Posted By auntie on July 9, 2014

2.82 miles, hopkinton, ri

hiking black farm is like visiting an old friend. it is by far my favorite place to hike, even though it’s only a little over 2 miles. i thought i’d try and beat the heat today by heading out early. i was only marginally successful; i still got back to the car soaking wet. and the deer flies were out. but any day spent on black farm is a good day. i can’t believe i haven’t been here even once yet this year!

obstacle

almost right away i came to a deadfall that blocked the path pretty effectively for someone my height… it was too high to climb over yet low enough that i had to get down on my hands and knees to get by. and when i came to the first canonchet brook crossing, the bridge had been displaced by flooding enough to make it a climb to get up on to. and the brook was running pretty briskly through here, too.

canonchet brook

it’s real pretty, though.

rain on plain pond

then of course it started to rain. this wasn’t turning out to be as much fun as i anticipated!

st. john’s wort with pollinator

i also noticed that the ri dem has apparently stopped mowing one of the fields on this property. it’s being quickly swallowed up by locust trees and chokecherry trees. the second field is in better shape, though, and full of wildflowers right now, from st.  john’s wort to yarrow to vetch to clover to some pink flower i couldn’t identify. there was even a large stand of bright orange butterfly weed.

another canonchet brook crossing

this blog just seems to be full of canonchet brook crossings—there are three on black farm alone. this “bridge” is actually an old wooden trailer that somebody dropped across the brook. but it is on the old railroad line, and you can see the big granite and cement footings for the original railroad bridge.

you can find black farm in the hikefinder.

Categories: Rhode Island, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 2–5 miles, Hopkinton RI, RI