Boy Scout Hike, Parker Woodland, Coventry

Saturday, March 28

My son's troop was looking for a good medium length hike. I already took the Cub Scouts to Parker Woodland for a two-ish mile hike, so I suggested the entire circuit including both Coventry and Foster. Seven miles, per the ASRI published map.

The weather, which was supposed to be iffy to fine, was excellent. Slight sprinkles for a minute or two, and the sun came out later. Five adults and eight scouts came along.

Two of the scouts freshly crossed over, and a third 12 year old also joined recently. I was curious to see how they did. I suggested to the ranking scout he make sure any and all material needed for tenderfoot was covered when possible. Owen did a great job and all three newbies learned a lot.

We saw evidence of woodpeckers, carpender ants, toads, oak wasps, canada geese, blue jays, and even saw a black butterfly. I wanted Owen to do the lion share of the education, but the cub leader in me couldn't resist giving a spiel or two about the plant life. Few plants have leafed out at this point, but ferns were in evidence.

There were a couple cellar holes of interest, including the Caleb Vaughn farm house mentioned in January. We got to table rock, which is a flat rock ballanced on a couple smaller ones, and ate lunch. We were running behind, so we shortened the trip by a mile or two.

I didn't bring a camera. My wife brought it on vacation in Ireland and I hadn't had a chance to empty it of pictures and charge the battery. Sorry.