M-M Section 2 Revisited: Robinson S.P & Westfield River Crossing

Westfield River

The guidebook to the M-M trails says that "MA 187 is the common end point of section 2. Thru-hikers wanting to avoid the deep ford of the Westfield River will need to hike a long road walk." And so MA 187 is where I ended my last hike.

The part that is usually skipped by Section hikers at Robinson State Park

Back home, though, I began to rethink this decision. We're in a major drought, so the river should be low.  I verified this by checking a page from the National Weather Service for the USGS Westfield River Streamgage out of Westfield. Here's a screen shot:

Water depth at gauge is 2.8 ft

It shows the water level at the streamgage was 2.8 feet.  But what is the water depth at the ford? I would assume any ford is shallower, that's why it's a ford.  I stumbled across page where hiker described the water being up to his mid-thighs at the crossing.  I then found historic data for the streamgage on a USGS page. On that page, you can enter a range of dates to generate a hydrograph. Here's one for the past year:

From that graph, it was clear that the river depth at 2.8 feet was very, very low. It looks like it's normally about four or five feet deep at the streamgage, spiking after rains by a couple feet, in some cases more (it was over 12 feet deep in March).  

Robinson State Park

Confident the river would be no higher than mid-thigh, I threw an extra pair of sneakers in my pack I went back to MA 187 to follow the trail through Robinson State Park. The first part was lovely and easy to follow, following the top of the river bluff. And to think I nearly skipped this! 

I missed where the M-M turns left off of the main path to head down the river, and had to use the gps to bushwhack down to the trail. I mumbled a statement of gratitude to the guy who posted his gps track online. As the trail dipped down to the shoreline it became extremely overgrown, although I was able to follow it (barely).  Don't try to cross the river prematurely, although it's tempting. Follow the blazes to the end (gps track highly recommend so you know you're at the ford). 

The ford. The shallows angle to the right. 

This way straight across is deeper. The shallows angle to the far right of the photo.

With the low water, there was a nice gravel bar to linger and let the dog swim. The crossing looked pretty shallow. There were lots of freshwater clam shells along the shore, some dumped in piles where the muskrats left them.

Mussels shells, probably left by a muskrat

After switching to my sneakers, I set out across the water. It was nice and only about a foot deep. Minnows swam about and there were some live clams in the bottom.

Live freshwater clam or mussel while crossing the Westfield River

I was so focused on taking pictures and enjoying the water I suddenly found myself in water above the knees. The clear water was deeper than it looked (but still not a problem).  I had headed straight across the river towards the blazed tree, while the shallows angled off to the right. I meandered over to the gravel bar ford and walked around. The entire way across, if you stay on the gravel bar, was at the most 1.5 feet deep. If you go straight across the river to the blaze, it's up to 3 feet deep, about the same as the USGS river gage.

The blue line is the gravel bar, about 1.5 feet less than the USGS streamgage.
The red line is about the same depth as the USGS streamgage.

In summary, the USGS streamgage is a great resource to find out how deep the river crossing is. Take the reported river depth at the gauge and subtract 1.5 feet to estimate the shallowest possible crossing if you choose your footing carefully to follow the gravel bar, or just use the gauge depth to estimate the deepest water going straight across from blaze to blaze. Keep in mind there is also a pretty good current, and as the water gets deeper, it can really sweep you off your feet.

Crossing to the other side, I was greeted by some Allegheny Monkey Flower, a native of wet places that has flowers that look like they're grinning.  Now I can start Section 3.

Allegheny Monkey Flower

Welcome to Massachusetts! M-M Sections 1 & 2

Whoohoo!

Four long years and I'm finally able to get back on the trail!  I started at Rising Corner Road in Southwick, Mass, where I was dropped off by an Uber driver (worked great!). 

I needed to head south to find the spot where the trail used to end in Connecticut, but finding the overgrown trail was tricky where it exits a lawn. More blazes, please! (Tip: The trail heads into the woods immediately after the second blazed tree on the edge of the lawn, opposite a red shed). 

THANK YOU! Now the hike begins!

I found the spot where I left off in 2012 a short distance south of the Mass line, where the trail had ended with a heartbreaking 'no trespassing' sign. The trail has since reopened and now continues north all the way to the state line and Rising Corner Road in Massachusetts. Many thanks to everyone involved in reopening the trail and to the gracious property owners who allow hikers to cross their properties.

Section 1 on Google Earth

And now the real hike begins! Onward to Massachusetts!  I retraced my steps back across the state line, where the blazes change from blue to white as the Metacomet Trail ends and the M-M (Metacomet-Monadnack Trail) begins.  New state, new trail, new traditions.  The hikers even have different accents.

M-M TRAIL SECTION ONE (2.2 Miles)

Hiker logbook

My favorite part of this section was the big marsh with the distinctive boardwalk. There's box for hikers to sign in just before crossing it. And some trail art (?) 

Trail Art(?)

I have a new dog this time around. Quinn is pretty crazy and not to be trusted off leash. There were chipmunks everywhere driving him nuts on this trip, so I may put a backpack on him next time to slow him down. Biscuit is getting older and stayed at home. 

Seems to be a beaver dam next to the boardwalk, hence the dead trees

The only vista on this short section was at a gas pipeline. The terrain was pretty easy for the NET.

Gas pipeline crossing

Coat hooks for your gear?

Cardinal Flower

The trail crosses a network of unmarked trails used by the Agawam Bowmen Club. I'm used to always seeing a blaze at each trail junction, but that seems to not be the tradition here. Junctions are not marked, and you pick the option that feels right and hope for the best.

It's a drought year, and there was very little surface water anywhere. As I came off of Section One, there was a collection of water jugs, and I wondered if they were for hikers in general, or some group. The lack of water along the traprock ridges is a real hardship for thru-hikers.

Water jugs - Don't die of thirst on the traprock ridges

M-M SECTION TWO (3.7 Miles)
I like how the M-M Trail is divided into sections. There are snazzy new signs along the road for each one. Hikers can take a picture of the sign to get a trail map.  I did have some trouble finding the trail north of the highway, since there's a decoy trail heading into the wood directly across from where the trail comes out onto the highway. I assumed that was the trail, but no blazes and there was a 'no trespassing' sign. However, on this trail, that doesn't necessarily mean anything, as we shall find out. I went back out to the road and followed it a bit until I found the sign below.

This section of trail leads to the base of an old quarry. A family with young children was in front of me and they walked straight past the giant DANGER NO TRESPASSING sign that sits right on top of the New England Trail. I hesitated. Looked back - there was a white blaze. Yes, this is the trail. OK then, and I headed past the sign. It would not be the last time a sign warned me not to hike the trail.

Apparent translation: "Whatever. But you're not suing us."

The floor of an old trap rock quarry

The old trap rock quarry made this feel more like the NET, which follows the trap rock ridges. After the quarry, the trail climbed moderately up to a ridge line, and there was a long stretch of pleasant wooded ridge hiking. Glimpses of views through the trees, sometimes both to the left and right. I bet this is particularly nice after the leaves have fallen and the view is better. 

Ridge hiking

Section 2

Best overlook of the hike

At the very top is an antennae farm and the Agawam Fire Tower, built in 1959. I'm scared of heights, so I climbed it. Some of the boards were a little iffy, so I stepped lightly and held the rails tightly. The observatory at the top was boarded shut, though. The view was good, but no better than the previous overlook on the trail.

Agawam Fire Tower

View from the fire tower

Continuing on down the ridge, I accidentally got detoured onto a roadway, but it's hard to really lose a trail on a narrow ridgetop. It was 50 feet away.  The bigger problem was when I got to a gate that shouted 'no trespassing', because I couldn't find a blaze. Went back to the last one - yup, this is definitely the trail. Finally found half a faded blaze on a rock next to gate. I'm learning to ignore these 'no trespassing' signs, and that doesn't seem like a good thing.

I guess just ignore all the 'no trespassing' signs?

Past the gate, I was unprepared for the beautiful meadow and cool breeze. Wow! But which way??? There was absolutely no sign of any blaze or path. Nothing. Thankfully, I had a copy of AMC's official "Metacomet-Monadnack Trail Guide" map. At first glance, the maps are not that clear or of the best scale. But at this moment I realized how important the little notes in green are, because for this spot it shows the trail going between "rock slope" and "open fields." Ahhh. Now I get it. Good thing I had the map.

Follow the base of the rock slope through the grass.

This has the feeling of a dam, and yet if you look at an aerial, there is no water. Curiosity and Google make great friends, so I did some clicking at home and learned this is an underground reservoir. And here's a picture of it being constructed:

Underground reservoir being contstructed 

Wow. So that's under all the rock.  Impressive.

Halfway along the meadow, I passed one blaze on a boulder, but then when I neared the tree line, I couldn't find any trail going into the woods. I was hot, tired, and it was hilly. So I resorted to pulling out my gps receiver. At home, I had laboriously fabricated a gpx file of the trail section by doing screenshots of the online map, importing into Google Maps as an overlay, creating a new track, exporting as a kml file, converting to a gpx file, importing into my Garmin Base Camp, and uploading into my gps receiver. And this is why I went through all that: 

I know how to get back on the trail, thanks to having a gpx track.

After pulling out the Garmin, I was back on the in just a few minutes. I'm mystified as to how anyone can follow this part of the trail through the fields. In Connecticut, there would have been some tall 4x4 posts with blazes along the route. The spare blazing is making the M-M trail a lot harder to follow than what I'm used to.  But in the end I got back to my car, waiting at Route 187. 

The trail below the underground reservoir. 

If you're hiking Sections 1 & 2: 
1.Verizon coverage: Good throughout.
2. Uber: Available
3. Link to my reconstructed gpx file (not exact, but close)
4. Link to kml file (Google Earth) Section 1 and Section 2
5. Confusing areas:

• 1. Southbound from Rising Corner Road, the first blazes are on the edge of a lawn. There is a double blaze followed by a single blaze. The overgrown trail goes diagonally into the trees a few feet after the single blaze, about even with a red shed. 
• Crossing Rt 57: The trail looks like it goes straight across the highway and into the woods, but it actually goes left on the highway to a gate. 
• 'No trespassing' signs at Quarry - ignore
• After fire tower, trail and road go parallel and get confusing. Keep to the left along edge of ridge.
• Go through 'no trespassing' gate into field, bear right through field to follow edge of rock slope, but after passing the blazed boulder, stay on grade or slightly downhill rather than following the base of the rock slope uphill. 

Sullivan Drive Murals - Guilford

Sullivan Drive Entrance - October 2014

A day of hiking in Guilford, and the most memorable moment was when I got out of my car at the Sullivan Lane entrance and was greeted with freshly painted murals on each side of the concrete bridge that spans the East River.   Look at the transformation between the top and bottom photos -- what was once an eyesore is now an attraction.

Sullivan Drive Entrance - January 2012

According to an article in The Day, the paintings were done by students from Guilford High School to commemorate Guilford's 375th anniversary.  They did a great job! Not being local, I don't know what each of these pictures represents, so if anyone knows and wants to leave a comment below, please do so. I did try to identify some of them (thank you, Google Image Search). That also goes for the names of the artists. They deserve credit. As does the Town of Guilford, which has done an incredible job of welcoming the NET through their community. The quality of the trail (and the speed with which it was constructed) is very impressive.

South wall

Guilford Trail Station - the NET goes right across it.

Hyland House Museum

Henry Whitfield House aka the Stone House (oldest in CT)

NET Logo.  Interesting vandalism to this one....Goblins on the cliffs?  

First Congregational Church

The Red House - Grass Island

The Annual Citizen's Day Parade. Each year has a different theme.

North wall

The Guilford Fair

To top it off, there was new signage at the trailhead just a few feet up the road from the bridge. 

New NET signage

In the center of the big field were a couple of kestrel houses, which look just like bluebird houses, only much larger and higher. Kestrels are tiny falcons, and this looks like good habitat for them.  Hope it works out.