This post is perfect for the amateur hiker or someone who just wants to get a good laugh reading about someone who is insane (me). There are also lots of pretty pictures!
I've read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods about hiking the Appalachian Trail (the "AT"). I recently finished Cheryl Strayed's Wild about the Pacific Coast Trail (the "PCT"). My summer job in college was mosquito hunting in the woods. Clearly, this makes me a professional amateur hiker.
Some people like to club and zone out to house music just to get "outside their mind" for awhile. Some people do yoga. I prefer to do free, as in NO COST, things--for me, hiking (or just being in the woods) does the trick.
Today's trail was located in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, my hometown. Sorry the picture is blurry.
I did the outer trail, which the map said takes about 2 hours (I have to be honest, I didn't really time myself and I got side-tracked a bunch of times) and is 3 miles long. I took this picture later in my hike, which is why the "you are here" sticker is in the middle.
Here's everything you need (and everything I used):
-Crappy clothes
-Sneakers
-1 water bottle
I also carried my phone and had fun playing in the woods looking for a walking stick, which I picked up towards the end. I'm probably 6-years-old. Halfway through the hike I regretted not braiding my hair so that I could pretend I was Katniss Everdeen. I also convinced myself that people were hiding in the trees waiting to attack-- the only thing that was actually hiding was a big black snake that slithered into the brush when I got close. To me, that wasn't as scary.
Picture break:
This was a really pretty stopping spot that was basically a deck looking out over the pond. The only people (and dogs) I saw for the day walked up on me here (I was trying to catch a tan. Like I said, I got side-tracked quite a bit). I scared them (oops).
If you end up hiking here, this was the entrance to "the deck."
A little ways after this stop I saw a lost hiking shoe lying next to a glass bottle on a boulder. I would have taken a picture, but I convinced myself that a murderer was lurking behind the next corner, waiting for me. From then on, I walked really fast and looked behind me every few feet. Seriously. (Hey, I was alone!).
This fallen tree blocking the path didn't help. I was so freaked out, convinced that my killer knew this spot was blocked and thought I would turn around. I went through it instead, thinking about my hiking books that talked about problems just like this! I felt legit, even if it was baby legit.
This was called "The Boulder Garden."
Towards the end of the hike, I came upon this:
Did you see? I missed it at first.
This was in the middle of the woods. The parents (Wait and Nancy) are in front. The mom and kids all died in November or around the same time (maybe they caught something?). They all died between 1821 and 1822. The dad died 20 years later. Some of the graves you couldn't even read.
Genealogy of the Ellis Family
THE TRADITION in relation to the emigration of the Ellis
family, which was prior to 1724, is that Jeremiah Ellis and
two brothers came over from England, landed at Boston, Mass.,
and there separated, one going south and settling in North Caro-
lina, another in Ipswich, New Hampshire, and the third at
West Greenwich, Kent Co., R. I. This surname is spelled in
the records in a variety of ways, such as Elis, Elce, Else, Alice.
It has been in use as a surname from the earliest times. The
word means stepson, though in some cases the surname has
been derived from the baptismal name Elias, which was in
common use very early in Normandy before the Conquest.
In the Welsh the name is derived from Aleck's, the possessive
form adopted in many names of similar origin.
(IV) Gideon, son of Jeremiah Ellis, was born in West Green-
wich, R. I., in October, 1724, and died there September 30,
1793. He was born, lived, and died at the family homestead.
He was a soldier in the revolution. He married (first) Jemima
Austin, Feb. 14, 1745; she died October 11, 1755. They had
five children: Elinor, Wait, Gideon, Jr., who was a pioneer of
Cayuga County, New York, and some of his descendants are
now living at Aurora and Ithaca, New York; Rufus, and Ger-
mania.
Apparently, Wait farmed the area off of the trail in the early 1800s.
About 10-15 minutes later, I was back at the parking lot, thinking about Katniss, the Ellis family, and the killer I left behind in the woods.
Overall, the trail was nice and long and was great for someone who gets bored quickly-- the views changed from pond to field to woods to rocks and back again. There were also plenty of resting spots and areas for exploration (off the trail). Let me know if you go!
