My wife went shopping with her mother and two sisters, so I took the boys to my parents to wish my Mom a Happy Mother's Day. I had originally wanted to get on the trail in the early afternoon, but you know how it is when visiting the 'rents. I head North on 146 looking for where it crosses route 44. Sometime around North Smithfield I finally come to the realization it DOESN'T cross. It does, but way back in Providence. The plan should have been to take 6 West to 295 North to 44. I make my way to Durfee Hill, number 27 of Ken Weber's Walks and Rambles, if a later than was strictly necessary.
I apologize for the quality of the photos. I forgot the Sony camera back home and used the old LG cell phone camera. They get the point across, I suppose.
When I come to the hunter checking station I realize I've been here before. Many years ago I tried this hike. I had parked and and searched for the trail behind the station. There is a large circled P on the map where you are to park, but for some reason I expected the start to be the "X" at the bottom of the map. I couldn't find the trail, and headed back to the car discovering that we were covered in ticks.
Today I make the same mistake, but I am less impatient. I actually read the text describing the trail and discover my error. You must go back out to the main road, cross, and follow it for two tenths of a mile. Then you enter the woods. We find it just fine.
The text describes a rock wall where people climb and repel down, and sure enough, we find four people doing just that. My boys make a bee-line for them. I'm not keen on intruding on their private moments, but they don't seem to mind. We head back on our way and I soon notice I have guests. There are two ticks crawling on my pants. We check ourselves out and remove a total of five on the four of us. Colin, my youngest, is the only one without any. I go back to the climbers to warn them.
There are hemlocks here, which I knew, but I was surprised to see that they are free of the Wolly Aldegid, an insect wiping out hemlocks throughout the East. I scan many small hemlock saplings throughout the hike, and never see a single bug.
We continue to a marsh that is said to be home of 
many songbirds, but we hear none. We continue on until we find the unpaved road (actually paved, but crumbling) and the grist mill. The mill is privately owned and the owners were quite friendly and invited us to look inside the old mill.
many songbirds, but we hear none. We continue on until we find the unpaved road (actually paved, but crumbling) and the grist mill. The mill is privately owned and the owners were quite friendly and invited us to look inside the old mill.We don't linger too long and double back where w
e came. The text describes a fork in the trail where you head back towards route 94 just South where we entered the woods. I think we take the right path, but the trail we see does not match the description. We pass a wet part not described in the book. We make it back to the main road but it's not where we are supposed to be. There is a side road that is much further South. We turn around and go back where we came. The boys are excited to see a family riding minibikes. I rush my boys off the trail to give the riders a wide birth, but am relieved that these are courteous people and slow down for us.
e came. The text describes a fork in the trail where you head back towards route 94 just South where we entered the woods. I think we take the right path, but the trail we see does not match the description. We pass a wet part not described in the book. We make it back to the main road but it's not where we are supposed to be. There is a side road that is much further South. We turn around and go back where we came. The boys are excited to see a family riding minibikes. I rush my boys off the trail to give the riders a wide birth, but am relieved that these are courteous people and slow down for us.We follow the path back past the marsh and I hope to cross to the correct trail just before we get to the rock wall. Without knowing it, we do leave the original trail. We hike for a short while and end up ... back at route 94 south of where we are supposed to be. Not happy. Instead of hunting for the trail again I have the boys follow 94 North until we find utility pole 35, the proper exit point. Here we cross the road to finish the last leg.
Rig
ht off the road we find the first item of interest: Uncle Owen?
ht off the road we find the first item of interest: Uncle Owen?
Aunt Beru? Deer, actually. Notice that the head is missing. The trail then passes an old graveyard. We don't go in.
Here the text starts to scare me: "Beyond the graveyard, the going gets a little tricky, with several side paths that can be confusing." There isn't a single blaze in these woods and apparently there are way more side paths here then there were a decade ago when the book was published. It refers to a clearing and we find it with no problem. Then it says to reenter the forest at the left edge. There a
re many side trails everywhere except at the left edge. One sid
e note about this clearing that Ken didn't write about: apparently the DEM uses it to dump deer roadkill. It is literally littered with bones and fur plus several articulated skeletons. It reeks of death. I don't know if it is clear but the second photo here shows a pit full of fur. My oldest was majorly creeped out by it. Can't say I blame him. He says he saw a bear print in the sand but we couldn't it again.
re many side trails everywhere except at the left edge. One sid
e note about this clearing that Ken didn't write about: apparently the DEM uses it to dump deer roadkill. It is literally littered with bones and fur plus several articulated skeletons. It reeks of death. I don't know if it is clear but the second photo here shows a pit full of fur. My oldest was majorly creeped out by it. Can't say I blame him. He says he saw a bear print in the sand but we couldn't it again.The boys are 
impatient. I turn around away from what I presume to be the path to the direction I believe the main road is only to find the pond we are to circumnavigate. We can see the car. I try to get they boys to continue around the pond, but the younger two are out of patience. There's a beaver dam visible on the other side and I wanted to see it close up, but they are finished hiking. We head back through a path Ken said "tends to be wet" and I say "is flooded and impassible". The boys go on ahead anyhow and we all end up soaking our sneakers.
impatient. I turn around away from what I presume to be the path to the direction I believe the main road is only to find the pond we are to circumnavigate. We can see the car. I try to get they boys to continue around the pond, but the younger two are out of patience. There's a beaver dam visible on the other side and I wanted to see it close up, but they are finished hiking. We head back through a path Ken said "tends to be wet" and I say "is flooded and impassible". The boys go on ahead anyhow and we all end up soaking our sneakers.We get back to the car and remove our shoes and socks. I found a couple more 
ticks on the way but was surprised to find no more at this point. My oldest finds one on him during the ride back and my youngest says he sees one on the middle child but I am unsure if he is serious or not. Back home during a tick check we find a huge tick attached to him. All the boys are scooted into the shower with instructions to lather up very well. When I first sit down to start this entry, I find another tick on my arm. Attached. Only the one on Evan was a dog tick. All the rest, I believe, were deer ticks.
ticks on the way but was surprised to find no more at this point. My oldest finds one on him during the ride back and my youngest says he sees one on the middle child but I am unsure if he is serious or not. Back home during a tick check we find a huge tick attached to him. All the boys are scooted into the shower with instructions to lather up very well. When I first sit down to start this entry, I find another tick on my arm. Attached. Only the one on Evan was a dog tick. All the rest, I believe, were deer ticks.
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