“How about taking a little jaunt upstream with me?” the Cub leader suggested, shoving off.
“Where to?” Dan asked quickly, surprised by the question.
“I’m curious to see the exit of that old logging road,” Mr. Hatfield explained.
“Let’s go!” urged Brad, eager for adventure. “What do you expect to find, Mr. Hatfield?”
“I’m not sure I’ll find anything, Brad. Let’s just charge this trip off to curiosity.”
Rowing against the strong current proved slow and hard work. But finally, the Cub leader nosed the boat into a sheltered cove. Brad and Dan helped him pull the craft high out of water.
Scrambling up the steep slope, Mr. Hatfield and the two boys walked along the pavement to the exit of the old abandoned logging road. A rail fence blocked it off from the main highway.
“Before the highway went through, this logging road ended at the river,” Mr. Hatfield explained. “Logs were hauled out and floated downstream to a paper mill at West Haven.”
“When was the logging road abandoned?” Brad asked curiously.
“Oh, at least eight years ago. The road was used some, I think, until Silverton bought the woodland property for a game preserve. Then he fenced off the exit to prevent trespassers from driving through.”