Westerly & Hopkinton Grills

Posted By on April 1, 2019

Westerly & Hopkinton Grills

9.25 miles; Westerly and Hopkinton, RI

So today I meant to do as much of both preserves as possible, but as usual, I got a late start and had to rush to get home before dinner. I haven’t been on parts of this preserve in a long time, and the tree work they did is shocking in some places. Also, new trails!

First Stop, Polly Coon

First Stop, Polly Coon

I walked down the blue trail across Kedinker Island and took the Polly Coon Bridge over to the Hopkinton side of the river. Couldn’t do that last time I was here… the blue trail was mostly under the river!

Tomaquag Brook Bridge

Tomaquag Brook Bridge

Honestly, I just love both of these bridges. I think the Tomaquag Brook Bridge is more impressive, but the Polly Coon is so… shiny!

Skunk Cabbage up

Skunk Cabbage up

I stopped by a little stream because I was astonished to see Water Striders out doing their thing this early. I tried to take a video of them, but, well, ya know, I’m not a tech whiz when it comes to that sort of thing. I did get a nice still photo of the the Skunk Cabbage, but to be fair, the Skunk Cabbage wasn’t moving.

Old? Mushrooms

Old? Mushrooms

I have no idea what these are. I’m 99% sure they’re old, like from last year. But they were not Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, I do know that. I think they were old Spring Polypores. They were definitely not gilled. And so the 2019 Fungal Obsession begins!

Uh, ok

Uh, ok

I found myself a bit confused trying to reconcile the new (2018) trail map of this place with the reality on the ground. If you look at the Westerly Land Trust’s new map you’ll see a white-blazed trail that runs perpendicular to the yellow-blazed trail about 300-400 feet from where the red-blazed trail crosses. There was no sign of this trail (I was hiking south on the yellow), but there was this rather emphatically-marked fire road (Not A Trail!) in the approximate location where I thought the white trail should be. This sign was on both sides of the yellow trail. And later on, following the red trail, I did come across the white trail, but I’m not sure how far it goes before it becomes a fire road (Not A Trail!). An exploration for another day, I guess.

Another Mystery

Another Mystery

And then, on my way back up an old forest road towards my car, I saw these lighter-blue blazes. Another quick glance at the map told me it would be just as quick to go up this trail as the one I was traveling, so I took it. Imagine my surprise when I realized I was hiking on old pavement! Yup, this trail is about 70% paved for its entire length. Oh, not continuously—it’s in big chunks and ridges. I imagine it has something to do with the sign. But what is/was Douglas Park? I saw nothing that could be considered even remotely parkish anyplace along the trail. And the Westerly Land Trust webpage is decidedly silent on the topic. Guess I’ll have to shoot them an email and ask… Stay tuned for updates.

You can find out more about the Westerly Grills from the Westerly Land Trust, and the Hopkinton Grills, including a trail map, from this Hopkinton town page. The Hopkinton Land Trust page appears not to have been updated since 2013. As always, click the image above for details about this hike and to download the gps track.

UPDATE: I heard back from the Westerly Land Trust!

Back in the early 1900’s when BDA (Bradford Dye Association) was in their glory days, many of the mill workers lived on Bowling Lane (the street leading up to Grills Preserve). Because of this, BDA decided to build Douglas Park to give their workers something to do. This was a park for baseball and soccer and could hold up to 300 fans! The park was built in 1920. After numerous years of use the park became abandoned. In its place trees began to grow and now a pine forest stands. This area is now a permanent part of Grills Preserve. The road that you see was the road that people used to get to the park for games.

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