Beech Mountain Road

Gosh it was nice to be all done with the course I've been taking since January. Instead of being glued to the computer...I just stuck my face to it by choice. As a neutral the Leeds/Spurs game was a fine watch.

It was rather grey out, but I roused myself for an afternoon walk and was glad I did. My intent was to take a short walk around the Canada Cliffs trail, but I spied what looked like an abandoned trail and got curious. I was pretty sure it petered out in a bit,  so I skirted around the pile of brush designed to discourage hikers and took it. To my surprise it didn't peter out at all and was very passable.

Sometimes this kind of thing can become a problem. Of course I wanted to see where the trail came out, but the farther I went the longer it would take to get back. And of course it was all downhill. It was absolutely worth it though, and I was delighted to come across some hobblebush blooming along a stream, and the uncommon sight of trailing arbutus flowering in the moss along the trail (see extra). The latter really felt like a special treat.

As it turns out, I was on the old Beech Mountain Road, an early cart road that appears on maps as far back as 1893. It was part of an earlier road from Bernard to Somesville dating back to 1762, which for these parts makes it pretty old. I love that sort of thing. The way back was fine even though I ended up hiking about twice as far as I intended. When I got back to the car the lot was mostly full, but of course I didn't see a soul on my hike. I will definitely be remembering this one during the crowded summer months.