed back in the 1960's.  If you look carefully down the old rail bed,  you can see the undulations in the trail surface.  I'm not sure what caused these unless it's just bike or 4-wheeler use.
The trestle itself is at least 30' above the water below, affording a beautiful view down the Moosup River.

A little further on I find another leave-covered stream.

At last, I wide open field with some of brightest skies and most varied color of the day.

It was a long uphill walk to the my end point. Thanks, Betsy for picking me up.
I ended my day at the First Christian Church in the Rice City Historical District.  The Ladies Aid Society was having a church dinner.  Boy, did it smell good.  No wonder there was a line to get in.  Today's trail mileage was 10.28, but with the additional walk down to Stepstone Falls, the overall total was 10.90 in 3h50min.  Since I was by myself hiking on a lot of roads and I didn't want to be late for my pickup, I was moving at a pretty good clip.  Hopefully there'll be time and good weather to finish the rest this year.

2 comments:

  1. Nice post. I am sorry that Sat was my only day to get things done at home, and I could not commit to 12 miles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steve, I love these photos. I wish I could take up this adventure with you.
    Dan Mulligan

    ReplyDelete