Fred and I (John) went for a night hike on October 24, 2023. The sun was setting when we got started. The temperature was cool but very pleasant. We started out at the parking area on the far end of Hillfield Road. We walked WSW through the briar patch (there is a decent trail from the SW corner of the parking area) to the woods where we picked up a trail that connect with the Weetock trail where we turned East.
We walked on the Weetock trail until we came to a perpendicular trail that takes you to the open field if you turn left (NE) and to the famous sawdust pile (more about that, later) if you turn right (SW). We went to the sawdust pile and climbed up onto it to get an unobstructed view of a beautiful clear, night sky with a bright 3/4 moon that made our lights unnecessary.
After hanging out on top of the sawdust pile for a while and taking in the night sky and fresh, night air, we headed back (NE) to the Weetock trail and turned right to continue our hike into the southern section of the Weetock, which is the section that gets the least traffic and requires the most work. Hiking at night on a poorly marked trail is always fun, but when you know the area, it’s hard to get lost for very long.
I did actually manage to get us a little lost when I decided to detour through, what turned out to be swampland adjacent to Hunters Creek. I was trying to cross over to another trail section, but the uncertain ground and difficult hiking conditions found us circling back and finding a different crossing … the one I had planned on taking, but somehow couldn’t find in the dark, until we were coming at it from the opposite direction.
So, we crossed through bear valley and found the other section of the trail where we followed the Weetock to a “connector” trail that would bring us back out to Hillfield Road. We then just walked the kilometer (probably less than a km) back to the vehicles parked at the far end of the road.
Sorry about the sketchy track, but I didn’t turn on my GPS, so I had to pull the track from my dog’s tracking collar!
Night hikes aren’t as scenic, but they can be quite pleasant, in any case. In the winter months, sometimes we don’t get off work until it’s already dark, or nearly so. In the summer, it can be uncomfortably hot during the day.
