When you come right down to it, not much distinguishes a hike from a
walk in the woods. That's especially true if you hike in Rhode Island,
where the highest elevation amounts to barely more than a bump in the
landscape.
In other New England states, hikes tend to be aimed up mountains -- the
Whites, the Greens, the Berkshires. Each of these ranges has peaks that
attract a certain set of people -- hikers -- for whom the challenge of
following a trail from base to summit holds an ineffable appeal.
It's something that you either get, or you don't. The act of placing one
booted foot in front of the other, scrambling over rocks and scanning
tree trunks for trail blazes is not for everyone. Those who love it cite
the communion with nature, the challenge of attaining a lofty peak and
surveying the landscape from above. Those who don't say, well -- It's
just a walk in the woods.
Late May to early June is a great time of year to go hiking. Finally,
the last gnarly patches of snow have melted away. (Just a couple of
weeks ago, you could still see some on Wachusett Mountain, an hour from
Providence.) Black flies, the bane of hikers, haven't yet appeared, and
the new green leaves on the trees haven't matured to the point that they
obscure views.
R.I. hiking trails
Even if Rhode Island has no mountain
peaks, it does have well-maintained hiking trails in Pulaski Memorial
State Park (part of the George Washington Management Area in
Burrillville), in Arcadia State Management Area in Exeter, and in the
Great Swamp Management Area of South Kingstown.
Less well-known is Snake Den State Park in Johnston. Just a few miles
west of Providence on the far side of the Route 295 loop, Snake Den is a
canyon-like fissure reached by hiking a trail that leads just a mile or
so off Brown Avenue. The trail is not blazed, but it is easy to follow
and climbs gently to the top of a steep canyon wall that gives views to
the south and east across a green landscape so unmarred that it might be
New Hampshire.
It makes for a interesting walk in the woods.
To get there from Providence, take Route 6 west out of the city, staying
on 6 while it makes its confusing jog across Route 295. At the traffic
signal for Brown Avenue, turn right and drive for almost two miles.
(You'll pass the entrance to Dame Farm on the right.)
On the right, look for a boulder-blocked trail entrance, marked only by
a sign that says No Dumping on State Property. There's a small parking
pull-out across the road.
Follow the wide trail into the woods and between steep rock walls to a
clearing about a quarter-mile in. You'll see a stone campfire ring on
the right and a lone pine tree with three trunks to the left. At this
point, follow a smaller trail left and step across stones to ford a
stream.
The trail climbs easily through pines and oaks, and before you know it,
you're hiking the steepening lip of a rock wall. After another half-mile
or so, the trees open up to reveal the view.
Near the summit, a rock cairn looks as if Indians might have left it
just hours before. It's a solitary place, and that's part of its appeal,
because it lets you feel like an explorer.
Other nearby areas
At other close-to-home hiking areas,
such as the popular Purgatory Chasm in Sutton, Mass., you won't feel as
much like Lewis or Clark, because you're likely to be crossing trails
with school groups or families with children.
Like Snake Den, Purgatory is a cleft that slices through rock walls. The
nearest place where Rhode Islanders can experience mountain hiking is
Wachusett Mountain, an hour's drive north of Providence in Princeton,
Mass.
With an elevation of just over 2,000 feet, Wachusett is the highest
Massachusetts mountain east of the Berkshires. On a clear day, its
summit offers sweeping views that extend north to New Hampshire, west to
the Berkshires, and east to the Boston skyline.
Wachusett is well-known for the ski area on its northeast face, but the
rest of the mountain has a great network of hiking trails that are
popular year-round.
Four trails lead to the summit, and about a dozen more connectors
complete a varied network.
The easiest trail to the summit -- the half-mile Pine Hill Trail --
starts at the visitors center part-way up the side of the mountain. It's
good for beginners, who can do a two-mile loop connecting Pine Hill with
the Harrington and Bicentennial connectors in about an hour and a half.
The most difficult trail -- Old Indian -- begins from a trailhead on
Balance Rock Road and climbs 1.2 miles to the summit. A loop might take
as long as three or four hours to complete.
There is no fee to use Wachusett's 17 miles of hiking trails, and dogs
on leashes are permitted. Trail maps are available at the visitors
center, which is on Mountain Road off Route 140 in Princeton, just past
the entrance to the ski area.
The summit of Wachusett is also accessible via a five-mile automobile
road, which is closed in winter but opened for the season last week.
At the top, there's a small parking area for an Army Corps of Engineers
fieldstone service building, a stone-edged goldfish pond, a fire-watch
tower and several radio towers. Picnic tables provide a place to rest,
and viewing platforms have panoramic diagrams to allow visitors to
identify prominences of the surrounding countryside, such as Monadnock
and Greylock mountains.
A short walk brings you to the top of the Wachusett ski area's chairlift
and signs warning skiers to keep their tips up as they exit the lift.
For anyone who's skied at Wachusett, it's an otherworldly experience to
see it bare of snow. (The chairlift doesn't operate off-season.)
Mount Monadnock
Another hour's drive north from Wachusett
is Monadnock in Jaffrey, N.H. -- a lonely peak that is famous for being
the most frequently climbed mountain in the world, after Mount Fuji in
Japan. At 3,165 feet, Monadnock is a National Natural Landmark so
distinctive that its name, which means "mountain that stands alone" in
the Algonquin language, is now applied to any such solitary peak, as in,
"That mountain is a monadnock."
Because of its location within easy driving distance of one of the most
heavily populated parts of the country (the Boston metropolitan region),
the original Monadnock attracts so many thousands of climbers each year
(most during the peak months from spring through fall) that it's
difficult for hikers there to find that solitary explorer feeling.
But that's not to say that Monadnock doesn't offer a wonderful hiking
experience -- just that you won't be alone in experiencing it.
Hikers who've done them both say that although Monadnock offers longer
hikes (because it is a taller peak), they are not generally any more
challenging than Wachusett's.
Dozens of established trails network around Monadnock. Most start from
the visitors center and parking lot in Monadnock State Park on Route 124
just west of Jaffrey Center, a classic New Hampshire village of white
clapboard houses and a pretty green. There is a $2.50 entrance fee to
the park, and dogs are not allowed on the trails, even on leashes.
Maps are available in the visitors center. Most novice hikers are
directed to the White Dot Trail, a moderately difficult 4.2-mile loop to
the summit.
Snake Den State Park, Hartford Avenue, Johnston. Rhode Island Division
of Parks and Recreation, 222-2632.
Monadnock State Park, Route 124, Jaffrey, N.H. (603) 532-8862 or New
Hampshire Divison of Parks and Recreation, (603) 271-3254.
Wachusett Mountain State Reservation, Mountain Road, Princeton, Mass.
(978) 464-2987, or Massachusetts Division of Forests and Parks, (617)
727-3180.
Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, Purgatory Road, Sutton, Mass. (508)
234-3733 or (617) 727-3180.
