BPC routes & instructions
Border Patrol Challenge
2023-2024
Guidebook
Border Patrol Challenge Start and Finish times:
Begin on Winter solstice 2023 at 10:27 PM EST on Thursday, December 21.
Finish before Spring Equinox 2024 at 11:06 PM EST on Tuesday, March 19.
Blaze orange
You are required to wear at least 200 square inches of orange during hunting season in RI. When is hunting season? It’s easier to tell you when it isn’t. Wear orange. Yellow, green, and pink are not orange, and you can probably get away with those colors in other states. RI is very specific about what they want you to wear. It has to be solid blaze orange (no mesh, no apricot).
Border Patrol Challenge routes
All routes need to be done as one continuous activity (Strava is preferred, but Garmin and other apps work too). We recommend using a backup tracking source (ex: watch + phone app = two devices recording your route) because sometimes one device fails mid activity.
You must change the settings on your activity to public before sharing them, or we won’t be able to see them. There are two people reviewing your activity, and it might take them several days to get to it because they both have full-time jobs and other obligations. Please be patient. They will look to see that you completed the route without deviating. The only time that a deviation is okay is if you return to where you deviated from and then continue on your way. For example, you miss a turn and go one mile in the wrong direction (it happens) - retrace your route back to the wrong turn and resume the route correctly. No, you can’t use a bicycle, car, etc. Foot travel only.
Some of the routes combine a few different trails this year, and some are unmarked. Please bring a device that can help with route correction. You can bring a map and compass if you choose, but you will save time by having the route ready to follow on either Strava or on your watch.
Route Notes
Each route link above has links to a route that you can follow on your phone in Strava. You can read the route descriptions from a computer, but those notes are not available on the phone app. You can also download the GPX file to your watch and follow it. However, for most of these routes, we highly encourage you to bring your phone in case of emergency and to help with wayfinding. Some routes are marked better than others. Please bring your phone and read below. Be sure to COMPLETE your loops and do the entire out and back of a route - I don’t want to tell you your activity didn’t count, but I will.
Pachaug-Nehantic Loop - This is a long route, and everyone gets equal points for finishing this no matter how fast or slow you go. The fire damaged area from last year has been replaced with a new section of trail, which is quite enjoyable and well-marked.
Tri-State w/NST OAB - Start and finish at the yellow gate across from the parking lot. Run along the airline trail (past the sign that says trail and points south) out to the MA border, and turn right (South) on the Tri-State Trail. This is a boneyard. Plan in advance, and expect this route to take you longer than you think it will. Turn left (East) at the Tri-State marker. You will stay on the Tri-State Trail until you come to the Midstate Trail (yellow triangles) where you will turn right. Remember this intersection because on the way back, the sign that indicates it as the Tri-State trail is on the back side of the intersection's sign. Follow Midstate to where the North-South (Blue blaze) trail begins (on your left). Follow the North-South trail to Buck Hill Rd. Turn around and return. Go here before it snows!!
Mt. Misery (Nehantic) OAB - Blue Blazed on the Nehantic Trail
Narragansett Trail OAB - Very technical trail. Follow Yellow blazes, and beware of a 4-way intersection in the middle that is poorly marked with an additional yellow blazed trail going off of it (circled on map below).
Quinebaug Trail OAB - Blue blazed. This is out and back. Start anywhere along the route that you choose, but be sure to cover the full distance in both directions. The Southern terminus ends at the Nehantic Trail, so pay attention, or you might find yourself running on that.
Arcadia Trail OAB - Yellow blazed.
Tippecansett Trail South - We are only using the southern portion of this trail (South of Rt 165). It is well-marked and mostly easy to follow, other than some very overgrown sections. It also overlaps the CT section of the Narragansett Trail for a bit, so be sure to follow the YELLOW blazes. Also, turn around at the big state marker to make sure your GPS doesn’t cut you short.
TriTown Forest Preserve Blue Loop - Pay attention to blazes. It’s really easy to follow the wrong blazes here. You want blue-only. You DO NOT want double-color (blue-white, etc). Also, the hills here are hard.
Old Ten Tom - Start at Appie Crossing and take Mt. Tom (white blazes) all the way to where Old Ten Rod Rd. and Mt Tom intersect. Bear right onto Old Ten Rod (unmarked fire road). At the bottom of the long hill, bear right through the sand pit. Carefully cross rt. 165. Turn Left onto the fireroad down to Canoe Launch and Wood River. Cross bridge and continue back on Mt. Tom Trail (white blazes) to Appie Crossing. Or, do the lollipop in reverse.
West Thompson Dam - Orange on the West side of the river, some orange and yellow on the East side of the river (no blue!). At the south end of the lake by the road, avoid running on the road by using the stairs on the north face of the monument. You can run through the grassy field, up the stairs, to the other grassy field. Do not go here after heavy precipitation! It floods!
GW Walkabout Loop - Orange blazed (some blazes missing or hard to find, so be careful). Go here before it snows!!
Escoheag Trail - Plain Rd. Loop - Escoheag is blazed white. Plain Rd. is a dirt road.
Canonchet Preserve OAB - Yellow blazes out and back. If you park at the Southern Terminus, the Northern turnaround is at Stubtown Rd.
Green Falls Grab a 'Gansett Loop - Watch out for that tricky turn where the Narragansett Trail and Green Falls Pond loops intersect. Also, don't mistakenly run the dirt road that runs parallel to the Southern section of the Narragansett Trail. Follow Blue/Orange for the Green Falls Pond loop.
Shelter my Broken Heart, JB Hudson - White blazes on Shelter, yellow blazes on Breakheart, and yellow blazes on JB Hudson. Take JB Hudson Bike Route, not the hiking trail.
Carter Preserve Outer Loop - A very runnable and quite enjoyable loop around the outer perimeter of the Carter trail system, starting from the River Trailhead on King's Factory Road. Unfortunately, there are a lot of trees down, so bring your best steeplechase legs.
Burlingame Lil' Rhody Loop - Vin Gormley Trail - Yellow blazed.
Be Nutter Washout - Ben Utter (blue + yellow blazes) to River Trail (blue blazes), turn left onto road and left onto Tanner Washout, and follow that back to where you started... or the reverse.
Tillinghast Orange + Green - Orange loop starting from the Plain Rd. lot and take the Green trail to connect through the field.
Tillinghast Red Loop - Be careful to follow the outer loop and not to cut through on the central trail (Bates Trail).
Here’s how this works:
Choose a segment to complete. Pick out your best blaze orange outfit, and put it on.
Drive (or uber, walk, run, ride) to one end or the other of the segment (or somewhere mid-loop).
Turn on your activity recording device/software (Garmin, Strava, Suunto, Coros, etc). Press record (or start, etc).
Run the complete segment, both out and back or the loop (in one continuous attempt).
Hit “stop” and “save” on your activity recording device/software.
Do whatever you do post-activity, but don’t forget step 7.
Use our submit activity link under the BPC submission tab on the website to upload your activity link to the scoreboard. Make sure that your activity privacy settings are set to “public” or “everyone” so that your scorekeepers and fellow participants can see it.
You can redo any segment you want, anytime you want between now and the last day of the challenge (complete it by Tuesday, March 19 at 11:06 PM). Just be sure to check the box as “yes” that asks if this was a redo.
We will check results and update the scoreboard weekly.
Please feel free to share tips and experiences on the group Facebook page.
If you have questions, please check the Facebook page first to see if your question has already been asked/answered. If not, ask away. If it’s a personal question, just email me (Liz) at borderpatrolchallenge@gmail.com.
Please be safe out there, and always tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back.
FAQs:
Q: From your comments on Tillinghast Strava route, I see that you can run loops in any direction that you want. That’s good!
My question is regarding the start/finish location. Are the Border Patrol Challenge rules the same as FKT rules, in which you can start anywhere you want on a route, as long as you run the whole route? For example, on West Thompson loop, your Strava route shows a Ravenelle start. If I start in my usual place coming in from the campground at the start of the disc golf course, as long as I run the entire loop, I assume this works as well, but please just confirm.
A: Yes, you can start wherever you want for these routes as long as you run the whole route.
Q: What if I go off course?
A: As soon as you realize you’re off course, backtrack to the place from which you veered off route, and resume the course. Yes, you might have gone off course by 2 miles. It happens to the best of us. Luckily, we let you have do-overs here in the BPC.