Kenyon Crossroads

Posted By on December 27, 2013

Kenyon Crossroads

2.56 miles; charlestown, ri

this trail sounded so promising! close to home, old king’s highway crossing, cellar holes, beaver dams… and it was such a bust. i’m going to assume that the hopkinton land trust was unable to get or retain an easement for the tomaquag trail, so instead of a lollipop loop, this became a simple out-and-back with a detour that had to be backtracked. still, a walk is a walk, and it counts.

trailhead

trailhead

the trailhead for this hike is at the hopkinton town public works garage on woodville road, across from the hopkinton police station. so far, so good! a short footpath leads from the garage parking lot to the start, pictured, of the tomaquag trail.

fence and junkpile

fence and junkpile

this looked like the first obstacle, but as it turned out, it wasn’t a problem. the trail just takes an unobvious right turn here and continues past this lovely vista of a farmer’s junk pile.

tomaquag trail

tomaquag trail

the trail continues like the photo, above, for a long stretch. when you come to the hopkinton land trust sign, about a mile from the dpw garage, there is a yellow-blazed side trail, marked on the map as the beaver flood trail. i followed this for as far as the blazes went, but the blazes, and the trail, just kind of ended in the middle of a swampy stretch. there was no obvious trail beyond that point, so i turned around and backtracked to the main trail. i should mention that for most of this long, straight stretch, you are walking along border of the elm rock farm. it’s hard to miss this fact, as there are “private property, elm rock farm” signs every 25 feet or so.

end of trail

end of trail

finally, you come to a closed and chained gate marked by the sign, pictured above. the long, flat trail stretched off beyond the gate, but i wasn’t about to challenge the signage, so i turned around and headed back to the dpw garage. i never did get to kenyon crossroads where the original king’s road once ran from newport to new london, and there are cellar holes and planted trees.

for what it’s worth, i have added this hike to the hikefinder.

Comments

2 Responses to “Kenyon Crossroads”

  1. John says:

    Hi,

    I always liked this walk because of the cows; you can’t find too many places around here to walk in the company of cows. This trail is a work in progress and I think someday might go from Woodville Rd down across the bridges to Bradford. I haven’t quite found the trailheads from Collins south to Diamond Hill. The part past the gate is signed but on certain dates the Hop Land Trust has guided walks down to Collins Rd.

  2. […] The last time I explored this trail I got stymied both by bad blazes and a gate with a “No Trespassing” sign on it. Not today. It was hot and buggy and wet, but still a good day in the woods. Saw the historic crossroads and everything. […]

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