To accompany the photos and video on Facebook, I decided to blog about our experience walking through the woods to go grocery shopping.
We packed Ian's stroller with water and a snack for him, the usual baby stuff, my purse, and a folding shopping buggy that we have, covered the stroller with a bug net, and set out toward the schools. We knew there was a way into Langdon Park from there that would get us almost immediately onto the Heritage Trail, which leads right up to Hatch Plaza along the Baker River, across the river from Tenney Mountain Highway. It was a beautiful day for a walk and we had plenty of time to walk the woods and determine if it was even a possibility with the three of us and a stroller.
Walking to the schools was easy, since they are a block away and the road is paved until the beginning of school grounds. We walked the dirt service road through the athletic fields and past the old ski jump until we got to the trail by the ball field that led down to the field where we could get to the Heritage Trail. Until the field we were entirely on trails and roads.
Once at the field we found we had to walk along the edge of the field where a "path" had been more recently mowed and wasn't as tall as the rest of the grass. I found myself glad I was wearing long pants and long sleeves! We followed the edge of the field until we reached the trail that was clearly marked with the brown Heritage Trail marker.
The beginning of the trail was wide and well maintained. It was very easy walking and we enjoyed the relative obfuscation of the forest and the sights and smells of nature even if accompanied by the sounds of the highway across the river from us. A little while in we came to a chain link fence with an opening wide enough for pedestrians and bicycles to pass but not much larger. The stroller fit through with no trouble, though it was a bit muddy. As we progressed further and further along the trail, the path became narrower and narrower until it was a thin line through high ferns and grass. On the narrowest of the path we had a little trouble with the stroller but it wasn't impassable. Eventually we came out at Hatch Plaza and went on our way shopping.
We had a very light lunch and drinks before leaving Hatch Plaza and heading home via the streets, mainly Highland Street. For those unfamiliar with Plymouth, Highland Street is one of the main roads in town that goes up a huge hill and then back down it. It connects downtown at Main Street (US Route 3) with the businesses on Tenney Mountain Highway (US Routes 3A & 25) and was once itself US Route 25 many, many years ago before the state built the section that runs along the Baker River up to Highland Street.
We walked up the hill, but instead of going back down Highland Street to where it intersects with ours, we went down the road leading to the schools so we could cross through and come out a block away from our home on the other end of our street. We stopped at the high school to sit at a picnic table and rest since the hill was a bit tiring. We enjoyed the company of some nuthatches in the tree next to us and then we continued on to home. For the trip back, we had bought a block of ice to keep the perishables cold.
The trip by road was 1.6 miles according to Google Maps. Looking at the map and eyeballing the trail we took, I suspect the trail was probably around 1.25 - 1.5 miles. Either way took us about an hour to walk, but we did stop to rest on the way home. I know I've walked the roads to just before Hatch Plaza in about half an hour by myself at a steady clip. The woods didn't have the hill, since it followed the river around the base of the hill. We had some downhill first getting to the trail, but not much, and then a little uphill at the Hatch Plaza end. While the roads were certainly not overgrown with vegetation, I think with some care to the trails the woods could prove a far more enjoyable walk to Hatch Plaza without the bother of walking uphill only to go back downhill.
We only walked for a small amount of groceries, so walking was fine. If we were shopping for more, I would certainly want to bike Route 3 to Tenney Mountain Highway and then along the highway to Hatch Plaza. I've done that bike route many times and, with a couple of bikes and a bike trailer, I think we could all go shopping together with the speed and convenience of biking over walking while still not using fossil fuels, which saves us money and reduces our carbon footprint. In the winter I see the trail being a better option if we wanted to snowshoe to get groceries no matter the amount because we could just load them onto a sled and drag it. The challenge would be to find a way to safely bring Ian with us.
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