Cummings Preserve

If you park at the parking area closer to the dam, you’ll see a pedestrian bridge crossing the old Oxford-Cumberland canal. Walk across to explore a little island tucked between the canal and the river. If you turn left, you can watch the river rushing over bedrock ledge, forming a low cascade of whitewater. If you go right, and walk the length of the island, you can admire the changing colors of the deep canal, which shifts from black-green to mossy to greenish-blue. The current might be strong in the canal.

While the beauty of the little island might mesmerize you, don’t skip the interesting 0.5-mile one-way trail on the other side of the canal. The flat, easy trail follows a high, straight bank, the old canal’s towpath, until it dips steeply down to a stream crossing and back up again, before reaching a little loop at the end. From the loop, there’s a short side trail to a beautiful spot by the river that seems like a good place to swim.

Directions: The trailhead starts at Dundee Dam, at the end of Dundee Road. Turn onto Covered Bridge Road (there is actually a narrow covered bridge!) from River Road. Dundee Road is on the right, 0.7 miles from the bridge.