ET Adventures RI hiking, kayaking, and more...: May 2009

The day after our hike at Ben-Utter, we decided to take out Tracy's kayaks. They are Tracy's because she bought them and through her generosity lets Eric ride in them as well and he is eternally grateful.
Freedom Green can be accessed from the park at Center and West Broadway in East Providence. It is smack dab in the middle of the metropolitan area, but once on the river it seems secluded once you get past the houses that abut the water.

The first picture is my obligatory photo of the vehicle that takes us to our destination. This is Tracy's Rav4 with tires that are 2cm over the stock size. Eric thinks that they really add to the appearance of the car and Tracy doesn't care.
These first pics are small because Eric experimented with the size. He won't be doing any small pics again, but doesn't feel like re-uploading them. Also, on Eric's computer, when he clicks the pics, they are gargantuan. He doesn't know how to solve this and apologies if this is the case for our vast readership.

This next pic is where the woods part for access to the boatlaunch.

You are probably waiting for us to get to the pictures and description of the trip. We decided to head downriver first towards Omega Pond. It looked close on the map. The river's current was mild and moved slowly towards the pond.

Right before we entered Omega Pond, we just had to kayak underneath this broken down bridge.

Tracy with the pond in the background.

And here is Eric cheezin'.

Little did we know that just meters behind us was a momma swan sitting in her nest. Once we saw her we very carefully moved away while Eric snapped off some pics.

We then headed upstream. The current mild and not challenging, making for the beginning of a nice, relaxing day kayaking on the river.

We came upon a portage about 30 to 45 minutes into the trip. It looked like trees had fallen across the river blocking our path.

Of course, Eric had to snap some pics of Tracy hauling her boat out of the water.

And back on our way upriver.

We reached the end of our tour when we hit the rapids. We briefly attempted to kayak up them, but decided against it. We are not that good yet.

We got out and walked around. Apparently, we stumbled upon some historical site.
The John Hunt House.

After walking around a bit and interrupting some teens having some 'alone' time, we turned the boats around and backtracked down stream. The next few shots are just random fun-pics.

These next shots are an action sequence of Eric getting back into the boat after re-crossing the portage. Cheesy? Yes. This portage was not very far. Maybe 20 feet.

Geese.

The pictures on this post are not centered properly. My new camera takes pictures in HD, and I uploaded them to Shutterfly.com and linked them, instead of uploading directly from my computer. I will try to figure out how to fix them. Clicking on the pictures allows a full view of the original photo.

It has been quite a while since we were able to post anything. Eric has been busy finishing up student teaching and Tracy has taken it upon herself to teach every kid in Rhode Island how to read. Also, we have been house hunting and our camera died. Because of this we have not been able to document any kayaking trips, but thanks to Tracy's mom,we now have a camera. She gave Eric a new Kodak for a present as congratulations for finishing the RITE program at Rhode Island college. So now, we are happy to post our pictures and impressions of our first hiking trip since the new camera. And without further ado, here is the Ben-Utter trail!

Tracy read about this trail in Rhode Island Monthly magazine. The authors of the article gave a general impression and directions to the entrance. I don't know where they entered, but following their directions left us roaming up and down a backwoods Exeter road several times as we searched for the entrance. We initially thought the spot for these first photos was the trail, but that little neck prickly feeling turned us around and we rechecked our trusty atlas.

Ok, Eric had to take pictures of his new [used] 4Runner. He got rid of the Grand Vitara and a car payment. Included with the eleven year old truck is a rear differential leak, non-functioning 4wd, and a driver window switch breakage in these very woods! As a bonus, here is one more picture of the truck from the rear, complete with rusty-hacksawed bumper. The good news? This truck should last me 300k miles. Good thing Tracy is in this shot to make a beautiful image!

If you are curious as to how to actually get to this trail, here are the directions:
I-95 exit 5a East towards Nooseneck Road/Rt. 3. Go south on Route 3 and take a right, heading East on Rt. 165/ Ten Rod Road. Follow 165 past all of the usual entrances into Arcadia Management Area. Right on Escoheag Hill Rd. Follow that until Falls River Rd. In Eric's 4Runner, this road was no problem. A Mazda 6 was behind us and was able to travel this road as well, but he had to be really careful choosing his lines to get down the road without damaging the pretty plastic that has made its way on all cars lately. If you are driving a rice burner, don't bother taking this road.

After a couple of minutes driving, you will come to an area right before a bridge that has enough room to park. Here is a pic of Eric's truck parked at the site. Not very helpful and Tracy could not help but make emesis-like noises as I snapped the shot.

We started down the path and right away we were greeted by the sounds of waterfalls...

...and a girl in a swimsuit. For some reason, there was a family swimming in the shallow pool just beyond these first falls. What is most intriguing, is that this day was only about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. You will see in our photos that we are both wearing pants and long sleeves.

For some reason, Eric was pose-challenged this day.

We went past the swimmers and the first falls, getting some pictures along the way.

Every few hundred feet, we came across another waterfall. Some were formed by rocks, and others had been created when a tree had fallen across the brook. We really enjoyed the scenery and the trail was more of a relaxing trail to walk on, not at all difficult. Another bonus, for Tracy, on this hike was the multitude of little wood bridges that she loves to cross.