I can no longer blame covid lockdowns for my increasing poundage. Time to get off my ass and do some hiking! Mild hiking though because it’s already a bajillion degrees out and I have the knees of an old peasant woman.

This particular hike was inspired by a random person on FaceBook who posted photos of some sort of ruins and said they were in the Arcadia State Management Area but failed to say which trail or how to get there, only cryptically remarking this whole area was once used for quarrying and there is still some evidence of such. What kind of evidence?? They did not specify.

And since I didn’t know this place had multiple trails I was left to ask the internet for an address. The address it gave me was to their headquarters, which we’d very quickly learn was nowhere near any goddamn trails. However we didn’t know this because the map on the bulletin board here made it look like the trails were a quick skip down the street. So we tried. Turns out this was literally the worse map I have ever seen, I think a Kindergartener may have made it. There were no trails just at the bend down the road as it seemed to specify, just residential houses. And since we were in almost direct sunlight on the road I was already overheating but worse my ankle froze up, and then my foot, and then I was limping in great pain and suggesting we go back to the car because my memory of passing the pond trail said it was nowhere near here. And I was right. It was past the bend, a good way down the road, after a left turn and a ways down that stretch, all and all probably 1-2 miles from our starting point! And there were three ill-marked parking lots. I ended up in the one meant for kayaks and small boats! But too aggravated at this point to change that we decided it was probably fine as none of the other cars here had boats or boat hitches either. There was however a bathroom so even though the trail (road?) wasn’t really marked we headed in anyway.

That’s how we ended up accidentally sneaking up on a lady on her cell phone who was sitting at one of three picnic tables. Did we just park at a picnic spot or was there an actual trail here?? It wasn’t clear until we were at the pond’s edge. There was indeed a loop trail going all the way around it but again this was a hunch, there was no bulletin board or map here which is seriously odd considering there were walking bridges and picnic tables.

Into the woods we went following the yellow trail markers. Initially this led to a serious of probable fishing spots, would it go farther? Yes, yes, it did. The trail was well travelled and didn’t seem to have any other trails jutting from it so luckily there was no real issue getting lost. The pond was visible for most of the hike to some degree and was picturesque. There was even a Canadian goose and a cormorant on a rock… which is odd considering they’re ocean birds but whatever. Maybe it got sick of the rest of the flock and decided fresh water was where it’s at.

There was indeed one ruin on the trail, not the one I’d seen photos of. I do not know what it was back in the day but it was fairly impressive. Not far from there was a lovely dam. By this time my feet were swollen and on fire so I ambled to the water’s edge, ripped off my shoes and socks, and dunked them into the sweet cold water. BLISS. I stayed in that spot for a few minutes just cooling down before returning to our adventure, still not knowing if this was a loop trail. Turns out it was. We were maybe 2/3rds of the way around when we were at the dam. All Trails seems to think this loop was one and a half miles and should take 30 minutes to walk around. Admittedly it was easy with very few inclines but 30 minutes?! What are you, jogging?! Slow down! Smell the roses! Or in this case blueberries which were starting to come out already! Nature’s a bit mixed up this year. I also keep seeing fall foliage mixed with spring foliage on the same trees. It’s…. distressing.

In any event this place is probably hopping in the summer. It seemed a nice family friendly kind of place. I would suggest it for anyone looking for a nice easy pond hike. Just beware the maps are absolutely useless. Luckily, it’s a loop trail so that didn’t matter!