There’s gotta be a railroad bed in there somewhere…
In wisdom gathered over time I found that every experience is a form of exploration.
-Ansel Adams
My back has been bothering me a bit lately. Again. Walking long distances makes it worse, so I’ve been, to Waldo’s consternation, taking it a bit easy. Hence, no long walks on either the Mass Central Rail Trail, nor the Assebet River Rail Trail. We have walked on the latter, but not far, just a couple of miles at a time. Mostly, we just walk around the apartment complex grounds, several times a day, in half-mile loops. That’s grating on Waldo’s soul and making him hyper. It’s also shortening the length of time we have to finish our MCRT adventure before the first snow flies. Today, however, my back is feeling fine and both Waldo and I have a strong itch to go. I’m pretty sure my back won’t tolerate a 6-mile trek, but something a bit shorter might be doable.
Fortunately, there are three, less than a mile each, overgrown pieces of the MCRT that need to be explored next. All are bounded on one end by a bridgeless part of the Ware River and I’ve seen them up close. That is, I’ve seen where they’re supposed to be. All I can actually see are bushes, weeds and trees, but the railroad bed is supposed to be there, somewhere, amongst all the shrubbery. The day is cool, with highs in the low to mid 50’s, the sky is clear and the ground is dry. There’s a slight breeze forecast, but no tornadoes. That itch really needs to be scratched, so, after waiting until about 1PM, the warmest part of the day, we’re off.
It’s about an hour-and-a-half’s drive to get to Ware, the location of all 3 of the trail bits. The first one is located where Christine, Waldo and I finished our last trek. When the trail is finally completely paved, it will follow the railroad bed we’re here to explore today, not the way we came last time. I know, from the map on my phone, that what I’m looking for is somewhere off in the weeds near where we park, but I can’t see anything in front of me that tells me exactly where. I’ve learned a couple of tricks, however, that help me decide on where to start bushwhacking.
Usually, but not always, the railroad is built up on a dike. The first thing to do is to look for high ground, something a few feet above the surrounding land, and flat on top. Weeds and bushes grow more densely on the edges of forests, so it’s necessary to penetrate into the mess before there’s any hope of seeing any such thing. So, like Sisyphus, Waldo and I put shoulder to the boulder and shove uphill — we dive into the foliage and press our way through the undergrowth. It’s not long and I see what I’m looking for.
Once we get on top of the railroad bed, the going gets a bit easier. The overshadowing canopy absorbs something like 95% of the red and blue light, the colors needed for photosynthesis, so only a few hardy plants grow down there. It’s still a mess to walk through, but the going gets much better. After about a quarter of a mile, the dike drops off steeply in front of us and we can see river. On the other side of the river is ground Waldo and I explored a couple of weeks ago, but I recognize none of it – it’s just weeds. We walk around a little to see if there is any remnant of a bridge that once spanned the water, but there’s nothing but a few loose rocks near the shore. We did what we came to do, so we return to the car. Even though we’ve only gone a half-mile or so, Waldo readily gets back into the passenger seat. Maybe he, somehow, knows there’s more to come.
Our next stop is about 2 miles away in the parking lot of a Walmart Super Center. The map on my phone shows, more or less, where a roadbed is supposed to be, just off to the west of the tarmac. A satellite view is suggestive as well. If I take my phone, turn it upside-down, turn my head to the side and squint, I can sort of convince myself that I kinda see a vague straight line of different-looking treetops heading in the right direction. This could mean there is old railroad bed beneath the foliage. It’s in the right spot.
Even though there is no railroad there any more, the ground on which it used to lie was dramatically disturbed when the railroad was built, so it could support the weight of very heavy trains and not get washed away in New England weather. The earth was compacted and mixed with gravel and rocks and such, with the result that stuff doesn’t grow as well there as elsewhere. That changes what can grow there, and what it looks like from space, high above. And, incidentally, it makes the walking, once you get there, a bit easier.
To be continued…
…oh, yeah! There it is!