go hike a mountain

We had really wanted our first high point to be the highest in the state we live in - Massachusetts. Due to some weather issues we decided Rhode Island’s high point, at 812 ft, would be no big deal to find the top of, rain or shine, so we began researching the best way to reach this point.

Apparently, in much earlier years, this point was not an easy one to achieve. Although the actual high point is owned by Brown University, the only way to access it without trailblazing with a machete is via a privately owned driveway. The man that owned the property was nice enough to share a path to the landmark until people began disrespecting his privacy and leaving trash behind. He began by warning people, and when that wasn’t enough, he had to chase them off with a gun. Jerimoth Hill, the high point, was so safely guarded people joked that Alaska’s high point was no big deal compared to Rhode Island’s. When the owner of the property passed away in 2001, his son began allowing people to travel down the path to the high point only on federal holidays, but the land has since been sold and the new owners have a sign up which says people are welcome every day, but only from 8-4pm.

The only information we were able to come up with about this high point was that it is located on Rte 101 in Foster, RI. So, after some chippis and bagels, we headed out last Sunday morning. The drive from New Bedford probably took close to an hour and the area was no big deal to find. We referenced our ‘New England Hiking’ book before leaving to see if there was any information about this particular hike, but as we discovered shortly after arriving, it would have been a little ridiculous to even put a one-liner in it about this place. Heading west on Rte 101, we saw a brown sign on the right-hand side of the road. There is a small area for parking here that would fit at least 4 cars.

We got out and noticed the wooden sign someone has made, placed at the beginning of the trail on the other side of the road. The sign has a basic map on it that shows you the direction to walk, where a shed is, where the marker is, etc. And without looking at the scale, we assumed it would be a decent walk, maybe a mile total, at least. After walking for about…a minute…we reached a small sign on a metal post stating the point we had reached was Jerimoth Hill. There was a USGS marker in the ground, so we stopped to photograph it, ourselves at it, and Treeson at it, too (see note below).

After spending about 3 minutes here goofing off with the camera, we walked a little further down the path and came to a mailbox with a note that said to please sign the register. We were the first to reach the point that day, but there had been 4 groups the day before and many, many more in the days before that. Flipping back, we noticed others had marked which high point it was for them, so we noted ours too….number 1. Here at the mailbox there is also an outcrop of rock which we believe is supposed to be the actual high point, but it’s hard to say why USGS would bother to make a cement slab to seal the marker in if there was a perfectly nice rock which was the actual high point.

We made our way back to the car and filmed a bit of this (videos soon to come!) and took some photos next to the brown sign on the side of the road. That encompasses our trip to Rhode Island’s high point. From here we decided to check out some places in our ‘New England Hiking’ guide and that lead us to the George Washington Management Area, which you can read about in it’s own blog.Note: As a person that’s worked in a photo lab for over 5 years, I’ve seen many mascots, icons, or just plain toys that have been photographed in random odd places all over the world. Treeson, a vinyl toy that hangs from the rear-view mirror in Jesse’s car, looks like a little abominable snowman and happened to be the only useable item of this type that we had with us. But he’s also very cute, so I don’t mind that it was him and not a dunny or some other collectible we have. So, Treeson will now be accompanying us on most of our hikes, definitely to all the high points. I even have a special place to put him when I carrying my lens sling. -Jess