Narragansett Trail Section 4
Posted By auntie on July 15, 2017
6.29 miles; North Stonington and Voluntown, CT and Hopkinton, RI
This was an excellent, if exhausting, hike with the PCHC. Much climbing, both up and down, on slippery rocks, and a lot of tricksy water crossings. It was great to see some old friends and make some new ones, and we even, at one point, ran into a group of hikers who asked “Are you Auntie Beak?” I almost plotzed. That was cool if sorta embarrassing. Shout-out to you guys! Nice to know I’m not just a weird old lady shouting pointlessly into the ether. Okay, at least nice to know I’m not shouting pointlessly into the ether…
Pig on a Spit
We began this hike where we left off Section 3, by following the temporary re-route suggested by the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, which had us doing 2-1/4 miles of road-walking, first up busy Route 49 and then down Sand Hill Road and Tom Wheeler Road to where the trail route originally crossed. It was a good thing we did all that road-walking right at the beginning, because, as is typical for the Narragansett Trail, this was no easy hike once we entered the woods.
Mushrooms!
I saw TONS of mushrooms everywhere, including this massive (5-6″ across easy) gilled mushroom growing out of a stump. No idea what it is and I’m too tired to question Mr. Google right now. Maybe I’ll update the post later. I did collect some beautiful fresh Sulphur Shelf, a.k.a. Chicken of the Woods. Think I’ll make some pseudo-chicken nuggets. (See this recipe)
One of the MANY Water Crossings
This hike certainly had a whole lot of water crossings. It seemed as though every 5 minutes we were trying to figure out how not to get wet feet. I, at least, somewhat unsuccessfully.
Green Fall Crossing
The main water crossing I was dreading, though, was the one across the Green Fall River. We’ve had plenty of rain recently, and the river was in full spate. Also, the day was overcast and cool and slightly misty, making every surface extra-super slippery. But we all managed to make it across without incident. Somehow.
Signage
As for the blazing and signage, this section of the trail is for the most part very clear. Plenty of fresh blazing and even the occasional sign.
You can read more about the Narragansett Trail on its Wikipedia page. Here is my complete “Auntie” map of the trail. And as always, click on the image, above, for details about this section and to download the GPS track.
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