Weetamoo Woods, Tiverton - October 23, 2016

Patriot Fan

Closer to home this weekend. Up early and out of the house without even one cup of coffee...busy day ahead. We decided to go back to Weetamoo Woods in Tiverton this Sunday, it's close by and it is very pretty. I chose a restaurant in Island Park (Portsmouth), Rhode Island which is right on the beach. . . a perfect place to start the morning. It turned out to be a great choice. The food was fantastic, great eggs, spuds with chourico hash and perfect toast. Nana said her veggie omelet was also made to perfection. We will come back here. As it turned out it was also only about ten minutes form the woods. When we arrived there was only one other car parked in the lot - we have it to our selves. I have made another video  of our hike and since I didn't get any complaints from the last video I will stick it in here.

I have fun making videos so let me know what I am doing right or what I am doing wrong or what kinds of information you would like to include in the videos. Saturday was a wet day with torrents of rain and Sunday morning (hiking day) started off with a roaring west wind which continued to build

Lots of stone walls

 as the day progressed.  Once we stepped onto the trail there was no sound or any effect from the wind at all..these are nice dense woods. There is a great variety of trees and bushes and mushrooms and all sorts of plants. The trail is easy walking and well marked. Highly recommended. We are always amazed at the number of stone walls there are deep in the woods. You might ask "Why would they take the time to build all of these walls in the woods?" Well they didn't of course. These were all fields and the walls were made from the stones they removed from the fields. Coming from Illinois where the soil is rich and black and virtually without a stone, I cannot fathom the hardships of farming in New England back in the 'olden days'. What is also surprising is that the ground is still filled with stone!

Pappa and his silly hat

It must have been back breaking work to dig the stone and transport it to the fence. During todays's walk we met several people and a few dogs and people on their mountain bikes. There are Holly trees here that are the size of Oaks and an area filled with Rhododendrons. Way back in the woods we came upon the foundations of something which was very large at one time. It was built along side of a very small stream which we guessed must have been used either as a power supply or to cool the building somehow. All in all a great walk today. Nana and I figured that the total distance was 3.8 miles on the route that we took, and there is lots more to explore here.

Pix

Little white mushroom

Nana on the trail

Nana & Pappa

Nice fungus

Back on th eRed Dot trail

Tiverton - Fort Barton - 9-4-16

Goofy Nana

Sunday started off well at the Cozy Kettle Diner in Fall River...we were on the way to Fort Barton in Tiverton. The Cozy Kettle was a nice little neighborhood breakfast joint with just the right amount of everything. Friendly waitress, charm and no line to wait in. And the home fries were some of the best I have had, filled with spices, peppers and onion and cooked up just right. They even got my toast toasted just the way I like it. To top it all off it wasn't at all expensive either, although we did splurge on an additional plate of crepe and apple..which was very good indeed. Once we finished up and paid we set the GPS and headed on down to Fort Barton and the 'Sin and Flesh Brook'.

A bit of history

Parking was limited along the main road but we found a spot, strapped on the backpacks and grabbed out hiking sticks and were off, up the hill. A short paved road lead to the top of the hill where there was an elevated observation  platform with a view of the Tiverton basin, Mount Hope Bay and on to the Mount Hope Bridge and Narragansett Bay. The wind was blowing as hurricane/tropical storm/wind Hermine was heading

View from the observation deck 

up the coast and beginning to have an effect on the area, mostly just a windy day but the forecasters were having fun trying to scare everyone with predictions of doom. From the top of the hill, after scrambling up the tower, we headed out on the red dot trail. This is a very pretty winding trail with good ups and downs but not too strenuous. Then we came to this sign. 

I wonder . . .

And you have to wonder just what went on here to name this place Sin and Flesh, I mean, really. I kept looking for both sin and flesh and came away a bit disappointed. The trails are well marked and the walk was a good one today, close to three miles and mostly uneventful. We did meet several people along the trail and everyone was friendly and we even met a cute puppy. The actual Sin and Flesh Brook was completely dry, just a rocky stream bed. We need to come back here once the water starts to flow again. The one bit of excitement, well not excitement as much as - 'oh shit' -  was when Nana bent over to tie her show and he phone fell about a foot to the ground, but it was enough. The screen cracked and that was that.. amazing how it can all change in an instant..and we are all so attached to these darned things. Poor Nana was feeling guilty and anxious and sad all at once..I reminded her that we had purchased the insurance and that the ATT store was right on our way home. 

Damn!

Although she felt bad, she felt better. And as it sometimes happens I got a picture of the moment the phone hit the ground. As we returned to where the tower is we approached from the rear and were able to make out the original earthworks of the old fort. This is another of those hidden gems here in Rhode Island. I have lived here for almost 50 years and this was another first for me. So advice to all you readers out there (yes both of you) - get out and explore - there are some really great spots nearby, I guarantee it.