North-South Trail - Hike #6

There weren't many interesting things to see on this hike, but at least I had some company.  Brian was finally able find a slot in his busy schedule and was feeling healthy enough to join me in this nearly 10+ mile segment.

The day was picture perfect, albeit a little chilly.  We were under a crystal clear blue sky the entire day and got started early for a change:  10:16am.  Check out the map carefully; you'll notice that the trail actually takes a jog into Connecticut.  Yes, Rhode Island is so small that they can't even fit in the entire North-South Trail.  

With trail guide in hand, we're ready to start down the trail.  Er, actually it's a road at this point.

At the end of Shippee Schoolhouse Road, there's a bell from the old schoolhouse - 1829-1918.

We cross US Route 44 and as we do, we cross into Connecticut.

This is Killingly Pond.  Along the road, there are multiple "No Parking" signs on the chain link fence guarding the pond.

We get another glimpse of the pond, at its far end.  I think it was just about here that we crossed back into Rhode Island, but with no signs on the trail, we weren't really sure.

Much of our hike today was spent on ATV trails - fairly wide with a lot of loose scree.

I'm standing near an old entrance to Oak Leaf Family Campground,
the  highest point on the North-South Trail, just over 800' above sea level. 
Several people have asked me, "Why are you walking uphill through Rhode Island?"

Yes, this tree is really dead and judging by the two big pink "X" markings, it should really come down.

About 1:15pm, we finally found a nice spot to take a lunch break.

Nothing extraordinary, but you can still see the azure sky reflected in the water.

Now this is what I call relaxing in the woods!

A few minutes later we were back at my car.  We covered 10.73 miles  in 4:10 (including breaks) for an average speed of 2.57 mph, but more impressive, we actually finished before 2:30pm.  Which is a good thing because you can see how long these shadows are.  The ATV trails were plentiful comprising about 65% of the path vs 32% gravel/dirt roads and only about 3% single-track hiking trail.  The only other "interesting" thing the guide book called out was how many different watersheds we traversed, which gives you an idea of how much up-and-down we were doing.  There's only one more town to go through and I anticipate two more hikes and I'll be done.

North-South Trail - Hike #5

We were trying to come with a name for today's hike.  At one point the title "Non-Wildlife Hike" seemed appropriate. Another option might have been "Lotsa Roads".  In any event, with unusual November temperatures in the upper 50's, it appeared to be a great day for a hike.

Ahead of time, I knew that this was not going to be a particularly interesting hike.  I've been using Google "street view" to actually examine the hike route, so I was expecting a lot of roads.  I certainly found them.

Thanks so much to Alex for joining me today and helping with the car shuttle. The parking lot at our starting point, the Rice City Community Church, was busy this morning just like it was when Betsy picked me up two weeks ago.  Then it was a church supper; today it was a craft fair.

Beside this church, there are two historic schoolhouses; one from 1812 and one from 1846.

This Rhode Island historic cemetery occupied a prominent hilltop location. 
In total, we passed 4 cemeteries on this trip.

This is horse country in Rhode Island.  These guys were looking for company or a snack, but knew well enough to stay back from the electrified fence. 

Yeah, lots of roads, but at least there were plentiful bucolic vistas, too. 

The trail went right past the Foster Country Club.  These golfers were teeing off at the first hole.

This was actually noted in the trail guide. 
The sign on the telephone pole across from this entrance just said "D W N C -->";\.
That's an abbreviation for Dyer Woods Nudist Campground.   Peering down the driveway, I saw that the gate to the campground was actually open.  I guess even nudists need firewood.

This was a highlight.  In addition to the many horse farms we passed, there was also this alpaca farm.  These juveniles watched us for a while with curiosity, then wandered away.

This is definitely non-wildlife.   This truck/crane was loading lumber from a newly cleared field.

There's plenty of traffic along Danielson Pike, aka The Grand Army of the Republic Highway,
aka  US Route 6, probably the busiest highway on the entire trail.

Apparently, the Shady Acres Restaurant and Dairy Bar is another landmark along the trail.  After this point, we met up with a small group people doing some trail maintenance and improvements.  They made sure there were lots of "North-South Trail" signs north of this point. 

Finally, a trail rather than a road. 

I think this rooster also qualifies as "non-wildlife" as well.  Decolores!

Returning to Rice City, our car was only one left in the lot

It was an ambitious hike today:  11.83 miles in 3:44.  That's an average speed of 3.17 mph including breaks (the fastest I've recorded).  Our feet were quite tired at the end of the day as there was a lot of hard pavement.  We figured:  48% paved road, 45% dirt road, and only 7% wooded trail.  Now there are just over 20 miles to go to finish.  If the weather holds out, I might finish it before Christmas.  Join me if you can!