Posted By auntie on June 6, 2013

4.25 miles   2.1 mph

the polly coon bridge has been opened and i crossed over into the hopkinton grills for the first time! it’s still a little raw but very pretty. there was a sign right at the beginning of the trails just over the bridge that said that the tomaquag trail bridge was not open, and i got as far as maybe 300’ from the tomaquag brook when the trail just kind of disappeared. no blazes and no discernible trail. i will have to check it out from the hopkinton side next time.

shiny new polly coon bridge

here is the shiny new polly coon bridge from the westerly side. there is a baffle set up on this end that is i guess meant to deter vehicles of any sort from crossing. made it a bit tricky to get through with laverne on my back, but i managed. by the way, i must say laverne is a somewhat better hiking companion than shirley was. i like her very much!

Partridgeberry, Mitchella repens

these teeny tiny flowers (they were no more than maybe 3/16″ across) are partidgeberry flowers. interestingly, they are always in pairs, and the two flowers fuse into one berry. if you look carefully at the berries, you can see they have two dimples where the fusion takes place.

Bear Corn, Conopholis americana

and this odd-looking thing is “bear corn.” i’m going to outsource the story of bear corn to the ever-fascinating david haskell at his blog, ramble:

These protrusions are the flowering parts of Conopholis americana, a plant that grows attached to the roots of oak trees. Conopholis has turned its back on its botanical inheritance: the plant has no chlorophyll. Instead it lives as a parasite, feeding on another species’ labor.

please click the link to read more. until i read his post on this plant, i never even noticed it.

polly coon bridge from the hopkinton side

they did a very nice job on the landscaping here on the hopkinton side of the polly coon bridge. it’s really a lovely spot for a picnic!

pink lady’s slipper

finally, i’ll leave you with a close-up of the more common and showier wildflower, pink lady’s slipper. they’ve pretty much gone by now, but i did find this one perfect specimen right by the side of the trail.

i have added this hike to the hikefinder, but with only a very rough approximation of the mileage, as i didn’t walk very much of it at all. i created a map which combines both preserves which i cobbled together from the trail maps provided by both the westerly and hopkinton land trusts.

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