|
|
Letterboxing Northeast Borders Boxes II
(Reports of extreme poison ivy in summertime at the second box...) An easy 2 mile stroll along Narragansett Bay for two letterboxes, over civilized, mostly paved flat trails through the genteel affluence of a colonial era gentleman's farm. Patriotic Bristol RI played an important part in the American Revolution, and much of the town looks just as it did back then, except perhaps for the red, white, and blue median strip down the center of the road. November 2003, Inaccessible to the general public due to current security. Only people with military ID cards and base access can hunt for this one... The Naval Education and Training Center in Newport RI has a scenic location on Narragansett Bay. There is one box located at a historic naval overlook with 2.5 easy round trip miles of walking. Directions: from RI Rt. 138 at the end of the Newport Bridge, turn right onto Admiral Kalbfus Drive at the Jai Alai center, pass straight through the rotary, and travel down to NETC. Once waved smartly through the gate, turn left at the marina and park on your right at the Officer's Club. Backtrack a short way along the road and turn left (northwest) up a wide sidewalk leading towards a flagpole with two small naval cannon in front of the white brick museum and the larger War College campus. Turn left on the road at the flagpole and travel west and then north on the road, keeping Narragansett Bay on your left. You'll pass under a covered section of a parking lot, cross behind some red brick training buildings, and then need to jog right and left for a block to avoid a fenced in shoreline radio antenna. Keeping the water to your left as you head north you'll pass an officer's communication school: listen for tape recorded broadcasts of sea eagles and sea lions, fruitlessly intended to scare away the numerous, messy herring gulls. Regaining the shoreline along a grassy stretch, curve right with the road, pass a fenced in ball field, and then right again to head southwards. At the intersection with another road, turn left and cross over a bridge and off Coaster's Harbor Island. At the end of the bridge, turn left (north) and follow a jogger's path between the water and the steam pipes that used to power the fleet, long since gone to Norfolk. Pass a student parking area (easily identified by the youthful nature of most of the cars and by the multiplicity of license plates), and turn left to circle a small point with a pavilion and barbeque pits. Continue northwards along your jogger's path, keeping the bay to your left, and perhaps hear the sound of Officer Candidates at the Naval Academy Prep School and at the school where doctors and lawyers learn Navy ways. This stretch is quite open and beautiful, with views of Jamestown, the old torpedo testing facility at Gould Island, and of Prudence Island. Finally at the top of the point that forms Coddington Cove, you'll have a view of two large mothballed naval heros, the aircraft carriers USS Forrestal and USS Saratoga. The Battleship Iowa, mothballed here briefly, has been moved (to Hawaii?). Turn south with the path and pass between shrubs and a Quonset-like building. Pass hints of some underground tanks on your left, and then turn left with the path and go up along the steam pipes on a small hill to a pedestrian bridge. At the bridge, find Turtle Rock and take a bearing due north from his back. Walk this bearing to the cliff line, and follow a path to the right several steps to find the Mothball Fleet Letterbox nestled in the rock that anchors a windswept oak. You can then return the way you came, or shortcut west between schools back down to the pavilion point. Planning your trip to include a lunch at the Officer's Club can be a real treat, especially in fine weather when the deck is open.
Note: "Wildlife Management Area" is a euphemism for Hunting
Zone. These areas are not safe for letterboxing during hunting season
from Monday through Saturday. We do not recommend letterboxing here even
on Sundays during the hunting season. This is not a multi-use area and
hunters are not welcoming of hikers, bikers, birders, or boxers during
their season. Spring 2005: Not currently recommended: older boxes that need maintenance and have store-bought stamps. A triple, designed to help connect the dots between several letterbox series placed at Arcadia Management Area in Exeter, Rhode Island. 4.5 miles, fairly rugged, with 2 miles on the road and an optional 1 mile extension. From the hiker's parking lot on the south side of RI Rt. 165 at Beach Pond, head south on the yellow blazed Tippicansett Trail. Down near the southeast end of the pond you'll pass between the pond on your right and stunning ledge on the left, to the Deep Pond Trail intersection. Go left, up and around the trailing edge of the cliffs, and then left again through a cleft in the rock to the VIEW. Exalt in the vista, one of the finest in southern New England (a near-life experience). The Live Letterbox is appropriately just behind you: from the promontory sight a chest high glacial erratic due east. 10 paces further east past this boulder is a small ledge: turn right and take 10 more steps to find your reward behind a small rock in the laurel on your right. Returning back down the cliff to the intersection, turn left (southwest) on the white blazed Deep Pond Trail. Soon pass a fork with an optional right turn to some more spectacular ledges. Continuing left with the white blazes, cross a metal bridge and then pass a minor overlook on the right before the trail widens into a jeep road. The next path on the right simply leads back to the bottom of that little overlook: ignore it. But a short way farther is a highly recommended option, a singletrack trail leading to the right that shoots due south to isolated Deep Pond (one of two isolated Deep Ponds in Arcadia: we don't know if either deserves the name). Near the end of this southern path you'll find an intersection for the Dye Hill and Bushy Brook Trails. Continue south to a sharp left in the trail and pass through a rock garden. Where the trail bears right, go left at 035 degrees on a faint dear trail (this is actually the old Deep Pond Trail, long since re-routed). A few steps down to the pond and quiet peaceful views, and a waist high rock on the left (north) with the Deep Pond Letterbox in its northern side. Back at the main white-blazed jeep trail, continue onward, generally north, to the road at Rt. 165. Turn right, east, for an unavoidable two-mile stretch of highway walking. Sorry: there are just no trails connecting here yet. At least you'll make good time. At the top of a long hill, just past a driveway on the north side of the road, spot the trail that marks the end of Feathers in Your Cap. Cut back in to the forest by turning right (south) on this white-blazed trail. Hike over Mt Tom with good views, and then continue a short way through a rocky area with several perfectly placed zen-erratics. Climb a second small nubble of a hill, up a vein of quartz in the path. Branch right at a fork and find a lighthearted/hardseated charming stone chair with a wonderful view to the northwest. Sit and relax in the chair, taking a deep breath. Spot the Breathe Letterbox 10 feet to your right, one of our most perfectly sited boxes. Continue on the white blazed trail to the RI Fish and Game Check-in station parking area on Rt. 165.
****************
Hints: Warning, contains a spoiler and may upset you if you hate it when people blab the end of movies you haven't seen. But this hint can save significant walking time if you're trying to connect the 13 known boxes current in Arcadia in early fall 1999. Park as for Feathers in Your Cap at the RI Check-in Station on the south side of Rt. 165. Do Feathers 1-2-3, and pick up Breaking Hearts at Breakheart as well, but save Feather #4 for later. Cross over from Feathers to Blurred Borders using the Stepping Stone, and then break into Borders between #3 and 4: turn south on the Tippicansett Trail and do the Border boxes in 4-1-2-3-4 order. Sorry, but you'll have an inevitable 1 mile downhill overlap. Follow Borders back to the hiker's parking area at Beach Pond on Rt. 165, and then do Live and Breathe, picking up Feather #4 along the way, before your return to the Check-in parking lot.
,,,,last updated Tuesday, July 15, 2008 |
