I give directions by referencing where things used-to-be; I
drink cabinets from Newport Creamery, and I drank coffee milk and Del’s
Lemonade growing up (I still do, but that’s our secret). And like most people believe themselves to
be, I am a questionably qualified driver--although I’ve been told
Massachusetts-people (Massachusettites?
Massachusettans? You all really
need to work on that...) don’t agree. I’m used to telling people, “No, Quahog
is not an actual town,” when I am asked about the television show Family Guy. I may be a stereotypical Rhode Islander.
But Rhode
Islanders are more than coffee milk and quahogs, and Rhode Island is more than
the small, dowdy sibling of Massachusetts; it is more than Family Guy references and Iggy’s Doughboys. It is more than blossoming waterfire during
summertime, beautiful anytime beaches and hiking trails, artists and theatre
and literature and music. It is the home
to many including “model politicians,” Ann Hood, James Woods, Family Guy, and myself; I grew up there--near
where the old homestead used to be. I
know the secrets.
My secret
is the hiking trail, hidden in the heart of Rhode Island, past farms and the
small freshwater pond where kids cannonball into clear water to frighten the
sunfish swimming below. Cars can reach
it, but only after bumping along miles of dirt roads. A left here, a right there. Ignore the “Private Property” signs long
enough to get to the preserve, and you’ll find it. An unassuming wooden sign marks the trail
with it’s name (I can’t tell; it’s a secret), and beyond the sign the trail
snakes up and over boulders split in half from time and the earth’s
shifting. Rhododendrons have invaded
every inch of the forest floor here, crawled over fallen trees, and grown
larger than beachside bungalows.
When I go,
I can’t bring much. At least not
anything I have to carry. To hike the
trail, I have to climb. One hand grasped
around the pine tree to the right and another on the boulder to help lower me
down. At the bottom of the first hill, I
always turn around. The trail seems
impossible from that angle, from the bottom, where the incline is almost
vertical--a wall of trees and rocks. The
trail disappears somewhere beyond and above my line of sight. Not many people
know, but Moonrise Kingdom was filmed
here (and other parts of Rhode Island); Sam (what a coincidence!) and Suzy
trekked through these woods, climbing rocks, and hoisting their luggage across
babbling rivers.
I walk the
same paths Sam and Suzy do, pushing aside leaves and using roots as stairs to
propel myself higher. From a distance,
someone’s voice echoes, deep and quiet, off leaves and swaying trees.
Fluorescent pink pops through the branches; it is the someone’s shirt. The
faraway voices talk about fatigue, about
how far along the one-and-a-half mile trail they are. Half way, another voice responds. They’re at the next peak, looking out,
watching the calm pond below and the darkening clouds swirl over the
forest. Leaves are shifting, and the
dewey scent of rain is moving in. I’ll
be caught in the downpour, but I don't care.
I climb while the the two people
pack their hammock and pass me on their way down from the peak. We say hello, and they disappear into the
rhododendrons. I pull myself up the trail,
fingernails dirty in the way my mother would have hated, sweat beading on my
forehead. The first raindrops fall when
I plant my feet in the dried pine needles and oak leaves at the peak. I lift my face to the rain and allow my eyes
to settle on the rippling pond below. I
have written about this place before, and I have called it “the place where the
entire world opens up.” Nothing but
endless green trees and a deep clear pond and the silence one can experience
only in a forest. Each time, its beauty reminds me of how beautiful Rhode
Island is, especially if you know its secrets.
Adventurous
types might be interested in finding this path.
And, while I won’t reveal the secret through its name, curious travelers
may be able to find it in Walks and Rambles in Rhode Island by Ken Weber or
Discover Rhode Island by Christie Matheson.
Or, to whet your hiking appetite, you may want to watch Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom to see some beautiful
Rhode Island vistas, beaches, and forests.
If you wouldn’t be caught dead on a hiking trail, but might want to make
fun of Rhode Island, then Family Guy
is the show for you.
