Richmond Heritage Trail
Posted By auntie on August 19, 2018
2.4 miles; Richmond, RI
So after I finished hiking the Blue Trail on Grass Pond, I headed home. But on my way home I passed this trailhead, and just couldn’t resist turning the car around. It has been on my List forever.
Trailhead
You can find the trailhead for this hike from pretty much anywhere in Richmond and Hope Valley… just head for the giant blue water tower.
Datura
Someone planted some small trees around the parking area and enclosed them in wire cages to protect them from the deer. The cage in this case also protected some wild Jimson weed, or Datura stramonium. Just as well it was inside a cage, as this is a nasty weed. Beautiful, but the plant, a member of the Belladonna family, can cause hallucinations if ingested as seeds or a tea. It can also cause tachycardia, dry mouth, dilated pupils, blurred vision, confusion, combative behavior, and difficulty urinating. It is, however, seldom fatal. Whew.
Purple Loosestrife
Also couldn’t resist taking a photo of this purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria. It is lovely, but again, a pretty bad invasive. It tends to take over wetlands, crowding out native plants used for food by waterfowl. The trouble with invasives is that they are, indeed, beautiful, which is why they get imported and planted in the first place. But that’s a rant for another kind of blog, I guess.
Boardwalk
Once I got done taking photos of plants in the parking lot, I set out on this trail. It consists of two parts, the first of which is a handicapped-accessible 1-mile loop trail, and then a further adventure into the woods on a much less developed and accessible trail, all blazed. I ended up not being quite able to follow the map; not sure where the trail disappeared to, but it stymied me. You can tell from the track I posted, below. It was supposed to loop? I guess? But I couldn’t find the connection. Anyway, between the two trails this was a perfectly nice walk in the woods. A little short, but nice.
You can find out all about the Richmond Heritage Trail from this Richmond Conservation Commission factsheet (pdf), and get a semi-complete trail map here. As always, click the image above for details about this hike and to download the gps track.
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