So my neighbors have this very unusual camper/tent thing—it’s on a trailer, and has a metal/plastic frame, but otherwise looks like a tent. I didn’t get a before picture, but everything fits behind the green and grey curved front and within the trailer base. The whole thing lifts up and out to form a roomy tent with sleeping berths on both sides. When closed, it’s no taller than that front piece. So cool! Made by Sylvansport. They very nicely allowed me to look inside and to take these pictures. Also, their very large dog, Millie, made friends with Moe and the two of them were very cute together.

Dogs are unfortunately not allowed on the Shut-ins Trail (turns out, shut-ins is a term for a narrow constriction, or gorge, in a stream, not for housebound people), so Moe and I headed out on the Black River Trail System. That was disappointing, as it was just a paved path around the southern day use section of the park. Circling parking lots and busy picnic areas isn’t my idea of a trail, but Moe had plenty to sniff, so he was happy.

We did see the old Johnston family graveyard (the park is named for them, although the spelling changed over time). Always love old graveyards and gravestones. Some are so poignant:

The verse on this one must have been a favorite; many stones bore some version of it. “Sleep on, dear father (brother, mother, son) and take thy rest. God called thee home. He thought best.”

Anyway, our walk tired Moe out enough for me to leave him in the car (with the AC running) while I headed out to see the Shut-Ins.

My first thought on seeing the shut-ins was “Wow, there’s a lot of people down there.” My second thought was “ There is no way they’d allow people to climb around on those rocks in Massachusetts.” There are no barriers, no restrictions. Little kids, older people, and everyone in between were clambering over the rocks and dipping into the pools (I’m told the water was COLD). I was not comfortable getting down to the river, so you’ll just have to enlarge the pictures to really see the pools and sluices.

Moe and I made it back to the campsite by early afternoon, where I got a message from Russ that he was struggling with the hills, and didn’t expect to make his planned camp spot tonight. Haven’t heard back, but I booked an extra day here (no problem—the whole place cleared out by 2 pm as all the weekend warriors headed back home). Am awaiting further communications.