Bristol County Highpoint Trip Report

three unnamed points 1 mile east of Plainville (390+ ft)

Date: August 4, 2008
Author: Chris Gilsdorf

I embarked on yet another commuter rail approach, this time taking the Providence line to Mansfield and walking along MA-106 for most of the way. Reaching Wilkins Four Corners, the highpoint loomed -- insofar as a hill with 200 feet of local relief can be said to loom -- above; I turned off onto Messenger Road (one-way at the very beginning, cars will need to continue to George Street) and walked up to the turnoff for the WWI memorial park in an SN2 attack (if you know what this means, I am truly sorry).1 Followed the winding, one-way road up past a small zoo, garden, and playground to the parking area. I then visited the four spots, which I'll try to clarify below.

1. The picnic hill, located inside the small loop of road and the furthest southwest of the four areas. Obviously lower than spot 2 by several feet.

2. The rocky outcropping 50 feet northeast from and visible from the 4-way intersection of the small and large loops of road (and 50 feet northwest of the tower). Several feet higher than spot 1 and in my opinion maybe 2 feet higher than the remaining two spots, which look about equal.

3. The other rocky outcropping 80 feet east-southeast of the tower, adjacent to the parking area. It's difficult to see one rocky outcropping from the other but this one looked a bit lower. This spot is the "invisible 4th contour".

4. A flat, wooded area about 150 feet northeast of spot 2. The hardest to compare with other spots, due to thick brush. Probably not the highest.

Visit all four to be sure.

This is definitely a nice, quick, and quirky little highpoint that I'd definitely recommend visiting if you're in the area. There's a decent view from near the parking area and from Valley View Terrace.

A few side notes: I wouldn't suggest the long road walk unless it's your only option, as the walk is fairly uninteresting, the road busy, the shoulder quite narrow at spots, and if you come down with an agonizing stomachache (as I did), there is about a four-mile stretch without any public businesses or stores.

Hike statistics from Mansfield: about 12.5 miles with 4 hours walking.

1 Webmaster's comment - "SN2" refers to bimolecular nucleophilic substitution -
    a reaction mechanism studied in organic chemistry.