Fisherville Brook, Exeter

Sunday, January 10

Fisherville Brook was clearly my most hiked property in 2009. It's beautiful, convenient, and accessible. When I first walked it in May I knew it would make a great Cub Scout hike. And it did.

Every year we do a January hike, and every January there is a boy who thinks a spring jacket and tennis sneakers are appropriate winter hiking attire. Last year it was a fifteen year old sibling. I have a warning in the flier, but this year I decided to emphasize the point. The high temperature was expected to be 27 and I cautioned the parents to make sure they were prepared. They responded in droves. By not attending.

Five boys, my three and two others, hiked the Blue and Orange loop on the south side of the property. The weather was crisp, clear, and cold, but luckily there was little wind. The snow was not too fresh so animal prints were not as clear as they were last January, but the going wasn't as tough either. There was some complaining, but no real problems. The scouts that attended were prepared and everyone enjoyed themselves.

I made a ton of hot chocolate because I didn't know how many to expect. Suffice to say, we had a ton left over. Shortly after returning to our car, some people with small children exited the trail. One boy came up to us and asked for hot chocolate. He told him to ask his parents, who said no. I approached them and said how we had way more than we could use and offered hot chocolate to everyone. Happily they took us up on it.

These winter hikes teach some important lessons. First, it give a child practice in preparing for the weather. A Boy Scout is told he must "Be Prepared", but before that can happen, he needs practice. Also, all of us are tempted to spend the winter indoors, sheltered from the world. There is no need for this. Winter blues effects many of us, myself included. An excursion like this allows us to engage winter, and not fear it. And getting children into the outdoors is so very important. It's very disheartening that so many chose to stay indoors.

Boy Scout Hike, Fisherville Brook, both sides

Saturday, May 30

Boy Scouts need various things to advance in rank. Map and compass skills, nature knowledge, and just to be on scout outings. This is why I was disappointed when only three scouts went on our hike. Two of which went on the Great Swamp hike.

The path I chose was to do the South side of Pardon Joslin road, the entire orange then blue loops, then do the North red and white loops. We spent a lot of time going over material, so it took a while. My son and his best friend could not restrain from chattering away about nonsense. We passed a lady clearly inspired by the bird watchers from the old Woody Woodpecker cartoons. I smiled and said hello. She said "I could hear you over the hill. Shush!" When we passed her way again, she was clearly unhappy to see us.

I handed the Audubon map and a compass to one boy and asked him to orient it, and locate our position. He did so in short order. I gave it to my son's buddy and he did the same, but I was certain it was a lucky guess. A little later on I had him try again and he was way off. Again, I explained it and I think he understood.

I intended on doing both the red and while loops on the North side, but time was growing short, so we did just the Red outer loop. Not a soul was seen. A scout did find a tiny deer tick nymph on his shirt, but that was it for those suckers. We returned to the parking lot and drove home.

A rude comment may get the immediate desired result from a small but noisy band of Scouts, but I wonder if this lady understood that the greater good is served when as many noisy kids as possible become familiar with, comfortable in, and learn to respect our natural places. When these places are viewed as exclusive, they will not be valued by all.

Fisherville Brook, Exeter

Friday, May 15

My work hours were changed and now I have three hours to kill on Fridays between when I get off and when I have to be at karate. What is there to do in, or near, North Kingstown? Not too much, it would seem. You can browse the dollar store only so many times.

Then it hit me! Take a hike!

Friday after Friday came and went before the stars lined up. I drove to the ASRI Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge in Exeter, parked, then walked onto the trail. Then I walked back off of the trail. I had assumed I was on the North, red loop, but the blazes were actually blue. I was actually on the part South of Pardon Joslin road. It was listed as 1.25 miles, but because I included the yellow blazed, Cedar Swamp loop, I'm guessing it was closer to 1.4 miles. At the South end of the property I picked up the orange loop for another mile or so.

What a gorgeous piece of land! It's rare that I get to take a walk all by me onesies, but it seems it's now a routine event. I walked without my regular gear. I usually over prepair, but this time, because of the length, I had nothing but the ASRI map and my car keys. No water, no snack, no compass, no nothing. The trail was well marked, fairly flat, and easy going.

Benches, both park style and log constructed, are located throughout. The day was hot and I walked with purpose. Sometimes it's hard to slow down, but I was just coming from work and I had a deadline. The canopy was fairly open so a fair amount of sunlight filtered down. Part of the trail borders fields for even more sun.

There is an historic cemetery, an beautiful pond, and a waterfall. It occurred to me later why I've never made it to this delightful hike. It's not in the Walks and Rambles. Not my copy, anyhow. I'll have to see if it's in the forth edition.

I slowed down, even sat for a moment, the closer I got to the parking lot. I was ahead of schedule. I got to karate with lots of time to spare. This would be a great hike for cub scouts.

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.

Cub Scout Hike, Parker Woodland, Coventry

January 25, 2009

In my last blog entry, I mentioned my Cub Scout Pack's annual winter hike. This year it was held at the George B. Parker Woodland in Coventry. Later that day I actually walked the hike with my 12 year old son, Peter. I met the caretaker (what a sweet gig!) after he locked me in. We ended the hike about a quarter to five and the parking lot closes at 4:30. He suggested I let ASRI know that I was going to have a large group, which I did. I was guessing about 20, adults included. He was real nice. I wish I remembered his name.

That hike was today. There was talk of below zero wind chill, but I don't pay much attention to weather forecasts. It wasn't going to rain, and that was good enough for me. Eleven scouts, plus assorted parents and siblings caravaned down to Coventry, with one family meeting us there. I started by giving them regular Leave No Trace speech. Then, off we went!

The plan was to follow the standard path to the Caleb Vaughn farm site (now just a cellar hole), then follow Biscuit Hill Road about half way to a side path, which leads towards parking lot #2. When that trail hit the brook, we banged a right towards the mysterious cairns. Then we meet up with our original trail, bang a left, and head to the car. Two miles total, maybe. We, in fact, followed this plan.

The way to the Vaughn farm took way longer than I expected. The snow, even though packed down from foot traffic, made the going slow and difficult. Deer tracks were everywhere. Tracks made by field mice and squirrels were also present. Scat with fur was found very near the trail. The scouts yelled "Poop!" with excitement. I cautioned them not to take souvenirs. Fox or coyote, I would guess. Coyote prints were also in evidence.

Part of my leave no trace bit was to talk about planning ahead. One thing I found out in planning was that dogs were not permitted, and I mentioned that to them. When we reached the Vaughn farm, the other family arrived, along with their family dog. The boys saw them and shouted "No dogs allowed!" Wow, they listened! The family is a very responsible bunch and the oversight was easily forgiven. They managed their dog very well, which is another LNT principle.

Back in December, I continued the regular trail, but in order to shorten the hike a bit, I decided to take the cubs down Biscuit Hill road, so named because a cart of biscuits destined for General Rochambeau's army supposedly overturned there. Biscuit Hill road is less a road and more a slightly wider, straighter foot path. In fact, due to the lack of maintenance and that no previous foot traffic to flatten the snow, the regular trail may have been easier. One benefit of the road was that it avoided some ridge walking that would have been treacherous with ice. I was concerned for a bit that I would not find the right turn, but it was quite clear once we came apon it.

We walked down to Turkey Medow Brook, which we had crossed early in our hike. The boys paused to take a look. We turned right towards the cairns. There was a hike put on by the RI Wild Plant Society that talked about these structures, but I was busy that weekend. I did my best to explain what I knew of them.

A couple from our group sped ahead. I decided to walk so that I could still see the last member of our party, so my speedy friends left my sight. I learned later that a 15 year old sibling was wearing thin sneakers and had some major foot freeze going on. Ah, the lessons nature teaches us. No harm done.

Back in the parking lot we had hot chocolate with marshmallows. Near boiling hot chocolate was put into my car back home and two and a half hours later, it was still too hot to drink.