Today I started what has been a goal of mine: to take my dog for a walk across the state of Connecticut. She is barely a year old and loves to walk. I originally wanted to ride my bike across CT and the closest i came was a few years ago when I got was far as Newtown, when I had run out of time energy and desire.
Realizing that there this walking route will consist of mostly paved roads, I will see what I can do to includes as many open spaces as possible.
Today I started on the Narragansett Trail off of Yagoog Rd in Hopkinton, RI. This route I intended to do is one of the walks in the late Ken Weber's walk books. I figured it would be nice to start with a walk in the woods since I suspect most of this journey will be on roads.
This part of the trail is nice and contains one of my favorite trails, just below Green falls Pond there is nice hemlock glen above a rocky little stream. I haven't been out there in years.
I missed the Narragansett trail (yellow and blue)split going west and instead followed the Tippacansett Trail(yellow) : I didn't realize this until i approached Rte 138. There are several trails with different color blazes and I foolishly missed my turn. That added almost 3 miles to our trip.
My puppy Domino is a 14 pound bundle of joy: her mother is half Corgy and half Jack Russell and the father is rumored to a Bichon Frese. She loves walking and has a great trail sense. At 14 pounds she is about 100 pounds lighter than my last dog, a big black lab.
She is slowly getting used to water, though not a lab (yet) . On this walk we approached a little stream feeding into the pond, well the stream was covered with leaves and other debris, she thought it was solid trail and plop, down she went, she promptly got up and swam the 5-6 feet to the other side, her first swim.
The route: 4.5 mile loop from Ken Weber's book, the eastern section of the Narragansett trail back to RI border on the dirt road. Add 2.8 miles from the unintentional walk on the Tippacansett trail up to rte 138. East west distance across the state, about 1 mile.
Weather, nice sunny day started little cool finished low 60s. windy as heck, nice to hear new leaves in the breeze. highlights, Dom going for first swim, sitting by an old mill site and having an orange, white caps on Green Pond and that hemlock glen.
Next section: Narragansett trail fromYawgoog road to Rte 49 return as loop on rte 49 and dirt road.
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I have always wanted to walk across my native state of Connecticut and with Domino, my new puppy and I might just do it.
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