Exploring

After a couple days of staying inside to avoid the heat, we were anxious to get moving this morning.  We wanted the biggest bang for the buck, so decided to try the Presidential Rail Trail again.

We have been seeing cars parked in a small parking lot at the junction of Routes 16 and 2.  We have also seen both bicyclists and walkers on the bridge over the Androscoggin River at this parking lot.  We parked and walked across the bridge.  There are actually two bridges here.  One long span which crosses both the river and the highway.  Below the long span is a short section which has a ramp from the parking lot and then crosses only the river.  It’s a double decker bridge of which I failed to get a picture.

Across the river, we headed north for about a mile.  This section was not nearly as scenic as the section west of town that we had done earlier.  We were right next to the river which is right next to the highway.  After about a half mile, the river curved a bit and we got an area of trees between us and the river.  The trees helped buffer the road noise, but we could still hear the big rigs.  We could also hear the PA announcements being made at the Ford dealership.

After about a mile, we returned to the bridge.  We wanted to see where the trail went after crossing the highway, so we continued our walk by crossing the upper level of the bridge then heading west.  Again we were walking very near the highway, this time US 2.  We passed through the sand and gravel place, crossed the road to the local state park, walked behind a row of houses, and then under US 2 where we came to a trail junction.  Certainly not very scenic.

We saw very few folks on the trail.  This trail system apparently extends a large number of miles with several side trails and loops.  From what we have been able to discover, it gets most of its use in the winter as a snowmobile trail.  I would suspect cross-country skiers, as well.

We worked up a sweat and decided to call it quits.  We were back home in time for lunch.

We are starting to think about our return trip to Tennessee.  We have a couple more weeks here, then it’ll be time to head south.  Which route to take is the million dollar question.  We had originally planned to visit Washington DC in the spring while in Virginia.  Hiking took up all our time and we never got to DC.  We’ve been toying with that idea for a few days.

Friends, Tony and Diana, are from Northern Virginia, so we gave them a call this afternoon to get their advise on campgrounds and the best way to get into the city.  It was fun talking with Tony.  Diana was pretty tied up with the grandchildren when we called.  We got caught up with them and made plans to get together when we’re in Tennessee.

That about sums up our day.  Not much going on.  At least we got a little exercise.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow.  The cold front failed to get here, so it will be hot again tomorrow.  We’re just gonna go with the flow and see what happens.