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.