Wild Bills To Peters Rock - Chapter Two

On Sunday we traveled up to Massachusetts to load up the structures and wood Wild Bill was donating.

We also got a quick tour of one of the trails Bill made - this one was called Yellow Brick Road and it it this tremendously long narrow boardwalk that opened up into a cloverleaf and "passing lanes" - it was mind boggling!

Lastly, back in North Haven, CT, we unloaded the truck and drove up higher to unload more and rebuild one of Bill's features on a trail in the woods (not pictured).

It was a long day but the crew was great and we had fun!

West Rock Quickie

 Before our Bike Chapter Meeting I rode a quickie at West Rock. It was late afternoon and it was already getting dark :-(

No photos this time...

Wet Hike - EoK

It was cloudy, overcast and still wet from the last couple of days rain. Since conditions were not good for biking, I ventured into the woods on foot, hiking up to the Salmon River ravine and back. It got so  hot and humid I only need my t-shirt!

West Rock Plus

Ages ago I rode here but don't remember much of anything. I popped down to North Haven to check out the park and had good intentions to ride Peter's Rock as well.

I parked at the Lake Wintergreen lot and headed north - all the way to Form Book Reservoir. It was a beautiful and a lovely ride. The first trail: Glenwoods was practically invisible with all the leaf cover and I veered off trail TOO many times!

The Red Trail (The Shire) was amazing and appropriately named as sections felt like you were in a Tolkien movie! After reaching Form Book Reservoir, I decided to head back and after a long and steady climb up the access road,  a bomb downwards after the turn was a welcome relief.

Lastly, I capped off the ride with a loop around Lake Wintergreen.

The Ride

See the heart?

I turned around here

Not great pictures
"The Shire"

The 3 photos above are at Lake Wintergreen

Next Stop Lunch and Peter's Rock

I headed over to Peter's Rock and chowed down at the pizza place across from the entrance. I had a 12" chicken parmesan sub and a Sam Adams lager.  Oops - I felt like a tired slug when I hit the trails at Peter's Rock and "petered out" [pun intended] after just doing the Round and Round loop. Shame!

Tidal Marsh Trail

Feeling like I had to do something else before returning home, I ventured over to the entrance to the Tidal Marsh Trail. I will be hiking this shortly to explore the eerie remnants of the Cedar Hill Railroad Yard.

Capturing that fiery red tree before heading home was a fitting ending to a lovely trek south. In the evening,  I returned to the Quarry View Drum Circle - it was a long but fruitful day!

The Old Road Beckoned...

After yesterday's hike and visual confirmation of the old road, I decided to go back and visit the west  side of the stream and look for the crossing. 

Green Rectangle is enlarged below

I parked at the med center at the end of Nye Road and bushwhacked thru the woods

The first thing I came to was an old ATV trail

I crossed the phone/power line clearing and bushwhacked thru more woods eventually finding the old road

After hiking back westward out to the clearing again- I started eastward on the old road

It was a gully

and there was another old road parallel to it, just a bit to the south

Looking back westward you can see how the two roads converged

I gingerly made it across the stream on the stones...

then hiked a bit more on another road remnant...

and found the old road gully. Here's a photo looking eastward of the old road on the eastside of the stream

Sure enough I found the actual old crossing, and photographed the stone abutments - how cool!

Parting shot of the streambed looking south