Category: ruins

Browning Mill Pond Loop – Arcadia State Management Area – Exeter Rhode Island

I can no longer blame covid lockdowns for my increasing poundage. Time to get off my ass and do some hiking! Mild hiking though because it’s already a bajillion degrees out and I have the knees of an old peasant woman.

This particular hike was inspired by a random person on FaceBook who posted photos of some sort of ruins and said they were in the Arcadia State Management Area but failed to say which trail or how to get there, only cryptically remarking this whole area was once used for quarrying and there is still some evidence of such. What kind of evidence?? They did not specify.

And since I didn’t know this place had multiple trails I was left to ask the internet for an address. The address it gave me was to their headquarters, which we’d very quickly learn was nowhere near any goddamn trails. However we didn’t know this because the map on the bulletin board here made it look like the trails were a quick skip down the street. So we tried. Turns out this was literally the worse map I have ever seen, I think a Kindergartener may have made it. There were no trails just at the bend down the road as it seemed to specify, just residential houses. And since we were in almost direct sunlight on the road I was already overheating but worse my ankle froze up, and then my foot, and then I was limping in great pain and suggesting we go back to the car because my memory of passing the pond trail said it was nowhere near here. And I was right. It was past the bend, a good way down the road, after a left turn and a ways down that stretch, all and all probably 1-2 miles from our starting point! And there were three ill-marked parking lots. I ended up in the one meant for kayaks and small boats! But too aggravated at this point to change that we decided it was probably fine as none of the other cars here had boats or boat hitches either. There was however a bathroom so even though the trail (road?) wasn’t really marked we headed in anyway.

That’s how we ended up accidentally sneaking up on a lady on her cell phone who was sitting at one of three picnic tables. Did we just park at a picnic spot or was there an actual trail here?? It wasn’t clear until we were at the pond’s edge. There was indeed a loop trail going all the way around it but again this was a hunch, there was no bulletin board or map here which is seriously odd considering there were walking bridges and picnic tables.

Into the woods we went following the yellow trail markers. Initially this led to a serious of probable fishing spots, would it go farther? Yes, yes, it did. The trail was well travelled and didn’t seem to have any other trails jutting from it so luckily there was no real issue getting lost. The pond was visible for most of the hike to some degree and was picturesque. There was even a Canadian goose and a cormorant on a rock… which is odd considering they’re ocean birds but whatever. Maybe it got sick of the rest of the flock and decided fresh water was where it’s at.

There was indeed one ruin on the trail, not the one I’d seen photos of. I do not know what it was back in the day but it was fairly impressive. Not far from there was a lovely dam. By this time my feet were swollen and on fire so I ambled to the water’s edge, ripped off my shoes and socks, and dunked them into the sweet cold water. BLISS. I stayed in that spot for a few minutes just cooling down before returning to our adventure, still not knowing if this was a loop trail. Turns out it was. We were maybe 2/3rds of the way around when we were at the dam. All Trails seems to think this loop was one and a half miles and should take 30 minutes to walk around. Admittedly it was easy with very few inclines but 30 minutes?! What are you, jogging?! Slow down! Smell the roses! Or in this case blueberries which were starting to come out already! Nature’s a bit mixed up this year. I also keep seeing fall foliage mixed with spring foliage on the same trees. It’s…. distressing.

In any event this place is probably hopping in the summer. It seemed a nice family friendly kind of place. I would suggest it for anyone looking for a nice easy pond hike. Just beware the maps are absolutely useless. Luckily, it’s a loop trail so that didn’t matter!

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Melville Campground Trails – Newport Rhode Island

At this point I feel I’ve poked and prodded just about every corner Newport RI has to offer but then my trusty companion dusted off an old memory to find this place again and I am so happy he did so because it was another great little hike.

Obviously being a campground it’s probably absolutely infested with children in the summer months but we’re just starting spring so it was delightfully abandoned during this particular adventure. A few RVs were parked in a lot as we drove towards the trailhead. Otherwise this could be the set of a zombie apocolypse movie.

As we got to the trailhead I was enamored by the trees which were grotesquely twisted and bent with claw-like branches reaching in all directions. Clearly this is where every creepy and haunted tree on the island had migrated to. I was almost surprised they weren’t coming to life and hurling apples at us like in The Wizard of Oz.

And beyond those trees? An old rusty and abandoned water tower covered in graffiti and sitting on a nest of millions of broken glass bottle shards. Well now we know where the teenagers go while their younger siblings are traipsing about the trails or locked in the family caravan. *whistles*

The other teenagers of a Gothic persuasion probably hung out at what looked like a summoning circle – two old picnic tables looking at a fire pit and guarded by a cloud of bats. There was a decently sized bat house within view although it did look like it could use some repair.

We did all the trails because they were short and sweet and kept in with chain link fences to one side and the ocean on the other. There were a few cute fishing nooks around the pond and I could see how this could be a nice family destination.

We reached the far end which seemed like a dyke of sorts behind a cute little neighborhood. A solitary young woman walked out here trying not to make eye contact. My companion remarked it was oddly quiet, the only people noises we could hear were from a nearby arena. I looked curiously on at a gaggle of sail boats, still trying to figure out why anyone would want to get on one. My lifelong fear of the ocean has left me deeply suspicious of boats.

We headed back after doing the entire round, satisfied we’d gotten our exercise in for the day.

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Black Point Ruins Narragansett Rhode Island

I am continuing my quest to get to 500 Catching Marbles Entries before the end of this year. We’re running out of time, energy, and good weather… which could explain why we decided to go to the beach in DECEMBER.

Oh my, was it BRISK! A fair wind was coming off the waves and even I, who has been overheating like a cheap European car all summer, was a bit chilly. Big gray clouds went out to sea as far as the eye could see. Despite being cold as a witch’s tits it was actually kinda gorgeous.

The beach had a huge parking lot which I am sure costs money to park in during the on season, however December was so far into the off season that we found a pack of herding dogs joyously running up and down the beach with their owners despite big signs reading, “NO DOGS ALLOWED ON BEACH.” I get it. You and your friends were insane enough to adopt a gaggle of border collies during your golden years AND you live in a densely populated area. Where else are you and the other crazy grandmas going to go to burn off some of that unused herding energy?? And I for one am all for it. Even though one of these dogs didn’t like me. I think I surprised him.

But really this beach must be HOPPING in the summer! It had a series of roofed structures with picnic tables and a bunch of benches to watch the waters and people going by. And the parking lot was ENORMOUS. I never understood the appeal of sunning next to a thousand other strangers while their children trip over you but hey, to each their own! I preferred the beach now… cold, unforgiving, and completely taken over by a less stressful kind of creature: birds. Holy birds! There were sea gulls and a swarm of ADORABLE sandpipers and some weird sea ducks?? (which I thought were pipers when I was taking photos because I have shit distance vision and frequently have no idea what I am taking pictures of. Sadly this led me to not taking photos of the actual pipers. Just as well, those fuckers are as fast as they are adorable.)

But we weren’t here for the beach. No matter how many rocks I shoved in my pockets proved otherwise. (As a lifelong cool rock collector you have no idea how deliriously happy I am to have a fish tank to put them in now. It’s a veritable rock scrapbook of places I’ve been… with fish!) We were actually here to check out the ruins that I saw someone post on Facebook. I mean… this is how I will be lured to my death some day.

The ruins were waaaaaay on the other side of the beach so we hoofed it through the sand until I was again, overheating. I looked on slightly irritated because my companion was gliding over that sand while I sunk into it like a water buffalo with four left feet. It’s SO MUCH harder to walk through when you’re sinking! Whhhhhy?! Why must I lack so much grace?!

Just as steam was starting to pour out of my ears we reached our destination. The ruins of the Windswept mansion which sits directly between the Scarborough Beach and Black Point. It was built in 1895 on the backs of chronic pain sufferers. Well, at least their hard-earned cash paid for it. You see the money used for building it was earned through selling the family business – Perry Davis’s Vegetable Pain Killer. Believed to be the first such tincture marketed directly to chronic pain sufferers it probably had quite a punch being made almost entirely of alcohol and opium which are suspicious vegetables if you ask me. Eventually it became a fancy restaurant Cobb’s by the Sea before changing hands and starting a long retirement of vacancy in 1952. Ravaged by no less than 5 fires little remains of what was once a 21 room mansion. However, what is still standing is still pretty neat and made for some lovely photos! And a brief study in pediatric psychology as we found some youngin’s notebook ripped up and spread to the wind inside the ruins. Pages and pages and pages of, “I am certain I love my girlfriend.” I wish I could have written back. Sweetheart, whatever mindfuck she’s putting you through ain’t worth it. RUN my child! RUN LIKE THE WIND!

And that was our trip to the ruins. This place was definitely entertaining on this off-season day and wasn’t hard to get to. If you love ruins, or beaches, or just a bit of fresh air I do suggest checking it out.

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Jewell Hill – Southern Loop Trail – Ashby MA

It’s really funny how this whole travelling and exploring thing works. Just when you think you have scraped the bottom of the barrel and have nowhere left to check out the universe steps in and guides you. Today was no different. I had decided to another google search and didn’t expect to come up with anything close to home but I was surprised this new location popped right with only 4 reviews. Why not, let’s check it out. I grabbed my mom, who needs to get out more, and we made a beeline to this new fascinating destination.

Jewell Hill is a no longer used dairy farm that still has a big hay barn and a few other structures on the property. Trails wind in different directions and are VERY well maintained. But finding it was a little difficult. It’s on Crocker Road and if you drive up Crocker Road from the paved side you will find parking just beyond a speed sign that lowers to speed limit to I think 10 MPH and a farmhouse to the left. If you reach dirt road you’ve gone too far! but really the parking lot was big and open and well-marked. Several cars were already parked there.

This place is GORGEOUS. Without even leaving the parking lot there’s a delightful view of a mountain in the distance. Of course the Autumn trees were giving their last colorful gasp today and the pastural scenery between all this was just so peaceful and fresh. First we walked up to the barn to check it out as it’s very close to the parking lot. We then made our way to the Southern Loop which is the blue trail. I had chosen this trail in particular after looking at the map and deciding it looked the least up hill and not too far (.6 of a mile for the loop bit.) Both me and my mother are in dire need of getting back into shape!

Since we made our way from the barn (taking half the Crocker Farm Trail, and then a good part of the Jewell Hill Trail before reaching the Southern Loop Trail) and not the direct route from the parking lot we were met with a mild but extremely steady incline which proved enough for both of us! We’re both out of shape, getting older, with joint problems so this would likely be nothing to someone young and healthy. Still, if you want an easier route take the trail at the beginning of the parking lot adjacent to the road. It will bring you right to the Southern Loop Trail while skipping a good part of the incline!

The trails here were very well maintained! And scenic! I really felt at peace here. There was just the right amount of diversity between the pasturelands, the little creek, and the forest. I will say it did get muddy at parts! But still, this place was awesome! So lovingly maintained! Several people were here walking their dogs and enjoying one of the last warm days of Autumn. I will definitely go back and check out some of the other trails as well as recommend this place to others looking for some easy to easy-moderate hiking. What a hidden gem! Even better on the way home I found two other trailheads with multiple trails!! I shall be back!

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Weetamoo Woods – Yellow Trail – Tiverton Rhode Island

It was another day just wandering around looking for some good trails to explore when I came across the Weetamoo Woods. Strange name, I thought, as I wandered in. As it turns out this gorgeous scenery came with a gruesome and perhaps entirely regrettable historical narrative.

I had no idea this was somewhere that was tainted with the blood spilled during the King Philip’s War. More so I had never heard the name Weetamoo before. As it turns out she was a woman chef of the Pocasset tribe. She led several hundred men in her own army during King Philip’s War against the colonists. And King Philip – he was her brother-in-law during her third marriage (of five.) Her leadership was largely unrecognized by the white settlers because of her being a woman but she fought valiantly in her short life. Unfortunately, she was eventually cornered by the colonists during King Philip’s War, drowned, and her corpse defiled. They brought her head to be displayed to the public on a pike in Taunton Massachusetts. And her children who had been caught alive? Sold into slavery. Most of this story was narrated on a plaque at the entrance.

Dark. Morbid. And wholly unjustified. No wonder they don’t teach us about what really happened in those early years of our nation during our schooling. It’s much more comforting to just go on believing in the Thanksgiving Story. Everyone being nice to each other…

I was struck by this story. This woman was a force in her own right, and she had followed her heart, led her people, and fought with everything she had. And now I was here, near where she died, just casually ambling through a patch of woods we’ve named after her. I was humbled.

Since I was alone on this particular day and lacking someone with a sense of direction, I decided to stay on the yellow path which cut straight through the forest before ending some ways out. Although I could still hear traffic for quite a while these woods seemed more remote than they were. A few big, gnarled trees took on an appropriately creepy vibe. Most people don’t realize that the trees in these parts used to be huge I mean with trunks you could wrap several people around in a hug – the sort of thing we normally only think of existing in the Redwood Forest on the opposite coast of our country. White settlers cut pretty much every last one of them down. I’ve yet to see any evidence of a tree older than these times but before the settlers trees were so big because they were allowed to grow for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years. Everything you see today is new growth. Trees that began their life after everything else was cut down.

I pondered how different these woods must have looked then during Weetamoo’s life in the mid 1600’s. Were they scary? Perhaps even haunted? I couldn’t blame them if they were. I made sure to talk to the trees a bit and thank them for such a beautiful trail. Whether you believe someone is listening or not doesn’t matter. It never hurts to be kind in these situations. Kind and grateful.

I wasn’t the only out on this day. Lots of people had come with their dogs and they were passing me like no one’s business as I struggled to keep going. My body has not been happy with my recent attempts at getting back into shape and was pitching a fit as it usually does – overheating and stabbing me in the side with sharp pains. I stopped several times to sit on rocks and eventually turned around before finding the end of the trail because by then it was getting dark and I didn’t want to be stuck in the woods with no sweater or jacket for the night. Especially in woods with such a gruesome history. No… I have my limits.

That being said I really enjoyed this trail. It was pretty wet at parts, but it was gorgeous and easy to hike. And all the people with their sweet little dogs? Bonus. Definitely a puppy bonus.

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The Last Damning Accusations of Caroline Cutter’s Gravestone – Elm Street Cemetery – Milford MA

As we all grow older and hopefully wiser we began to take on the gentle wisdom of phrases like, “Let lying dogs lie” but Caroline Cutter may have been an exception to this philosophy. You see after her death in the mid 1800’s her husband spent what I can only guess was a decent bit of money on a scathing 150 word headstone that called out several members of the community by name, accusing them of harassing his beloved to literal death.

Basically, this was a petty feud between a church and a couple who once attended services with them. According to the church Caroline’s husband Calvin Cutter was little more than a shyster. They accused him of bullying other church members into helping him fund his own church across town – a church that ultimately was never built. For these grievances they excommunicated both Calvin and Caroline and Caroline apparently took the blow to her reputation very hard and despite her better efforts was never able to get back into the good graces of the church.

After she died Calvin took it upon himself to make her headstone into one of the pettiest monuments ever carved. In it he claimed the excommunication destroyed his wife’s life, threw her into poverty, and eventually killed her while she was already down. That’s quite a bit of drama. Drama I don’t even think the town wants over 200 years later as a completely unrelated monument/plaque stands two feet from the stone nearly completely blocking it.

Now I don’t know if Calvin really was a na’ardowell, nor do I know if Caroline was really as dramatic as her husband. It seems as if social ostracization may have made both of them a little nutty. And maybe, just maybe, dear old Calvin wasn’t a grifter but just someone with ADD who let his rejection sensitivity spill over into his grief for his deceased wife. Anything could be possible!

But no matter what you believe the stone still reads thusly, Caroline H., Wife of Calvin Cutter, M.D. Murdered by the Baptist Ministry and Baptist Churches As follows: Sep’t. 28, 1838; aged 33 She was accused of lying in church meeting by the Rev. D. D. Pratt and Deacon Albert Adams. Was condemned by the church unheard. She was reduced to poverty by Deacon William Wallace. When an exparte council was asked of the Milford Baptist Church, by the advice of their committee, George Raymond, Calvin Averill, and Andrew Hutchinson They voted not to receive any communication on the subject. The Rev. Mark Carpenter said he thought as the good old Deacon said, “We’ve got Cutter down and it’s best to keep him down.” The intentional and malicious destruction of her character And happiness as above described destroyed her life. Her last words upon the subject were “Tell the Truth and The Iniquity will come out”

This stone is SUPER easy to find, though there is no parking in the cemetery or roadside. I parked at the gas station across the road but I guess there’s also a park around the corner with even more appropriate parking. The cemetery gates are behind a little park monument out front and should be open if it’s daylight hours. As for Caroline Cutter’s stone – it’s in the first row almost in the center right in front of someone’s barn and behind another completely unrelated monument.

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Fort Wetherill Jamestown RI

Fort Wetherill was another one of those finds that I kept having suggested by search engines and AI but nothing online made it look that impressive. Still, it was only a few miles away from where I was staying that day so it made sense to go check it out.

To get to this place you have to wind through a bunch of sweet little neighborhoods reminiscent of European villages. There’s more trees though. And by the time you get there it’s a big park with a ton of parking and no one there. There was literally one other car.

I was not expecting this place to be so massive! Or so taken over by trees. It’s not that old – at least not compared to some of the other forts I have visited for this blog. Fort Wetherill was commissioned during World War II to protect the bay and as a sister fort to Fort Adams – which I haven’t gone to yet but I am sure I will at some point. It’s in complete disrepair now. For the most part it looks like it’s being eaten by a jungle of weeds. Many areas are fenced off from going inside but there are parts you can still go inside or even on top of the fort for some spectacular views of the property and the ocean.

We spent a good chunk of time just wandering around the structure like lost rats. The graffiti was something else. Hilariously someone commented to me that they love the graffiti in New England because you can always read it. And it’s true! We lack the highly stylized fonts of the west coast. In addition to this it was oddly cerebral. Although there were the usual tags there was also some pretty decent art – including a chimp dressed in a gnome cap. And someone had taken the time to hang bizarre vaguely medical looking paper flyers like they may have done in the early 1900’s. It added a certain… ambiance.

I really enjoyed this place. It was a great place to spend the afternoon and probably had some hiking trails too – we just didn’t go that route on this particular day. I don’t know why this isn’t a more known destination although maybe it is and we were just there on an off day. Hard to say as I did also get some responses about other people having loved this place in the past. All and all it was well worth the trip and I think would make a fantastic outing for photographers.

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Blue Hills – Abigail Adams Trail – Milton Massachusetts

It’s come to my attention that if I don’t want to turn into a completely miserable person I need to get out into nature at least once a week when possible. So that’s what we did – this time we ended up at the Blue Hills Reservation for a day of hiking.

The weather was perfect – not too hot, not too cold, and with the trees changing into their vibrant Autumn colors it was just pure bliss to be out here. And we had also decided to bring Stormy the cat along in her little soft cat carrier in the hopes of trying out her harness for the first time.

We parked in the first parking lot we came across and tried to find a trail at random but there were a lot and many crisscrossed and none of them seemed like they were marked with titles… All we knew was that we were trying to reach the summit where there was the ruins of an old observation tower and a weather station. Upward we went!

If we are to believe the signs we only climbed about half a mile from the parking lot before we found what we came for – a big stone structure just quietly sitting in the woods surrounded by picnic tables and overlooked by a tower to one side. I chucked at the old decaying fireplace which had “No fires” written on it. This seemed to be a lovely place to play with the lighting and do a bit of whimsical and nature photography. There were other people about, some even had dogs, but everyone was pleasant and respectful. And that was all good because up until this point I had been struggling with a migraine and such intense dizziness and nausea that I had to take several breaks on my way up. I was asked why I had even bothered to go out on this day but it wasn’t that bad earlier on in the morning when we had left! Such is the nature of my life.

When we got to the top we stopped and let Stormy out of her carrier to go explore a bit with wide eyes. She was very unsure of the place but seemed to settle in a little bit until other hikers would walk by and she’d fixate on them like they were monsters come to eat her. It’s weird as we had both thought she’d been plenty exposed to people up until this point. She didn’t even seem to care about the dogs!

I left her and her human to climb to the top of the observation tower a story above. It was primitive but beautiful and the view on this Autumn day was as breath taking as you’d expect. So many vibrant trees spread over the landscape and off in the distance you could see the city of Boston. I have found Boston to be a strange place – still surrounded by a lot of woods. Eventually my companion made it up here too with the cat and we all enjoyed this great view.

The weather station was a quarter of a mile up another trail, basically just around the corner but it was being renovated and not open to visitors until 2023. Fair enough. On our way down we took the Abigail Adams Trail and ended up in a totally different parking lot, having to walk a little ways past the visitor center to a different parking lot where we found the car still minding it’s own.

This excursion was brief but very enjoyable. I would call the trail short but moderate difficulty as it was mostly a steady incline with lots of rocks with which we had to scrabble across. Not appropriate for anyone who needs a flat or very easy trail, and not enough of a challenge for people into real hiking. The perfect in between!

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Cat Hollow Park – Killingly CT

*If you’re just here for pretty pictures feel free to scroll to the gallery at the bottom, I took a lot!

You know we haven’t done all that much in Connecticut… so on this particular day that’s where we decided to poke around. Only thing is I don’t know squat about Connecticut so I had to conspire with Google. I asked for a town map because I didn’t want to drive much more than an hour. It’d already been a super packed week. On the border of Connecticut I saw Killingly and decided that sounded like a interesting town name and I asked what was there… Cat Hollow State Park was the answer. Even better it was supposed to be a park with the ruins of two old cotton mills in it.

I didn’t really know what to expect. Probably something swank, this is Connecticut after all. And the park was newly established – only running since 2003. What does a baby park look like? Wellllll….

Driving into town it was indeed a posh area filled with great big mansions behind thick brick walls and iron gates. And all the street names had hideously adorably animal names like Doghouse, Cockcrow, Cat Hollow, and my favorite Peeptoad. Did we fall into a fairy book? No, we most certainly did not, because when we drove up to the park it looked thoroughly abandoned. It was a gate across a road with one car parked in front of it, a big trail map bulletin board with NOTHING on it and I mean nothing, not so much as a scrap of paper or hint it ever said anything on it. There was a bench just beyond but it was looking at nothing except the blocked off road. What just happened?! How did we end up here??

Although not impressed by the state of this place we still decided to get out and look around. And in good spirit I decided to place one of my books on the bench to be found by some passerby as part of my book bombing campaign. Who knows, maybe someone will find it and love it.

We were a bit confused at what we saw from there. Beyond the gate it looked like a very new paved road big enough for cars but obviously not driven on by cars. Infact even though the road looked almost brand new it also looked like it’d been left over from some apocalyptic society collapse. It was odd. Not far up the path we found another bench, this one had its leg chained to a pole with no less than three locks but the pole was only 2 feet off the ground which means the chain loop could have easily been lifted over it if someone was insistent on bringing home this bench. Even funnier still the chained loop wasn’t even a loop. Upon further inspection it was just a chain placed on the ground to look like it looped around something. Very odd!

Then we started seeing the weird graffiti. Every big rock seemed to have the same image on it – that of a neon pink spraypainted figure with big X’s for eyes and a crazy hairdo that made it look either like Mom from Futurama or Nosferatu. If there’s anything I have learned in the past few years it’s that teenagers love abandoned places and things. Wherever you can find ruins in the woods you will also find great evidence of teenagers. The two for whatever reason are inseparable and these odd tags throughout the park only further proved this observation.

It wasn’t far in that we came by a fence – the most woeful fence I have ever seen in my life. Behind it there was some sort of wrought iron equipment sat on the river, maybe the remains of a water turbine or something similar. The fence did nothing to keep me away from it as just around the edge of the fence was a path where people were clearly going around to see it anyway. And beyond that there was a rough path into the wilderness which I honestly couldn’t tell if it was made by humans or deer but I figured what the hell might as well “bushwhack” our way through this as one internet guide suggested we might have to do in this park. And it wasn’t too far away that we found the first substantial set of ruins over this river.

This trail seemed to have ended at these ruins so after poking around we headed back up towards the road and continued on foot from there. Apparently, this road extended for half a mile. We wouldn’t get that far though before we found more trails jutting off the sides. We decided to take another one right around the edges of a fence that seemed to have a different set of ruins behind them. This one brought us into the woods to a very serene little spot where the river had more or less dried up so we could wander over it at will.

It was then we realized all the rocks at the bottom of this riverbed were blackened which seemed very weird. Was this some sort of pollution form the 1800’s? Probably not, after coming home I learned these mills all burned down, one as recently as 2001. You could see the charred line on some of the larger rocks a little downstream.

We walked along the river’s edge for quite a while until we came to the biggest feature of the park – a giant stone wall over the river that on a normal day is a beautiful waterfall. They must be suffering drought this year as there wasn’t so much as a trickle. There was however a young man meditating on a rock underneath it, weary of our presence. We wandered on.

I think we ended up doing the trails ass backwards because this is when we found the “picnic area” and the sign denoting the beginning of the trail being choked out by vines. This seemed fitting for this part. Here we also found more graffiti (with one rock literally looking like a kindergartner painted on it) and of course another trail that led under some bridges and out into a field on Main Street. It was cool under the bridges, and we loitered for a while digging the graffiti salamander looking down at us.

After returning from that dead end we found what looked like another trail on the high ground making jokes about bigfoot and starting to sweat from the oppressive heat and humidity. We took a few breaks and just mucked about before finding our way back from where we came. I’m told there’s a mile and a half of trails out there but every map shows something different and when we were on the ground there wasn’t any markers or guides or even any way to note when a trail had started soooo…. it was a fun place to wander but uh, poorly organized on the park’s side. That being said seeing the ruins were very cool and we both enjoyed just chilling out there in nature.

When we finally managed to find our way back to the car it was only then we found the signs saying what we could find here in the park and where to go. They were… in rough shape. Could have been used as the set of a post-apocalyptic horror movie. But hey, I guess it’s an E for Effort?

Sadly no one took my book in the two hours we spent puttering about.

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Purgatory Falls – Lyndeborough NH

I am a relentless insomniac so when I woke up at 5 in the morning for no reason whatsoever I decided to make the best of it and see if I could find a trail. The early morning was eerie as there was almost no traffic and miles of dragon’s breath both hugging the top of Mount Monadnock and tickling the surface of every lake and pond I passed. It would be a PERFECT time to go do a pond hike! And maybe find some more little free libraries to gift a signed book. It sounded good… I had even found a trail online before I left the house. The Heron Pond Trail. This trip was organized. Too organized.

As it turns out there wasn’t a damn thing on Heron Pond Road outside of an elementary school nestled in the woods and a lot of bizarre “reptile crossing” signs. This was doubly frustrating since I passed no less than five trail heads on the way there. Five trail heads I no longer remembered where they were. And every time I thought I might be close to one of them a car would come out of nowhere and lodge itself six inches from my bumper. People had NO patience for a doddering Prius today. None at all. I even got honked at for… get this… switching my blinker on and turning. I know, the audacity! I was only turning to get that damn pickup truck off my ass. It’s always pickup trucks.

Anyway, as I was pissing off every driver on the road by merely existing, I stumbled onto Purgatory Falls! It had clear sign, some available parking, and it was on my bucket list from a few years ago after I had checked out the other side at Lower Purgatory Falls. Serendipity strikes again! This made up for the three cemeteries I passed without checking out. That was painful.

The parking lot was oddly shaped and had enough room on this day for 5 cars. More could have probably fit if the original pickup truck didn’t park like a total asscracker. And this must have been a popular place because up and down the road outside the parking lot there was a lot of no parking signs. I toddled out, took a photo of their sign and headed in. Also if you see the border collie listed on the missing poster please call those poor people. They PLASTERED the entire area with these notices. Clearly this is a much loved and very missing dog.

Speaking of dogs… As I headed up the trail an old couple were coming out with their bear of a dog that they were keeping on a super short leash which I took to mean I should keep a good distance. I tried. But there isn’t much path. Luckily, he was only holding the dog back because he was wet and not because he wanted to potentially eat me. After stating as much I laughed, approached, and gave him a good scratch. I think it was a Burmese Mountain Dog. Huge, fluffy, probably very huggable when not wet.

Anyway…. that distraction aside I kept walking. Just like in Lower Purgatory Falls this path was… confusing. It was well maintained and cleared but not marked and seemed to have a complete rat’s nest of little tributary trails jutting off it. All seemed to lead to the same place, so I tried not to think too much about it. I can say I was absolutely delighted to find the same graffiti here that there was at Lower Purgatory – that of a spray-painted rock with cat ears reading PURRgatory. I mean if you’re going to paint graffiti you should always make sure it’s 1) adorable and 2) punderful.

I wasn’t out there terribly long when I came to a great chasm where I am guessing the falls usually are – the only thing is we’re currently suffering a drought and the water was the lowest I’ve ever seen, only a tiny trickle of a gully below. Even so I had walked far enough into the woods not to hear traffic anymore and it was still beautiful. I walked on until I found a little branched off mini trail along the water’s edge. There I found a huge gear of some sort clearly from another era just chilling in what should have been the river. Because it was so dry I was able to climb over the river to see it as well as the stone ruins that surrounded it. Twitter tells me it was part of a water turbine and probably produced power at some point. This makes sense for the area – it may have even been part of a mill. Who knows. I sat there on a fallen tree playing with this artifact and enjoying the woods for quite some time. It felt nourishing but I had other things to do so I continued on. I walked until I could smell the distinct odor of cow poo and see an electric fence. This is where the trail ended for me. I *think* the trail was supposed to hook up with the trail through Lower Purgatory but if this is the case I got off the beaten path somehow. Oh well, it was still a decent enough distraction and I left feeling content. By the time I left at 9:30 or so in the morning the parking lot was so full I was barely able to get out – in fact I had to back out into the road blind. Always love doing that. In a Prius. On a busy 50MPH road. Keeps the blood going that’s for sure!

Anyway, it was a nice little walk. It was easy, short, had some great views, and is apparently very amicable to dogs. Although I imagine it’s probably much prettier when there are actual falls here… I don’t know, maybe save that for another day!

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