Pachaug SF, Green Fall River Gorge
Posted By auntie on December 4, 2013
4.59 miles; voluntown, ct
so i had some fears that the ankle break would make me too timid to ever try challenging terrain again. today’s hike put that fear to rest killed it dead and buried it. this was a very challenging and scary hike that yes, i had done solo several times before the break, and had never thought of as all that hard. well, try it sometime with a 4-month healed triple ankle break and get back to me. thank you, usual suspects, for your patience and encouragement and support (in some cases quite literally).
this hike follows the narragansett trail from the state line marker in hopkinton/north stonington north and then west to green fall pond, then south through the green fall river gorge. the narragansett trail, to make things especially confusing, is a blue-blazed trail in connecticut and is yellow-blazed in rhode island, which is i guess why it’s a combination of blue and yellow blazes as it follows the state line north from the parking area. anyway, this is the first place i came to where i was sure i’d never make it. it’s a climb down one rock face, over a slippery, rickety wooden bridge, and another scramble up another rock face. the scale is tough to see; the 2nd rock face is about 10-feet up from the bridge. “nope,” i thought to myself, “never, ever gonna make that climb, never mind the stupid bridge.” i was wrong, and not for the last time.
this trail is relentless. i took this shot during a rare interlude where the surface was not ankle-busting boulders and/or slippery wooden bridges.
this is the other side of the view of the pond: the green fall dam and beyond that, the gorge. it’s a long scramble down.
and here is the place where the trail crosses the river in the gorge. yep, those are LOOSE WET LOGS. i was hyperventilating at this point. but also, the thought of giving up and turning around was out of the question. we were only maybe a mile and half from the end. so, yes, i did it, wobbly ankle and all.
this hike was hugely encouraging. i busted through some fears and did a mile more than i’ve done since the break, and the ankle is really no worse for the wear. that’s not to say it didn’t do some loud complaining later that day, but a little ibuprofen, ice, and elevation, and all was well.
you can find this hike in my hikefinder under narragansett trail.
You kicked it, AB, and conquered your fears. A mental workout as well as a physical one.
Take a bow.
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