Oktoberfest in September.....

6:51 am - Sunday - September 30th - Smithfield, RI - 46º F, 90% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west by northwest.....clear blue skies with a forecast high today of 68º F.

We began Saturday knowing we would have to move the Newell to the #1 spot here at the Smithfield Elks Lodge.  In the picture below you can see the #1 spot, where we ended up later in the day.  Originally we were in the #2 spot, just to the left of where we are now.  All that being said, we had to wait until early afternoon for the person in the #1 spot to leave...... 

.....why did we need to move?  Well, Saturday was the Oktoberfest celebration at this Elks Lodge and we needed to move so that we would not be blocking access to the shelter you see behind us.  Where we ended up was directly behind their storeroom.  During the day vehicles would need to be able to drive into that shelter to drop off stuff.

At any rate, we were not able to move until around 1 pm, which kind of killed our original plans for the day, which was to drive out to Newport.  It's about an hour drive each way, and we really wanted to get an early start. Fortunately, we are here for almost a week, and have plenty of time to see what we wish to see.

So, what was plan B?  Well, within 1/2 mile of where we are is a trailhead for the Stillwater Scenic Trail, which runs parallel to Stillwater Pond for about 1 mile down to Capron Road.  We left the Newell around 2:30 pm walking over to the trailhead, and then down the trail.....

Stillwater Pond is fed by outflow from Stillwater Reservoir

.....the trail itself was quite flat, and there were no granite staircases to climb, or any bouldering this day.  It was just a nice walk in the woods......

First view of Stillwater Pond

A little local flora

Stillwater Reservoir

.....we were back from our hike just before 4 pm having covered 3.1 miles in just under 60 minutes of moving time.....

.....we bid adieu to 570 caloric units, and averaged 3.25 mph.....not too bad!

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching college football (for me) and reading (for TLE).  It got quite noisy as the Oktoberfest celebration got under way, and it remained so until about 9:30 pm when things began to quiet down.

Thanks for stopping by!

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