Highpoint #20: Rhode Island

Roadside Summit Sign

I have to confess that it didn’t take too long after my cross-country road trips, to want to head out on the highway again in search of a few more highpoints.   It’s strange.  The more highpoints that I visit, the more I want to visit new ones.  This time around, instead of focusing on southern states, I wanted to head up into New England to visit a couple of highpoints in a quick turn-around weekend.  I was all set to go, too, when news reports were overtaken with warnings about Nemo and it being the storm of the century.  A quick inspection of the swath of land that contains Rhode Island’s highpoint showed an estimated 3 feet of snow -- yikes!  I dutifully sat out the storm and decided to try for it the following weekend.

Jerimoth Hill Trail

Note the Hours!

My first stop was Rhode Island!  The highpoint is Jerimoth Hill, and it is located just across the border from Connecticut, in the northern portion of the state.  Being named a “hill” and rising only to 812 feet, one could quickly dismiss this highpoint all together.  Surprisingly though, this highpoint used to be the hardest one to visit out of all 50 states!  For a long time the highpoint was contained on private property and the owner became quickly tired of people visiting his property nearly every day of the year.  He forbade access, put up “no trespassing” signs, installed motion detectors, chased people off his property, and really did everything in his power to prevent people from visiting the highpoint!  Over the years though, he passed away, the land changed ownership, and was ultimately donated to Brown University.  Now access can be had on any day of the year, provided the visit occurs between the hours of 8am and 6pm. 

The Trail is Well Signed!

When I arrived post-Nemo, there was snow everywhere, but the roads were all perfectly clear.  I saw the summit sign from the road, and found the pull-off area at the crest of the hill.  Across the street from the pull-off area, there is a hand-posted sign on a tree marking the “Jerimoth Hill Trail”.  The snow was deep, coming up past my ankles, so I had to switch into my hiking boots and break trail.  Cool!

Unbroken Trail Leading to the Summit (about 10" deep)

Routefinding seemed obvious enough, even with all the snow, due to the wide berth between the trees.  To make it even easier though, there were several signs along the way marking the trail even though the trail could not have been more than half mile long. 

Deviation for Reference Mark #1

Reference Mark #1

Walking along the way, there was a deviation for a reference marker.  The posted sign made it pretty obvious where to dig, and I soon discovered a USGS survey marker that points in the direction of the true highpoint.  Yay!

USGS Survey Marker

Continuing on some more, there was a second deviation, presumably for another reference marker.  The sign simply said “station mark”.  I dug up snow all around, but I could not find anything.  I am sure in the summer it is perfectly obvious what is being pointed out, but in the winter it was anything but.  I eventually gave up and pressed onward. 

Second Deviation:  A Station Mark (couldn't find it)

I soon came to an open field.  This field serves as an observation area for Brown University to observe the stars.  It makes sense.  Being the highpoint of the state, there is a guaranteed unobstructed view of the skies within the vicinity of the summit. 

Observatory Area for Brown University

Just off of the corner of this field, there was signage for the boulder that is taken to represent the true highpoint.  It was completely covered in snow and topped off with not one but two rock cairns!  I spent some time cleaning up the summit area, and dug out a green metal box that contained the trail register.  Signing the book, I was surprised that I was the first visitor to the site in nearly 2 weeks time! 

Official Summit Register for Jerimoth Hill

I scanned the rocks a bit to see if there was a USGS marker on the rock, but I could not find one away from the rock cairns.  I assume that there is a benchmark marker on the rock or nearby since they had a directional marker on the way.  I am further assuming that said benchmark marker is probably directly underneath one of the two rock cairns, but I did not want to disrupt the structures to verify.  I am not entirely certain on what the rock cairn etiquette is, but that just did not seem like the right thing to do at the time. 

View of the Summit Draped in Snow (note the rock cairns)

I took a vanity shot of me sitting on the boulder by the summit register and decided to call it a day.  My twentieth highpoint!! 

Vanity Shot at the Summit with Summit Register in View

Beyond the open field, there was really no view to be had.  I simply retraced my steps back to the car, and decided to press onward, deeper into New England.