Ninigret Wildlife Refuge
Posted By auntie on October 18, 2013
yes, i walked on a national wildlife refuge today. my sincere thanks to all 198 democratic members of the house of representatives (and the 87 republicans, too) who voted to reopen the federal government.
the weather was so perfect i just had to go out and walk somewhere and for the first 3/4 mile of this trail, i felt like my old self. i was able to walk at my usual pace, the sun was shining, and i felt good. unfortunately, the trail was 2 1/2 miles long and i was in some serious pain by the time i got back to my car. but i kept up my usual pace, so, happy about that.
juniper berries
for those of you who do not know about it, ninigret nwr is the old charlestown naval air station, and the place where george h.w. bush learned to fly—or one of the places. he trained here, anyway. and it’s still retains a lot of open space which is very slowly being filled in with mostly bayberry, blueberries, sumac, and red cedar. the red “cedar” is actually not a true cedar, but a juniper, juniperus virginiana. and right now the plants are loaded with berries. i couldn’t help but think of all that potential gin!
trail sign
one of the trails on the refuge follows the path of an old runway, and is so named. i came down the charlietown trail and then took the cross refuge trail back to my car.
the cross refuge trail
i picked this spot to hike because it is a federal property, and has a lot of handicapped-accessible trails, which meant they were level, flat, and clear of holes, rocks, roots, and other obstacles. i was able to maintain a steady pace without worrying too much about tripping or twisting my ankle.
dead possum
it wasn’t much of a refuge for this poor little guy, though. no idea what happened to him. he was just lying in the middle of the trail. rabies did occur to me, so i kept my distance.
old runway sign
and here you can see some more evidence of the property’s history as an aviation site. this was on the foster cove loop trail. you can find the ninigret wildlife refuge in the hikefinder.
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