2021-06-15: Jerimoth Hill

I headed out for a long day-trip this week to the northwestern corner of Rhode Island to climb the state's highest point, Jerimoth Hill. At 812 feet in elevation, Jerimoth is hardly a serious hike, so I found several other attractions in the area, including Buck Hill Wildlife Management Area and the tripoint where CT, MA, and RI meet, to make the eight-hour round-trip drive worthwhile. Jerimoth is the seventh state highpoint I've summited in the past year.

While Jerimoth Hill's summit has no views, the parking area does boast this shot down Route 101, looking west into nearby Connecticut.

A sign at the trailhead. Jerimoth Hill was once owned by a man who went to great lengths to keep highpointers off his property; this sign reassures hikers that they are indeed allowed to be there.

Pine forest lines the wide, flat trail towards the summit.

This USGS marker denotes the official summit and highest point in Rhode Island, a few hundred feet short of the summit clearing.

This old electronics box is probably a vestige of the observatory that Brown University used to maintain at the summit until the early 2000s.

An irregular cairn on a rock near the register. I actually signed the register at Jerimoth, something I neglected to do at Mount Frissell back in January due to the snow.

A number of trails continued past the summit south of Jerimoth, winding around a number of mountain laurel trees (Kalmia latifolia) in full bloom.

A posted sign at the end of a trail below the summit very strongly suggests that prospective explorers continue no further.

Another look west down RI-101. Intermittent rain has made the hills appear more hazy in this shot.

Swamps surround the fringes of Buck Hill Pond, an artificial lake in the Buck Hill WMA in the very northeastern corner of Rhode Island.

A pale yellow sundrop flower (genus Oenothera) blooms along the dam at the base of Buck Hill Pond.

More swamps and standing dead trees form intermittent islands across the pond.

A beaver's dam sits surrounded by the stumps of the beavers' victims.

Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) grows wild at the foot of the dam below the lake. For a wildlife-designated park, Buck Hill seems to be a haven interesting flora.

Flowers of the common fleabane daisy (Erigeron annuus) carpeted the ground in some areas.

A view down the rail trail in Air Line State Park, located in northeastern Connecticut. The rail trail was part of the trail to the tri-point between CT, MA, and RI.

A dilapidated wooden bridge spans over the rail trail in one spot, providing interesting lighting through the holes in its floor.

A small painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) was stopped along the rail trail, sitting along the slightly brighter gaps in the trees beneath the overcast sky.

A view of the tripoint marker from the Massachusetts side. I got turned around on the trails and ended up approaching it from the Rhode Island side, but got no clear pictures from that angle.

Curiously, the tripoint had its own small registry, although a lack of blank spaces prevented me from signing it.