ET Adventures RI hiking, kayaking, and more...

5-31-09 Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park, Uxbridge, MA

2009-06-06T15:40:00.021-04:00

This was actually our second attempt at conquering the section of the Blackstone River near Uxbridge, MA. On May 16th, we had put in at the Stanley Woolen Mill, and paddled up the canal only to discover that the portage up near Hartford Pike was closed because of the BRWA 33rd Annual Canoe & Kayak Race. Tracy took it in her usual stride and Eric just wanted to get back to the car, and didn't want to communicate with anyone on shore on the trip back. He (me) can be a baby sometimes.
Anyway, passing some of the leaders in the race was a bit of a treat. The guy in first place was really hauling and created some wakes in the canal. Same thing for the first canoe to paddle by. The two guys had synchronized paddling down to a science. I think next year I (Eric) might have to try this race. (Or maybe not when you see the results of our return downriver.) We got to the entrance and waited until there was an opening, then pulled out of the water and picnicked in a spot along the competitors portage. It looked like fun, but a lot of work.

So, two weeks later we decided to tackle this river and canal again. To get to this launch, we took Route 146 to the Route 16 exit. We then headed east on Rte 16/Douglas st. About two miles in there is a stoplight where you take a right then an immediate left to stay on Rte 16, but the street changes to Mendon st. About another half mile you come to Stanley Woolen Mill. Immediately before the mill, take a left onto Cross street and park in the parking lot. We parked right to the left of this bridge.

To get to the boat launch, you have to cross the bridge and carry your boats down the bike trail. It is about 200 yards (very rough guesstimate) to the stairs leading to the river. On this particular day, the still waters of the canal had accumulated a layer of algae* that covered the entire body of water.
* I don't know what else to call this mysterious green plant-like material.

In the distance is the bridge that we crossed to get to this launch. Not too far.
On one of the kayaks you can see a Marine Corps issue canteen. Our kayaks have bungee straps stretched across the tops, and I thought that it good idea to clip the canteens to the boats. These kayaks didn't come with cupholders and the Camelbacks, if they even fit under the life vests, would probably be uncomfortable, so this seemed like a nice way to have convenient water at hand.

Tracy in the water.

The algae in the canal was everywhere. You can see the swath Tracy's boat cut in it was we headed upriver as well as some stuck on my bow.

Here is a turtle. We saw several but I only got a decent shot of this one. Since the first leg of this trip abuts the bike path, there was not a whole lot of wildlife to be scene. We were hoping that when we hit the river portion there would be more.

Some pics of the northern end of the canal. At this point, there is a short portage. From here you can see the dam and the water overflow. The day we were there it was not overflowing, but according to the pamphlet we downloaded (and I have somehow forgotten the link, will find) if it is, the river section might be a wee bit challenging. Eric found it a wee bit challenging as it was. More on that later.

Views of the portage. First is the bridge that Hartford Ave. (I believe) crosses.

The spillway.

The view from on top of the lock.

View from the second portage.

Some photos of the first leg of the river portion north of the portage.

Here you can just make out Lookout Rock, which we have hiked to previously and described here. It is that white spot just down and left of center.

You can make out the disturbances in the water that some fish were making. I am not much of a wildlife photographer.

We stopped here to picnic. Tracy is removing her gloves as she checks something out.

Lookout Rock is just left of center. Kind of like my politics.

And its Eric. Cut-off cammy pants make excellent hiking/kayaking gear. Comfortable and sturdy.

A close-up of my canteen set-up.

Here we come upon Goat Hill Lock.

And Eric going into the lock.

And Eric backing out of the lock.

We got out at Goat Hill Lock and walked around. Some hiking trails also pass through this area.

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After this was a pretty uneventful trip back down river. At the portage, instead of setting back in to the canal, we headed over to the river portion that is south of Hartford Ave. Know that this area has a lot of twists and turns, and having read some warnings that if the river was high we should be careful. Since the river was not high, we figured our meager amateur kayaking skills would be sufficient. There was the occasional spots where the current spun us around or maneuvered us to some interesting predicaments. Of course, Eric found himself crashed into a tree at one point. Tracy parked her kayak and attempted to help, but the current was very strong and Eric had to bail. Of course, the river was more deep at this spot and we sustained a soaking. Eric lost one of the Alice clips that held the canteens to the boat. When we got moving again, it turned out that the next portage was right around the corner. It was a fun day.

5/24/2009 Freedom Green: East Providence Ten Mile River and Omega Pond

2009-05-31T17:27:00.017-04:00

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.

Ben-Utter Trail 5/23/09

2009-05-24T19:40:00.008-04:00

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.

Here is Eric climbing back onto the bridge after that horrendous pose displayed earlier.

Some more scenery...

Here is a cool tree that had grown through some laid stones, and then cut off at the top for some reason.

A shot of Eric reflected in the pool.

Some more photos...

Oh-ho! End of the trail. I have yet to find out what road this is, but here are some photos of the area and what to look for.

We sat down and munched on almonds, dried apricots, and mini-Twix bars. Yummy!
On the way back, we saw these flowers...

...and some Gypsy moth spawn rappelled onto Eric and tried to snatch his body!

Some cool tree roots and one last look at the falls. It was a good day followed by sushi and Terminator Salvation!

Lookout Rock (January) and Rice City (August) Uxbridge, MA

2009-01-19T16:27:00.013-05:00

We just felt that we needed to get out of the house. It snowed about six or eight inches. This morning, we had gone to the gym and did our usual cardio mixed with weights workout. Today was squats and triceps. Not satisfied with that, we cleaned the house, then headed north to Uxbridge. We were going to go to Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park, but upon picking up a park map, we decided to head to Lookout Rock instead. We have been here before, so I will include some photos of that day as well.

It was low-mid thirties out and the sun was shining. We layered our clothes and packed up some beer bread, apple slices, and pepperoni slices. Mmmmm. Eric also got to try out his new ear warmers he picked up at Dick's last week during a sale of all hunting apparel. Yes, it is camouflaged. He also bought some sort of balaclava/scarf-thing/hood that is also camouflaged. Anyway, here is the entrance to the path to Lookout Rock.

We only needed to walk a short distance before we came to Lookout Rock. It is covered in snow here, but I'll include pictures of the same area in the fall.

We stood on this rock, which is under all the snow, and ate some pepperoni while taking in the view.

Since the rock was so close to where we parked, we decided to head down a different path. It looked like someone else was here and they brought their dog. This was evidenced by the little yellow piddles by every other tree. Eventually, Tracy noticed some little black things. On closer inspection, they appeared to be fleas. And they were alive! Yuck. (Clicking on the picture should zoom it enough to see the little buggers.) Update: A Google search on "snow fleas" revealed this little wiki: snow fleas.

We continued on for maybe another fifteen minutes, but trying to step over,or jump over piles of writhing and jumping fleas got old fast.

We also saw a spider.

As promised, here are some of the older pics. We had gone in August of 2008 and the bugs were biting. Just to embarrass Tracy a bit, I will include some nice close-ups of some of her bug bites. I don't exactly remember how challenging the trail was back then, but it was somewhat hilly. Also, the scenery was pretty cool. That day, we actually parked at the entrance to Rice City. It just so happens that the trails connect. Here they are.

This tree looks like a person stuck into the ground head first.

For some reason, there was a bar embedded in between two trees. Tracy showed off her gymnastic skills. Eric could only climb up and sit on the bar.

If you look closely, you can see the frog.

It was a beautiful day, and this area is very green.

Some more pics.

And here are the photos that you can compare to our winter outing. These are the rocks under all of that snow. They view to the river is just as splendid.

Here is a murky pond.

And finally, the pictures of Tracy's bug bites that I promised.

George Washington Memorial Park: Eric

2009-01-09T13:37:00.004-05:00

Eric: So, being unemployed for a almost a year now with a useless doctorate certainly has its drawbacks and its perks. Drawbacks: No money, reliance on wife for everything, and you can only look at Jeeps on Craiglist for so long or play DDO so much. Pros: Get to look at Jeeps and play DDO; also, I can go hiking when I get stir crazy.

The temperature on the Suzuki's display read a chilly 22 degrees. I decided to forgo the blue ski jacket for a layer of thermals under my jeans, and three layers of good, solid, warm clothes under my trusty burnt orange jacket I got for clearance at a discount store: Gordman's I think. I do remember it was nine bucks. Also, I had to put on the orange vest so no hunter with a lack of fire control mistakes me for a goblin or an aardvark.

George Washington Park is my standby place to go if I am bored and need to just get outside. The trails are well marked and there is very little chance at getting lost. There are three trails: a 2 mile blue, 6 mile orange, and 8 mile red. I could be off a bit since they removed the sign that I normally look at before I go hiking.

I decided to bring one of the cameras that we left on the table for our wedding. Unfortunately, it was all messed up. Although it said I had only fifteen photos left, none of the wedding photos showed up and a couple shots that I took today did not appear either. Anyway, here they are.

Above: My trusty Grand Vitara that lost half of its value in the first year. I swear, unless I win the lottery I am never buying new again.
Below: Rocks sticking out of the frozen lake.

Below: This is an area of the woods that had a hole in the canopy so the sun could melt the snow on the ground.

This is the end of the trail towards the icy parking area.

Above: Some sort of latch mechanism for a dam.
Below: Oops, I fell down on the ice.

Long and Ell Ponds Natural Area: January 4, 2009

2009-01-04T18:10:00.015-05:00

It's the fourth of January and our first hike of the year. It was a balmy 35 degrees Fahrenheit, just a little breezy and the snow is still on the ground. From Woonsocket, we took I295S to I95S, exit 3B to Route 3S. This is by way of the directions Tracy found online from thebackpacker.com. Of course, this wasn't the most efficient way taking us through whatever town it was we passed through. Exit 2 would have sufficed as we found out as we passed the big signs to I95 after about 10 or 15 minutes on Route 3.

So, we took a right on Canonchet Road, took a left at the T-intersection about 3 miles later and followed it until it turned into dirt (well actually it was covered in snow but we could still tell it turned into dirt).

Here is the entrance:

Tracy doing "The Robot."

We got out of the Suzuki and geared up. Both Tracy and I wore our EMS thermal, water-whisking away undergarments. Tracy just picked up a new coat from Target for 27 bucks on the clearance rack, and I wore my old ski coat. I debated wearing my trusty ole' burnt orange jacket, but thought it would be too cold; a decision I regretted later. I was not sure what the layout of the trail was, but it turned out to be several steep ascents and descents. Our kind of trail. Here are a couple pictures of the first one-hundred or so meters.

Then we ran in to this sign:

It was hard to tell if this sign was warning us to put on orange gear, or that we did not need orange gear if we stuck to the Audubon trail. Since we were not really sure if we would be accidentally be on trails that wild eyed hunters would be using, and not wanting to be mistaken for deer or orcs, we went back to the car to put on our orange vests.

So, we continued on our way. Here we encounter one of the famous bridges that Tracy so loves.

Here are some stairs. I think that the stairs are funny because the rest of the trail has a lot of ups and downs. With that in mind, make sure you are in decent physical condition and have good footing for when it is snowy like it was today.

Here is the sign where you can chose which way to go.

We chose to head towards Ell Pond first. The trail doesn't lead directly to the pond, but it does lead to a nice view of it from the top of the hill and a big rock.

The ski coat got too hot.

End of the line.

Actually, just the end of the trail to Ell pond. Here we tackled the deep descent down to Hemlock Forest.

Unfortunately, the Kodak has been acting up lately. Tracy just bought new Kodak rechargeable batteries for the camera, but they just are not doing the trick. WE are going to have to get energized on our search for a new non-Kodak camera. Running out of juice after fifteen or so pics is just unsatisfactory.

The rest of the hike was a series of hills, rocky, and awesome. We can't wait to get back there in the spring, summer, and fall. This is a place that we would like to see in all four seasons. Plus, there are streams in the area to kayak on. The ponds might be fun for a paddle.

2008-12-31T09:56:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Headwaters Conservation Area (12/28/2008)

2008-12-28T18:29:00.034-05:00

Today, we decided to take advantage of this warm, gloomy Sunday. The temperature rose above 60 degrees this last week of December. I Googled "Massachusetts hiking trails" and the Slackpacker website, a site that offers links to different trails in Massachusetts was first on the list. I will have to look into this website more in the future. After sifting through the list, we eventually came across the Headwaters Conservation Area which overlooks Mill Pond in Westborough, MA.

Eric: The directions supplied from Google took us on a very roundabout route to get to this trail from our house. Luckily, Tracy has a friend that lives in the area and was able to direct us back on the right track after we missed the turn on Bridge street. We finally made our way to Old Nourse street, took a left onto Andrews road, and made our way past the McMansions towards the entrance to the park.

Here is the entrance. The sign "No Hunting per order of the board of selectman. This means that you don't have to wear your orange vest, and is good news since I don't remember if we brought those vests with us and my burnt orange jacket blends in to the fallen leaves.
Most of the trail was very level terrain with only a couple spots were the ground sloped, which were not steep. The going was easy and we did not work up a sweat. The trail was mostly dirt without rocks. Some areas of the trail were flooded but were still passable, even if we had to skirt the edge and duck under branches. The view of the reservoir was decent, worth the taking time to snack on a mossy area near the water.
The Headwaters Conservation Area used to be a part of the Westborough Charm Bracelet Trail System, a system of trails that connects several walking trails in Westborough. I don't know why it was excluded, but it appears that it still connects to the rest of the System.
This is a place we would come back to if for when we want a relaxing walk in the woods. We did not see any wildlife, but it was the end of December. Before we come back here though, we will probably check out the rest of the Charm Bracelet system.

Yes, this is an indicator that you will be subjected to self photos. Luckily, we usually only take pictures of each other and the landscape, but we do occasionally try to get a pic with both of us in it. This is me feeling froggy. This trail is not marked by the usual red, blue, white, green, or orange trail markers that you usually find on the New England trails. It has some nice, professionally carved signs at most of the intersections.

Eric: Here it looks like some flapper lost her scarf.

This trail also has some of the wood plank bridges that Tracy loves that are interspersed on the various trails in our area.

Although the temperature was in the high fifties, the snow that was still present on the ground lowered the temperature quite a bit in some areas. Over the snowing areas, there was a slight chill. But we only needed to step off the snow and onto the bare ground to feel the full warmth of this winter Sunday.

Eric: Because the air was so warm and the snow was, well, zero degrees Celsius, we could see the fog created by the snow sublimating into the atmosphere.
Tracy: Oh jeez. We could see fog. Eric's just trying to be fancy. Sublimate? Whatever.

Here are some more pictures of the hike! I am not exactly sure what I am doing in this pic. I think Tracy wanted to get a shot of me walking, but instead this dorky pose was caught.

This picture of Tracy, on the other hand, was expertly taken by me. Unfortunately, I did not notice the branches in front of her face.

And more trail pics.

And then we came across a barrier for a trail. If it was warmer, we might have attempted to cross the water. After searching up and down stream, we could not find a suitable way to cross this stream.

Eric: Here is where I tried to put down a log to make a bridge. It broke as soon as I dropped it and floated down the stream.

Here are some deer tracks.

And here is what I hope are dog tracks.

We stopped for lunch over looking the Mill Pond at Osprey Point.

And we are done.

It begins!

2008-12-28T17:14:00.006-05:00

Welcome to the first post of our outdoors adventure blog! We created this blog for two reasons. First, we love the outdoors and have been all over Rhode Island and surrounding areas looking for places to go and things to do and this blog serves as a record of the places we've been and the things that we've done. Secondly, in our search for places to have fun in, we found that there were very few websites or blogs that offered personal reviews of sites that exist in our area. We're hoping that we created an easy space for people to use for their own outdoor adventures in the RI area.

The format of this blog is going to be from the perspectives of each of us. We will describe the locations together, but give our own opinions as well as our own individual views of the area; and commentary of each other's idiosyncrasies along the way.

Some of the things that we post will be from the past while we back log former fun adventures. We will keep our posts as "real time" as we can, while adding the past fun filled trips in between.

Tracy's disclaimer: We are certainly NOT experts - not even close. Most of the time, we set out with a pair of jeans and three year old boots, although we did upgrade some of our gear during Christmas this year. I have never even been camping, but I do like to spend time on day hikes. Any information on here is amateur at best, so please be advised that you aren't getting info from anyone that is a reliable source about being a survivor in the woods. The info here is purely for the casual hiker.

Eric's disclaimer: I got new boots! ; )
but my pants are still old. I was a Boy Scout until about the age of eleven, so some of my skills are rusty but I have been camping quite a bit. Also, I spent more time outdoors in my fours years in the Marine Infantry and Security Forces than most people do in their entire lives, but I am no Les Stroud. Hopefully as this blog matures, I hope the dust will get brushed off of my old skills and we can get further and further off the beaten path. The last time we got lost, we just put the sun at our backs and we hiked as straight as we could. Eventually we found the trail.