Black Farm & “Canonchet Station”
Posted By auntie on December 30, 2013
4.39 miles; hopkinton, ri
after a post on facebook piqued my curiosity, i decided to see how far i could go up the old railroad bed from the main part of black farm. i got as far as the border of the wildlife management area, but once i got home again, i looked at a map and it seems i could have gone further. interestingly, the map on my gps app labeled the end of old depot road in hopkinton “canonchet station,” which i guess it must have been once. i didn’t see any ruins that might have been a depot, just some no trespassing signs, alas.
canonchet brook crossing
i rained pretty heavily yesterday and last night, and the first canonchet brook crossing was a high as i think i’ve ever seen it. wouldn’t want to slip today…!
gate 1
this is the first gate i encountered, and i believe it’s where the ken weber hike ends. you’re pretty clearly almost in someone’s back yard here. but according, again, to my map (which is published by the ri dep), this is not the end of black farm wma. so i rounded the gate and kept going.
wood river access
there were lots of nifty-looking side trails off the railroad bed through here that got closer to the banks of the wood river. they were all going east, naturally, because west of the railbed was all people’s back yards. and dogs. did i mention dogs? it really wasn’t too bad. i heard one dog going kind of nuts inside a house as i passed, and a bit further down (up? heading north here) i was shadowed by a scary-looking husky whose owner popped her head out her back door to assure me he was harmless. he was, but i would recommend taking some dog biscuits with you if you try this hike. couldn’t hurt.
posted!
finally got to the end of old depot road in hopkinton, and was confronted with a couple big “no trespassing” signs and, just in case you weren’t totally clear on the concept,
gate 2
a big gate and a fence. o-kay… so, this is what my gps app on my iphone labeled “canonchet station.” as i said earlier, i didn’t see anything much that resembled an old depot or even any old cellar holes or foundations. there was a big house right about here, so perhaps any remaining depot was demolished to make room for the house. and according to the map, this is only very slightly west of state land, and the map shows a trail that veers east from the railbed through here. i didn’t see it, but i didn’t have the map with me (i know, right? bad me. never ever hike without a map!).
i have added this version of black farm to the hikefinder, along with a customized ri dep map on which i have highlighted today’s route.
and many thanks to the hiking in rhode island facebook page for prompting this hike. next time i’ll try and find my way past unfriendly canonchet station to see how much farther i can go.
Curious…did you ever venture farther, beyond that 2nd gate in Black Farm/Canonchet Station? I’ve never been brave enough, but seems, on the DEM map that, indeed, state forest and trails go beyond there. I’d love to know!
hi, kerry. i didn’t venture past that forbidding 2nd gate (at the end of old depot road) on the trip above, and i haven’t been back since. but i do intend to head back soon, once the snow melts (!), and head beyond it. you’re right, the map from the state dep shows state land extending much further north from there. you just have to detour around the area at the end of old depot road, thanks to the grinch who put up that gate.