1/26/13 Breakneck and Carriage Roads

Still cold but sunny and not quite as windy. Still looking for somewhat sheltered trails. Decided to make a loop of part of the Breakneck and some carriage roads. We started at the Hull's Cove end of the Breakneck . It receives a good amount of use ( though we met no one today) and was quite icy but with space beside the trail to walk in the snow.

The stream crossing was a little hairy- frozen over ( usually you have to balance on rocks) with glare ice and, in spots, you could see water running below the ice. We made it safely across- Kelley was also hesitant because she doesn't like slippery.  Once across the stream the  trail starts a gradual ascent and there had been  much less traffic -there was little ice with hard packed snow instead- good walking.

When we reached the ponds we moved over to the carriage road and it was also packed snow with little ice.

We followed the loop indicated on the map. At one point there is a bridge over Duck Brook which gives access to the carriage roads from  Duck Brook Road. This is a view of the brook from that bridge

Kelley was standing looking at the ocean but by the time I got my camera out from beneath my coat she had moved and would not repeat the pose.

Near the end we took a short detour to get a good look at Witch Hole Pond and then turned and continued on to the visitor center parking lot. The last section was also very icy but , again, with snow on the sides to walk on. Kelley had checked every pond and stream but was disappointed to find them all frozen. After checking one last pond near the end she caught the scent of a couple ( the only people we met on the hike) and was off to great them. They gave her some attention and we continued on to the parking lot and a service road to Rte. 3 which took us back to the Breakneck. A pretty good hike in spite of the cold- the sun helped.  3 hours.