Carr Pond Loop, Big River

Posted By on April 14, 2016

Carr Pond Loop, Big River

4 miles; West Greenwich, RI

Ah, Big River… what can I say? It’s a massive chunk of open space that was originally taken by the state using eminent domain in order to build a reservoir, and then the reservoir never got made. See this article in the Providence Journal to see how poignant a story it still is. Of course, because it’s technically not a wildlife management area, or a preserve, or any kind of official state park, there isn’t a lot of oversight and maintenance, at least officially. But Big River has been more or less adopted by the New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA), whose members help keep it clean and even blazed, after a fashion.

Non-Standard Blazing and Signage

Non-Standard Blazing and Signage

I guess “non-standard” is the best way to put it… “Uh, follow the orange smiley-face blazes to Indan Rocks.” Hey, whatever works.  In spite of, or indeed because of, the crazy blazing here, I highly HIGHLY recommend you take a gps, and/or a very good map* before venturing in here. Big River is a crazy quilt of tracks ambling off in a zillion directions. For today’s hike I followed a gps track uploaded by prodigious hiker and social media maven HikinginRI of what he called the “Carr Pond Loop.” It’s basically a lollipop loop around one of the several large ponds/small lakes that Big River boasts. It was a lovely day and a really beautiful hike.

Carr Pond Water Pipe

Carr Pond Water Pipe

Carr Pond, from what I can gather, was originally used as a drinking water reservoir for Kent County, and the pipes and old pumping stations are still very much in evidence.

Carr Pond from the western shore

Carr Pond from the western shore

From other vantage points, Carr Pond could be in the Maine wilderness.

Carpenter Ant Galleries

Carpenter Ant Galleries

These extensive carpenter ant galleries in this old stump were mesmerizing. They almost looked like hieroglyphics.

Yellow Tulips

Yellow Tulips

And here’s something you don’t see in the woods every day… a pot of yellow tulips.

*Best Big River map around can be found here: Great Swamp Press. It may also be found at URE Outfitters in Hope Valley, RI.

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