Troop 54 returned to Douglas State Forest for the first time since November 2012, somewhat closely following the route we traveled in 2009. This time, instead of sticking entirely to the Midstate Trail, we took a section of the Southern New England Trunkline Trail on the way in.
The trail ended up being about 5 miles in and about 6 miles out. What really sets this trip apart from our other backpacking trips is that it is one of the overall flattest and easiest trails. We had two participating Boy Scouts, including one first time backpacker, and two participating leaders on this trip.
The weather was great for this time of year; it was not nearly as hot as usual, and there was only a hint of rain during the day on Saturday. Being able to put tents up and take them down in dry weather is always nice. The area around the trail shelter had a number of cellar holes - former locations of houses with only the stone foundations remaining.
After setting up camp, we took a day hike to the tri-state marker at the point where Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island meet. This was about 2.5 miles round trip. See the actual trails we hiked:
My Maps
GPX file displayed in GPS Visualizer
GPX file (download to use)
With rainfall having been far below normal, most of the potential sources of water had fairly concentrated levels of tannins (left from rotting leaves in the water). Even after filtration and chlorination, our drinking water was still the color of tea.
This was the troop's ninety-second consecutive month with at least one overnight camping trip.
