Saturday, February 22, 1986
After lunch we drove to Middletown to find Purgatory Chasm.
Hiked a muddy path out to the chasm.
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| Purgatory Chasm |
There was a bridge over a trickle of a stream that dropped off into a narrow glacial cleft in the rock, to the ocean. The cleft was about 10 feet wide and 50 feet deep and filled with seawater. As we admired the chasm from the bridge, Kyle dropped his new Gobot. He was distraught, so Kent went after it. Fortunately it had fallen in the streambed several feet before the chasm drop-off. But it was quite a scramble to get to it, in sloshy mud to boot!
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| View of Second Beach |
We hiked some more and climbed the rocks down to the beach.
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| Second Beach tidal pool |
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| Striated rock |
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| Erich |
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| Kyle |
After a short walk on the beach, we returned to the car to drive to Fort Barton in Tiverton.
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| Fort Barton sign |
There was a short observation tower that gave us an impressive view over Aquidneck Island. We followed a trail into the woods, which felt like it went on and on. There were numbered posts with no explanations, and the trees were labeled.
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| Intertwined trees |
We crossed a stream, crossed and re-crossed a stone wall, and circled a frozen pond before deciding to backtrack and head home.
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| Trash cans |
Sunday, February 23, 1986
This morning we overheard Kyle urging Erich to
wake up, and Erich said, “Wait! After I get the yawning out of my body!”
