US-2880 Snake Den SP

Snake Den, named for a sinuous natural rock feature, is one of Rhode Island's most interesting trails for folks who are interested in geology. Especially in the northern part of the park you'll find very large (50 to 60 feet) outcroppings of predominately schists with inclusions of quartz, typically milky quartz, and other minerals. You'll also find granites and gneiss. This area was part of the Narragansett Basin that formed as a shallow sea around 400 million years ago. During the collisions of North American and African tectonic plates that formed the Appalachian range around 250 million years ago, the rocks that had formed over millions of years along the bottom of the basin were folded and compressed, almost like an accordion.

The result of this tectonic activity is all around you at Snake Den. This is a really popular bouldering site, and in the northern section of the 1,000-acre park where I was operating from there are at least seven marked bouldering routes, including the 'Rattlesnake', and the top of that is where I set up shop. The Rattlesnake doesn't seem too bad until you look at it from the top and realize that the rock face is significantly concave...a real challenge! It's the most difficult established climbing route in the park and is a local 'test' route.

There are two primary parking areas for Snake Den, one in the south and one along the northern section. For the southern portions, park along Route 6 near North Scituate, across from the Oak Swamp Reservoir. There are fields to the northwest, or you can hop on the main trail that will take you to the northern end, about 3.5 miles on a loop trail that connects the two parking areas.

The northern portion is closer to the bouldering area, and that's where I recommend that you park. You can set your GPS to Wicked Tulip Flower Farm, which is about half a mile from the parking area, which itself is half a mile from the turn from RI Rte 5 onto Brown Road. There's parking for just a few cars, so you might have competition for a spot in warm weather. I arrived on a December afternoon and had the place to myself. If there's an issue finding a spot, there's another small lot just after the turn onto Brown (you would have passed it getting to this location), or you can go around the park and park at the southern lot.

The terrain here is rocky and there are some steep parts of the path. I slipped more than once on the leaves covering loose rock. I didn't have a hiking pole with me on this trip but I'll bring one the next time I visit.

My hike was brief, and in about a quarter mile I came across what in the bouldering literature are Crags 1 to 4, a high outcrop of schist and phyllite. To get here, just out of the parking lot take the trail that forks up and to the left. The opposite fork will bring you to the bottom of the crags. I dropped a 50-foot line over the edge from the top, and the end of the rope was about ten feet off the ground, so 60 feet give or take a few.

The trees here are a mix of hardwood and pine, and at least in this area they are relatively thin, so it was easy to hang the EFHW wire. It was oriented east-west, maybe not the best direction for this particular antenna, but I've learned not to worry about things like this, you'll always be able to get to 10 QSOs with just about any antenna.

This was one of those easy activations, where everything just falls into place. One toss to get each end of the antenna into trees, a quick SWR check and I was off to the races. Even though it was a bit chilly at 35ºF I was facing into the sun and was perfectly comfortable for the hour that I operated.

One interesting observation I had was related to spotting on POTA.app. I was having some trouble getting a cell connection at this location, and typically I spot when I begin the activation right from PoLo, my logger. In this case, though, I operated for about ten minutes with zero QSOs on 20m. Finally the cell connection lit up and I was able to self-spot, and BAM I was working a pileup. I ended up making around 30 QSOs on four bands in 40 minutes or so. I tried 6m FT8 with no luck but will continue to call and spot on 6m, especially as we move into the Cycle 25 solar maximum. I think pre-spotting might be a good solution for this.

This sounds like a tough spot to work from – Snake Den, after all – but it turned out to be one of the more relaxing activations I've done recently. There are some really fascinating geological features here and I've already planned a return trip in the spring centered around that. There also are quite a few recent (past 200 years) archaeological sites, mainly foundations and cellar holes. Toward the center of the park is a quarry where stone for Providence's First Congregational Church, now Unitarian, on Benefit Street was cut.

One last bit of advice, this park is known for large populations of black flies and mosquitoes in the warm seasons, especially early spring and late summer, so bug spray is recommended. The area is open to hunting as well, so don't forget your orange blaze during the season.