I had visited this area a long time ago with my family. Now with it being part of the Barrington Town patch, I needed to revisit and properly pick up the trails. There is a very small, but really quite great network here on Waste Management property. I imagine in the heat of Summer, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, there might be a bit of an odor, but today was perfect. Some snow on the ground, but the trails were well worn down and I was able to bareboot the entire way. I parked in the main lot and started first with the yellow blazed Isinglass Trail. This was a wide carriage way all the way to the falls. The one negative to this trail network is it's downhill to the falls, then uphill back to the car. I'd say the Isinglass Trail was the least steep. Although the parking area was quite busy, I had the falls to myself. There are lots of rocks to climb around on and a makeshift ladder and rope swing. I always love a frozen waterfall, so I took an extra minute to enjoy the natural art before continuing on. Isinglass Trail continues beyond Waste Management property out to a smaller parking area further down Rochester Neck Road. Once past the falls, the trail becomes more like an actual trail in the woods, but was still well maintained and marked. The trail follows the Isinglass River all the way and was really quite pretty. I did an out and back to the parking area. The Waste Management property portion of the trails includes 2 loops, red blazed Watsons Way and blue blazed Locke's Loop. I kind of made a spiral out of it and went up the outer side of Watsons Way, down the outer side of Locke's Loop, then back up the inner side of Locke's Loop. The 2 loops merge briefly, so at that intersection, I went back down the outer side of Watson's Way.. the way I had previously come up, and then finished the network by coming up the inner side of Watson's Way.. all in, I got about 6.5 miles and the snow started just as I returned to the car. I really enjoyed this little network, and am definitely enjoying exploring so close to home.
Strava Activity
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Isinglass Trail and Locke's Loop from the parking area |
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continuing out on the out and back of Isinglass trail |
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Isinglass Trail at the smaller parking area |
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along Watson's Way |
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heading down Locke's Loop |
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intersection of Locke's Loop and Watson's Way |
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along Watson's Way |