Bay Circuit Diary

October 18, 2021 - Boxford

2021-10-18T14:41:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Susan's Bay Circuit Diary! This blog follows my adventures with my dog Sulu hiking the Bay Circuit Trail. To get new posts in your inbox, please subscribe (see the little "subscribe" oval above). The rest of the past posts can be found using the little menu on the left. If you are curious how this all started, go here.

The weather was much colder today (58 degrees). Walter, Sulu and I started our walk in Boxford center where we left off last time. The cafe with the bathroom is closed on Monday, but because it’s a multi-purpose building (cafe, post office, bank), I was able to walk into the restaurant space, move the trash can barrier aside and sidle by to use the rest room.

Holyoke French House, 1760

These posts mark historic sites around Boxford

We admired the charming houses in the Boxford historic district. After not too much road walking, we came to Boy Scout Park. Future travelers note, there are porta-potties at the Boy Scout Park, plus trash cans and a fabulous playground.

Robert Ackerman Playground

Between the last time we were in the area just four days prior there was a big needle drop, so now there’s a carpet of pine needles on the trail. The Boy Scout forest has interesting topography sort of like short eskers. There are humps that are maybe 10 feet high and perhaps 50 feet long with steep sides. In the middle of the Boy Scout forest is a field with a a charming cabin with a pavilion and, incongruously, a metal storage trailer. So far this leg of the trail has had a very high penetration of toilet facilities.

Walter reported a gaggle of helium geese, which is his sobriquet for nuthatches. Perhaps they are migrating.

The sun was very pretty glinting off of Fish Brook Reservoir (not an active reservoir - Boxford does not have public water).

We noted informal parking (not on the map) at the Lockwood Forest Trail head.

http://www.northshorenature.com/wp-content/uploads/Lockwood-Forest-Trail-Map.pdf

We decided to turn around here at 2.1 miles to conserve our energy. 😉

We found a trail, part of the Boxford BOLT system, not on AllTrails, but marked that goes around the other side of Fish Brook Reservoir so we decided to take that on our return route for a change of scene.

Definitely don't eat this Fly Amanita mushroom!

October 14: Georgetown-Rowley State Forest to Boxford

2021-10-14T16:38:00.005-04:00

Benny was put to sleep on October 3rd, so although this was not our first BCT walk without Benny, but it was the first BCT walk without the possibility of Benny, either waiting in the car or at home for us.

From the star to letter K

We easily found the parking lot in Georgetown Rowley State Forest at Pingree Farm Road where we turned around last time. Our friend Cindy joined us today, as she did the previous October. We found the trail well blazed. We were last here last in the area 2 1/2 weeks prior, but now there are more dead leaves and fewer mushrooms. We didn’t see a lot of great fall colors on our walk, just lots of yellows and browns, I guess that’s because of the kind of trees that grow here.

Sulu was able to refresh himself in a few muddy ponds. I forgot his treats, but he checked in for pets multiple times. Fortunately we didn’t see any people or dogs so I didn’t have to call him away from temptation.

After a lovely trip on a woods road, we emerged into suburbia. Only half a mile later, the trail directed us to a recently embellished trailhead (Hemlock Junction) with picnic tables for our lunch.

The trail turned bit and efficiently marched us around Round Top. The hill has a history as a mustering ground during the Revolutionary War and a training camp during the Civil War.

The trail then backtracked to take us back to conservation land via Campground Road. Approaching Lowe Pond, advertised as a home for beavers, I could see the beavers have gotten ahead of the trail builders. The trail was underwater before we got to the boardwalk. Wouldn’t you know it: the lovingly constructed boardwalk is practically brand new (built in 2018) and yes the beavers are way ahead. We turned around in Boxford Center after 4.5 miles. We elected to save a mile by road walking back to the car. It feels safer walking on the narrow roads with three people than with just me and Sulu. Back at the car, I was pretty footsore. I was out of practice with longer walks. Walter, meanwhile, with his replacement knees, is a powerhouse.

Artwork by Laura Hartwick

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September 27: Georgetown-Rowley State Forest

2021-09-27T15:56:00.002-04:00

From the purple asterisk to G

Through Internet sleight of hand (I dropped a pin on Google Maps and saved it) we have actually found where we left off in Rowley on 5/31! On arrival, Walter checked the weather and learned that rain was predicted to begin imminently. Without rain clothes, we decided to wait it out and listen to our audiobook (The Ionian Mission, book 7 in the Aubrey-Maturin series).

When the rain abated we took off on the trail: a series of eskers overlooking ponds. Route 95 sounded really loudly in the distance. We came down off the esker via some lovely landscape timber steps and across an elegant boardwalk across the pond. Then back up onto another esker. There were some really striking fungi about.

The Picture Mushroom app identifies these as (L to R, top to bottom)
Yellow Tipped Coral, Short-stemmed Russula, Red Chanterelle, Blood Red Russula,
Gemmed Amanita. Row 2: Painted Bolete, American Slippery Jack, Salmon Pinkgill,
Old Man of the Woods (and a repeat of the Yellow-Tipped Coral)

The trail is well marked today. In addition to BCT blazes and signage Georgetown-Rowley State Forest has its own marking system on fiberglass posts about three or four feet high. The trail directions mention wet in the lower areas but most of that seems to have been addressed by bridges and boardwalks. There is some mud because of the recent rains but it’s not as adverse as I was expecting based on the directions.

Sulu’s recall was so poor today that he is spent much of the walk on lead.

We actually brought four different containers of bug spray today in the car and are carrying one with us and boy did we need it. Even fully sprayed up we are getting divebombed.

We walked for some time on the woods road which turned into an actual although unpopulated road called Pingree Farm Road. And this is going to take us across Route 95!

Pingree Farm Road reverted to a dirt road once we crossed 95. This would be a great place for bikejoring.

At some point we officially entered Georgetown Rowley State Forest.

When we reached our destination – the parking lot at Georgetown Rowley State Forest – the rain started up again lightly but we were ready turn around anyway and head home. There was signage there listing the things that are allowed and not allowed and nowhere are dogs mentioned whether on leash or off leash. So, a fine recreation area. I allowed Sulu his freedom on the way back and he was much better behaved.

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September 20, 2021 - Lowell

2021-09-20T16:40:00.005-04:00

From before M to the asterisk

Urban navigation on the BCT is challenging because the trail is not well differentiated from the sidewalks and the parks. There’s no official trail parking so I secured a random street spot. Added to that, I was trying to follow the trail “backwards” (south to north) which is always more difficult.

Once more it was me, Sulu, and Benny in the stroller. After finding the trail, it turned out that the paved trail along the Merrimack River was blocked off for some kind of construction.

This is a bit neglected but lovely stretch of trail. The trail starts where the Concord River comes into the Merrimack. Both rivers were quite high with all the rain in recent days. The river was harnessed many years ago for the industrial needs of this old city. Now Middlesex Community College uses a glass bridge across the river to unite their campus.

We crossed in front of Lowell Memorial Auditorium with panels commemorating generals, war heroes, wars, and battlefields: a sort of a broad commemoration of all things.

We then picked up the trail (after a little casting about) along the Merrimack River behind Lowell General Hospital with just one row of buildings between us and the river.

I chose this route today because it looks stroller friendly for Benny. Benny is really failing; he just sleeps the whole time.

After crossing the busy intersection we are now in a neighborhood of small houses and low-rise apartment buildings. The Merrimack River is on our left over a guard rail and down an embankment.

It’s supposed to be a climb down the embankment to access the trail from here. Once more AllTrails came to my rescue showing the BCT leaving the road at the junction of Stackpole and Corrigan. It looks like a really challenging bushwhack to access the Merrimack River Trail from here. Perhaps it will be easier from the opposite direction. We didn’t cover a lot of mileage today but we did all that we could that was stroller friendly.

The previous weekend Walter and I had done a tiny hike on the Pemigewasset in New Hampshire. We crossed the Appalachian trail twice and I noted that the blazes that they use are the same as the BCT. That was probably part of the inspiration for my hitting the trail today, but ironically I have not seen one flipping blaze today. Que sera!

I tried a new water dispenser for Sulu that I picked up at Westminster as a giveaway. It’s the kind where the long bowl folds up against the plastic bottle. He accepted it surprisingly well.

On my way back I noticed somebody spent some money on this river walk once upon a time. There are bird sculptures on top of the bollards that block cars from driving on it. There are some handsome plants that were planted at one time.

Sulu picked up a cluster of nasty little seeds during our tiny bushwhack to find a connection to the Merrimack River Trail. They were irritating his face. I picked quite a few off but I think he’s in for a brushing later.

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August 2, 2021 - Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, Chelmsford

2021-08-02T15:21:00.004-04:00

From E to D, and a ways toward F

Back on the trail again for the second attempt at the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Chelmsford. Don't ask where the past few months have gone! In classic style we started out by walking in the wrong direction, but fortunately only .1 mile.

Also characteristically I ended up going north instead of south but as we parked at an intermediate point, either direction was fine. The trail is a dedicated rail trail, so paved, with fences on both sides and about a yard of green space between parking lots in the backs of businesses here in Chelmsford.

It was marginally too hot for Sulu. My weather app showed the air temperature as 75, but with a “real feel” of 82 so I hoped to find some shade here for him. For this adventure it was me and Sulu with Benny in the stroller. Walter was back to his pro bono contracting so not able to join us on this day.

Very difficult to pose a blind dog!

Once out of Chelmsford Center the main traffic on the trail was serious-looking road cyclists. We crossed under 495 by a narrow way and made our way to Lowell. By the way, we did not see one single BCT blaze.

The tunnel under 495

I was a bit mystified by the mileage markers. At first I thought they were metric, but then I realized they might be decimal miles. After 495, we passed under Route 3 on what seems to be a purpose-built underpass.

See the teeny-weeny decimal point?

As we returned through the tunnel under 495 I concluded this tunnel was not built for the rail trail as there are mounting brackets for rail signals on the walls. I didn’t notice anything like that in the metal tunnel under Route 3.

By my great good fortune there was a Dunkin Donuts strategically placed on the road that parallels the rail trail where I was able to nip through a parking lot and on pavement the whole time to treat myself to a iced decaf. The paved trail was smooth enough not to jostle my beverage in the stroller’s cupholder.

Where the trail heads back toward Framingham away from Chelmsford Center they have some lovely historical murals painted by Markus Lewis.

Those murals marked the turnaround point at this end of the trail. We wended our way back toward the car by a charming foot path around these new Grist Mill condos that goes by the babbling Beaver Brook.

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May 28, 2021 - Ipswich to Rowley: Willowdale State Forest and beyond

2021-05-28T22:00:00.053-04:00

From D to the purple asterisk

Our trip started at Route 1 in Ipswich, where there was a convenient roadside parking spot. We survived the very scary road crossing. The weather was unseasonably cold today (about 60).

The trip divided itself into four sections in my mind. First we traveled a woodland trail through mixed trees featuring wild lily of the valley on the forest floor. I enjoyed seeing my favorite, princess pine. Although the directions in the trail guide are intimidating, the trail was well blazed. Spring comes late to the wood, and the main sign was lots of tiny woodland wildflowers (shout-out to the app Picture This for plant IDs).

Starflower (Lysimachia borealis)

Now that I know what to look for, we saw lots of eskers on our trip.

Pink Lady Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)

Sulu found multiple muddy streams to wade in and drink from.

The only traffic we saw was a few mountain bikes.

After a while we came to a wider woods road (I think this is after we crossed into Georgetown-Rowley State Forest) flanked with ferns.

Then there was a section which was in the woods, but ran along the road for a while, so Sulu had to be on leash. This section featured a boardwalk and buttercups.

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

At some point after Hood Pond, we crossed into Boxford.

The fourth section the longest and the most challenging, featuring the most eskers. Fortunately the trail was not flooded, as the guide and map warn it can be.

We turned around at Boxford Road (not the Boxford Road in Ipswich by Hood Pond, but the second one in Rowley) , not a labeled point on the map.

Crossing Route 1 on the way back was even scarier as it was during drive time and we had to wait longer for an opening in the traffic.

Mapleleaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)

Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)

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May 24, 2021 - Tewksbury

2021-05-24T15:29:00.012-04:00

From K to the asterisk and back again

Due to limited time, I chose a somewhat random segment of the Bay Circuit Trail that had the shortest travel time from home. The weather was warm, in the high 60s but felt warmer.

Last June, Sulu and I began a convenient segment from Map 4 in Andover. The segment we chose today didn't connect exactly with that part, but had convenient parking.

We started at the Tewksbury water pumping station. There wasn’t parking outside the gate as the directions promised so we parked in front of the building, crossing our fingers that the car would still be there and the gate would be open on our return. Sulu, Walter, and I, with Benny in his stroller proceeded down River Road and were disappointed that the sidewalk vanished so quickly leaving us on a rather pedestrian hostile busy road.

Jesse Trull House on River Road c1891

Saint Mary’s Cemetery is also dog hostile. I have learned that dog rules in cemeteries vary widely, so I was hopeful we would be able to walk with the dogs on the paved road. Not being able to enter caused a problem because there was no clear access to the path along the Merrimack River without going through the cemetery. The sign at the entrance stated “no dog walking in the cemetery”. So I obeyed the letter of the law, zipping Sulu into the dog stroller and carrying Benny, the lighter of the two. No dog feet touching the ground here.

We did get some dirty looks from family members. We were able to follow the directions through the gate and parked the stroller behind a dumpster. The dumpster concealed the entrance to the path. The path is pretty crummy. It’s at the foot of a sort of a berm or raised up area which might be a landfill or maybe it’s the new part of the cemetery. There was scattered debris from the stuff that they clean off the grave sites like seasonal decorations and fake flowers.

Yes, this is the trail

After maybe 100 yards of ick the trail became a beautiful woodland trail. Walter observed that these woods are 100% deciduous which is unusual for the BCT.

Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to turn around once we got to the river. Walter was disappointed that the ratio of road walking to trail walking was so poor. Benny was a trooper since he had to walk on his own little feet from where we left the stroller to the river and back again. I did carry him through the cemetery but his little bulk gets heavy pretty fast.

Bird's foot trefoil (invasive)

Ragged-robin

May 17 2021 - Ipswich: Willowdale State Forest

2021-05-17T15:19:00.047-04:00

From B to D

Google misled us on the way to the trailhead (I do seem to write that a lot!) but we figured it out and enjoyed a picnic lunch where we left off at Linebrook Road last time.

We enjoyed lamb sandwiches from local favorite Dave’s Fresh Pasta.

We were charmed to see wild columbines lining our path.

From L to R: Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea), Starflower (Lysimachia borealis), Cinnamon Fern (Osmundastum cinnamomeum), and Azure Bluet (Houstonia cerulea)

Many species of birds were taunting us from the trees. Frogs calling in the marsh drew our attention and we stopped to listen more than once. We recorded the bullfrog songs at one spot because they sounded like banjos. We each thought we recognized snippets of songs - the Deliverance theme or Camptown Races.

Willowdale State Forest has a complex trail nextwork, so it was helpful that the BCT was well marked, and the trail description was detailed and accurate. The junction markings from the DCR (Department of Conservation and Recreation) are at eye level and so far pretty easy to find.

We saw so many chewed up pinecones, and every every now and again an untouched one. We wondered if that was because it was a male cone and therefore without tasty seeds inside.

Because it’s so sunny today we haven’t seen as many birds as we saw last week. We heard many but saw few.

Walter and I were both wearing our pyrethrin sprayed socks. Mine are tucked into my pants; his were not. Hopefully they will do the trick against ticks.

Based on the number of cars in the parking lot I didn’t think Sulu would be able to be off leash so I didn’t bring a full pouch of cookies. However the trails are delightfully uncrowded and he was able to be off leash almost the whole time. The forest is technically on-leash only, but as we used to say in grade school “but everybody does it!”

The only notable bird sightings were a kingbird and one of our favorites, the towhee.

We appreciated the lovely brand new boardwalks around the pond. I looked at some maps to try to determine the name of the pond, but it looks like beavers have been at work and what was a deeper spot in the marsh is now a pond.

Definitely beavers at work here!

Our turnaround point on Route 1

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May 10, 2021 - Rowley to Ipswich

2021-05-10T15:39:00.003-04:00

From A to B

Despite having been at the parking area for Prospect Hill a week ago, getting to it from home took a bit of navigation as it’s not on Google Maps. However we triangulated from all available resources and made it to the trailhead.

I felt a sense of relief to be on a real woods trail for the first time in what seemed like months and to be able to let the dog off leash. Once more, the BCT brought us to an obscure, lightly trafficked trail. Although the area is posted for on-leash, there were no cars in the parking area, so I took the chance of letting Sulu off leash.

The weather was delightful, around 60 degrees, with bird songs and the young plants everywhere, though few flowers.

The trail was muddy, especially in low areas, but thank heavens for Gore-Tex!

We had some rewarding bird sightings today (possibly due to the overcast conditions?), including a rose-breasted grosbeak and an ovenbird. Sulu, “Mr. Maturity” at nearly six years old, was very patient with our many birding stops.

The trail was well blazed, perhaps as an apology for the many boring miles of road walking.
As we approached the easment in Country Club Estates (actually called Ipswich Club Homes Association), I snapped on the leash. I turned him loose again when we got to Linebrook Woods.

We exited the woods facing down a gentle slope toward Linebrook Road and Willowdale State Forest. There was a picturesque farm silhouetted on the rise to our left and rather down-to-earth manure piles below.

Unfortunately halfway down the hill Sulu saw the cars speeding by and it activated his strong chase instinct. I ran after him screaming and got him to turn well before he got to the road. The leash went on at that point and it took a while for my heart rate to return to normal.

We turned around after 2.7 miles (a little longer than trail directions said for some reason) at the parking lot for Willowdale State Forest, which will be the jumping off point for our next adventure. By good fortune the parking lot featured Porta Potties and even a trash can!

Sulu stayed on leash until we were into the woods on the way back. We did see a painted turtle on our return walk, and Sulu had a model dog encounter (both off leash, a little sniffing, then going about their business).

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May 3, 2021 - Rowley

2021-05-03T18:00:00.089-04:00

From K to the purple asterisk and back again

This segment was the end of the boring road walking that is the “Rowley Gap”. One downside o the gap is that there is little parking available on Route 1A, so we parked at Prospect Hill in Rowley, the last stop on Map 1A, and worked our way “backwards”/ north.

Prospect Hill kiosk

The day was sunny and in the mid 60s, so a lovely day for a walk. Walter, Sulu and I started on Route 133, which was crazy busy, and then had a brief respite on a connector road where we could better appreciate spring’s charms.

Spring poodle. Needs a bath and a haircut.

Route 1A here is pretty busy as well, but our walk was brightened by lots of interesting old houses.

This one looks very old, but no info.

Thomas Lambert House, 1699

Hobson-Houghton House c. 1800

Fit-N- Trim. A place to do dog agility, where we have been!

We made a pit stop at the Rowley Public Library (open to the public, unlike Somerville’s library in these plague times).

The library has a lovely garden where I waited with the dog.

We saw signs for the regional high school, Triton High School. This entertained us because Triton was the name of the sodar we developed back in the day. Mysteriously, the Triton athletes are not called Tritons, they are Vikings. A missed opportunity, I think.

We turned around after 2.4 miles. Although we kept our eyes open, we didn’t identify any exciting birds this time. The birds stayed out of sight and taunted us from the trees.

End of Map 1A!

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April 19, 2021 - Newbury to Rowley

2021-04-19T21:52:00.062-04:00

Trail mileage from E to the asterisk

We started at Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary because there’s parking there. This was a day were were able to include Benny in the stroller since we anticipated 100% road walking. Walter joined me again today with his binoculars and was really enjoying looking at birds. We saw lots of birds but the lighting was crap.

Here’s a partial list:

Cedar waxwing

Flicker

Redwing blackbird

Bluebird

Robin

Downy woodpecker

Bobolinks!

Turkey vulture

Phoebe

Goldfinch

House finch

Mourning dove

Carolina wren

Mallard

Cardinal

Grackles

White throated sparrow

House sparrow (clearly list padding here)

Canada geese

Our route was a little weird. I decided to set the end point first - to a recognizable junction on 1A where we could return next time. That was a bunch of pretty boring road walking. On the return trip, I made sure to fork left to walk the road segment we missed last time - a quiet road abutting a wildlife management area. We found the trail markings heading north were way better than the trail markings heading south.

The train crossing was the major landmark of the trip

And it made for a photo op

As we were looking at birds in the yard of a house backing up to a marsh on Red Gate Road (is it completely shameless to use binoculars to look at the birds at a stranger’s bird feeder? Asking for a friend…) we were greeted by the homeowner, a friendly man named Dennis. He invited us to step into his yard for a better look at the birds and name-dropped some cool species that had been seen there before (white ibis!). We lingered to chat, and then continued on our way. We were caught in an unexpected sprinkle as we approached our final turnaround from Old Rowley Road to 1A, but fortunately it was light and brief. Because most of our route was adjacent to marsh, we noticed the first bugs of the season as well.

This trip may or may not have included some of the "Rowley Gap", referred to in the guide. As far as I can see, it's just a name for "more boring road walking than usual".

Fields greening up

Another town, another sign.
Nowhere to safely pose the dog.

Early wildflowers: Purple dead-nettle (lamium)

Coltsfoot (tussilago)

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April 9, 2021 - Old Town Hill, Newbury and Beyond

2021-04-09T21:22:00.044-04:00

This roughly corresponds to D to E on Map 1A

Walter, Sulu and I set out from the parking lot at the Old Town Hill Trustees property . We decided to repeat the trail that goes through the reservation as it’s a nice walk with views, and the alternative would have been walking along a narrow road with poor visibility.

View from Old Town Hill

We saw many signs of spring, including new green on willow trees and forsythia.
Sulu got a little illegal off-leash time on the top of the hill where we could see if anyone was coming (that he might bother).

Spring!

We left the reservation via a handsome stile and proceeded to Newbury Lower Green.

This was not technically road walking as it was more of a historic access road. There’s a historic schoolhouse museum with mannequins and props - we peeped through the window.

From there it was road walking on Route 1A. Crossing the Parker River was fun, and there was an interesting old cemetery on the corner of Newbury Neck Road and 1A.

The trail led us down Newbury Neck Road (not enthralling but better than walking on 1A).

The historic Dole-Little House (1715)

When Newbury Neck Road rejoined 1A, I mistakenly guided us down 1A instead of Old Rowley Road. This was extremely uninspiring. I belatedly realized my mistake, but by then it was too late to make any progress down Old Rowley Road, so we turned around. We chose to return via 1A instead of Newbury Neck Road for a change of scene and because it was a little shorter.

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March 22, 2021 - Old Town Hill, Newbury

2021-03-22T18:50:00.040-04:00

The greater Boston area is broadly divided into North Shore and South Shore. Technically, there is also MetroWest, but unless you live right on the Mass Pike, your community is probably more North Shore or more South Shore culturally. When I first moved here I landed in Medford, and from there to Somerville, so my affiliation is to the North Shore. I suppose it’s the inconvenience of traveling through Boston itself to go somewhere.

Of the over seventy walks I’ve completed in pursuit of the BCT, I’ve only ever had company other than Walter on one, and that was in Andover (October 14, 2020), which is North Shore aligned.

Today was our second walk since we left the Southern arm of the trail and started south from Newbury (Walter and I did the first leg this on June 22, bikejoring with Sulu). Along with Walter, I had three guests and three guest dogs!

Our destination was the Trustees of Reservations' Old Town Hill in Newbury. This is one of the few reservations that allows dogs off leash, though only offseason.

Walter and I got there a few minutes early to walk down to my turnaround point from the previous time with Sulu and Benny. This is some rare mileage when Benny’s feet were actually touching the ground. Benny waited in the car during our hike as it was not stroller-friendly.

The others met us in the parking lot, all with their pandemic puppies. Sulu was a model of deportment compared with these youngsters. I decided I would rather show my guests a good time than stick strictly to the BCT, which would lead to road walking. Old Town Hill has a great loop trail that we followed, including an extension that overlooks the marshes.

The trail was muddy in places, with a great boardwalk in the worst spot. I had the property map on my phone but I hadn’t studied it, so we were taken by surprise when we got to the top of Old Town Hill. It’s only 130 feet high, but Plum Island was straight ahead of us, and we could see all the way to the Seabrook nuclear power plant.

At the top of the hill there was also a great photo spot, a mature deciduous tree surrounded by a ring of boulders.

Even though the parking area was 3/4 full, most of the visitors seemed to take the trail on the parking side of the road and we encountered a few hikers and no dogs on the loop trail side.

Sure, the BCT mileage wasn’t that much, but we showed four dogs a good time and had a lovely afternoon out in the park.

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March 17 - Newbury

2021-03-17T17:21:00.134-04:00

From the circled P to the purple asterisk

Gotta keep the riff raff out, because they're drawn to historic
New England properties like flies to honey
(this is the driveway to the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm).

Walter and I were last here back in June, when on an unseasonably cool day we took Sulu bikejoring to Plum Island. We ended our trip at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, with Walter being turned into a raisin by relentless mosquitoes. This time I parked at the historic house, which is mostly shut down but still seems to be hosting school groups. Coming out the front entrance onto Route 1, I was immediately struck by the neighborhood of old and historic houses.

Widows' walks and cupolas on 1A (AKA High Road, a State Scenic Byway)

Planning for the trip, I was apprehensive about walking on Route 1A, which I know as the route from Logan Airport under the harbor, but it was a country road with a double yellow line up here in Newbury. It also featured a sidewalk, which is a cherished amenity.

Route 1A in Newbury

After a little less than a mile on 1A we turned onto Heath Street. I’ve been enjoying buying eggs and honey from places I pass on my walks, ans it looks like I’ll have a lot of choices for BCT eggs on this trip.

Tendercrop Farm is an 800-lb gorilla in the farm stand arena.
Egg pricing: $1.99 for the first dozen and increasing with each successive dozen.

True spring weather led me to wear two fleeces today instead of a coat and I was quite comfortable. The trail was also well marked today.

The inscription on the wooden cross says "Jed/May 9, 2011"
and the stone says "Never Alone"

On my way to the Old Town Hill conservation area I passed a sad roadside memorial to Jed who died on May 9, 2011. The specifics made me curious and I looked him up online. Sadly, he was a 22 year old man who lost his life in a single vehicle accident at that spot, close to the place his family had lived for six generations.

Trail directions promised a dome house (the link goes to the 2015 real estate listing for the property) on Boston Road and my eyes are peeled. Yes! I spotted it! It’s a pretty suburban looking dome home with a rectangular extension. What I really noticed is that they have all the toys: motorboat, kayak, paddle board, mini bulldozer and more.

I heard lots of birds calling today. I’m still looking for signs of spring in the woods. The trails are little muddy under the leaves, so I guess that’s one.

This end of Old Town Hill Reservation is an unmanicured Trustees of Reservations property that is dog friendly and more so off-season. Dogs are allowed off leash (under voice control) from August 16 until April 1. I believe this part of the reservation is a newer gift, so the trail we took was the only trail through.

After less than an hour on the trail, one of the fleeces was tied around my waist. I appreciated the really solid board bridge over the muddy brook that’s part of a formation called “The Mire"(#49 on this map of historic Newbury).

Sulu crosses The Mire without becoming enmired

Coming around the corner onto Hay Street I was struck by the breathtaking vista of the expanse of the salt marsh. Maybe it’s growing up on the shore of Connecticut, or being involved in the environmental effort in my formative years, but I do love a salt marsh. The marsh is dormant now and there are acres of salt hay with the winding streams clearly visible.

Note the St. Patrick's Day kerchief

I missed the turn onto Newman Road because there’s really no place to put a sign up on the walker’s side of the road. On my way back I noticed that there were signs in two places across the street, so I must have missed them because I was distracted by the scenery.

This is the breathtaking vista, although of course the poodle is admirable too

Due to time constraints, we turned around at the second bridge over the marsh, shortly before the main parking area for the Old Town Hill reservation. I look forward to coming back here soon, hopefully with Walter, and to enjoy more off leash time with Sulu in the other half of the reservation.

On the way back to the car I noted that there is much less trash on the road here than there was in Duxbury. When road walking in Duxbury there would be a can, a bottle, a cup, or a wrapper every 10 feet or so, or so it seemed.

Even though I’m time constrained, I took the trail back instead of road walking because Sulu enjoys being off leash so much (and there was not much advantage to be gained). The trail was muckier on the way back, so guess the underlying ground is thawing, a definite sign of spring. Unlike much of my time on the southern arm of the trail there’s virtually no road noise today, which was pleasant. Another sign of spring: along with the songbirds, the turkey vultures are returning.

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March 11, 2021 - Duxbury: Round Pond to Bay Farm

2021-03-11T14:22:00.104-05:00

From purple circle to purple circle
(finally getting the hang of annotating the maps)

I was very excited for today’s walk. I planned that this will be my last walk on the southern branch of the BCT until the triumphal final march to the sea. My plan is to complete the entire trail except the last .4 mile to the shore in Duxbury. Then I will gather my friends and we will take the walk together and celebrate on the beach.

Love those Duxbury BCT signs!

I parked the car at a designated spot next to a Duxbury conservation area. I misread the directions and thought the trail connected via road, but the parking spot is located at a spur trail that leads to the trail from the woods near the Route 3 crossing to Round Pond. I entered the trail right in front of where my car was parked and backtracked to where the BCT left East Street. The painted blazers were reassuring.

The weather was unseasonably warm today. The temps were forecast to go to 60° (and in fact went to 72). I wore a short sleeve shirt for the first time in ages and a hoodie. I put sunscreen on my arms in anticipation of removing the hoodie later.

Once I was confident that we were well within the boundaries of the Round Pond conservation area I let Sulu loose. Route 3 was very loud while we were there. There was virtually no snow remaining, even in the shadiest places.

Within 20 minutes I was down to shirt sleeves - a first for the year. Round Pond is a lovely extensive conservation area that joins more conservation areas on the other side of Mayflower Street. I would recommend it for a dog-friendly day out.

Overlooking Round Pond

The trail consists of gentle ups and downs through pine woods. The BCT bypasses Round Pond, but I think I avoided some traffic that way as many people like to take a walk “around the pond”.

This conservation area, like the other one in Duxbury, is surprisingly busy considering it’s a weekday. Perhaps the warm temperatures have brought people out of their homes. I’ve lifted my mask more today than I have in ages. I noted on the way back that Round Pond trails are really well marked in both directions.

Cranberry bog with poodle

Once we left the conservation area I fired up my headphones and audiobook. My road walking took me through a crossroads labeled as "Tinkertown". This area is also home to the "factory store" of Island Creek Oysters, a big name locally in oysters, and until recently, oyster bars.

There was about a mile of road walking through seaside suburbs before we got to our destination: the parking area of Bay Farm, another Duxbury conservation area where the southern terminus of the trail is.

There's a life sized Sheltie statue at the entrance to the park

We turned around after 3.8 miles and about 1 hour 40 minutes of walking. On to the North Shore!

So far we have gone a total of 169.59 miles, including parts of the northern branch.

The rare triple blaze!

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March 3, 2021 - A little Pembroke and lots of Duxbury

2021-03-03T17:44:00.112-05:00

From one purple asterisk to another

We parked by the side of the road in a dubious spot just over the Duxbury line, a stone’s throw from the boundary sign. The BCT directions mention a spot with room for three cars by the side of the road, but there’s no corresponding P on the map.

We began by walking “upstream” towards where we turned around last time. I immediately donned my headphones and fired up my audiobook.

Is it pink enough for you?

MaryLou’s coffee shop on the corner is definitely a landmark with the big pink cup. I stopped in there with the car on the way home and it was a flashback to the 80s when we first discovered hazelnut coffee - and so pink! The store is as pink on the inside as it is on the outside. Their specialty is a dizzying array of coffee flavors, mixed with syrup flavors and flavored cream. I had a cinnamon-something decaf coffee and it wasn’t bad. Apparently there are 37 bright pink MaryLou's shops on the South Shore.

The weather was forecast to be unseasonably warm, but I started out feeling colder than I should have been. It was about half a mile to the turnaround and back to the car, and even though it was over 40 degrees, I still wasn’t warm enough to shed a layer. Indeed I stopped to pick up my gloves.

You can see my car in the background

After officially crossing the Pembroke-Duxbury line, we dipped into the woods for a .2 mile woods excursion. I kept him on leash for that one.

The trail directions told me to cross Route 14 and directly across would be the trail into the forest. I saw nothing. There were no blazes, no markings of any kind. We stepped into the woods and started bushwhacking looking for something. The path I followed looked more like a trail than where I was not walking but it was not very convincing.

The trail, no kidding

Standing in the woods looking for maps of Ashdod Forest trails on my phone (hint: there are none) I saw the sun glinting off of faint tire depressions and crossed over to follow it. If that was the trail, it’s really poorly maintained. After clambering around over dead trees, being snagged by thorny vines, and whipped in the face by saplings I finally saw a painted blaze. Suddenly I was on a clear well-marked trail. To continue the NATO theme, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! Our walk today has been punctuated by regular gun blasts from what I now know is the gun club down the road.

The BTC has its own spiffy signs in Duxbury

The trail entered a conservation meadow (not at all mentioned in the directions). I cast about to find where the trail went next and found the route: right through the field and down a grassy lane between some houses to King Street.

Victory! And this time the trail across the street is beautifully signed. The trail continued to be well marked and lived up to the description. It’s always gratifying when the landscape unfolds according to the directions.

After about an hour and a quarter on the trail my gloves were stowed and I was carrying my coat over my shoulder.

I stopped for a moment to watch a small woodpecker but when I looked at my app to determine whether it was a hairy or a downy it had flown.

Coming off the dirt road the trail clearly turned but was nothing like the description. There was a Bollywood dance party going on somewhere to the right. I’m following the blazes and hoping for the best.

Duxbury Bogs is beautiful with well marked wide trails. We came into the bog through the back door so to speak. Looking across the cranberry bog to the parking area I can see this is no secret spot. There were twelve cars - nominal full capacity - in the lot on a weekday. From there, the Route 3 crossing was so close I decided to go a little further to this major milestone.

Duxbury Bogs

Route 3 Southbound

After nearly three hours of walking, we covered 5.7 trail miles! I am very motivated to complete the southern end of the BTC and start up on the North Shore.

A cool but sad sighting - a dead river otter

Once more I chose to walk a shorter route via roads back to the car.

I was relieved to find my car still there upon my return.

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February 26, 2021 - Pembroke to almost Duxbury

2021-02-26T14:44:00.125-05:00

From the parking lot at S past the purple asterisk and off the map

We returned to Tubb’s Meadow to begin the final march to the sea. The BCT forks here, with one branch going north through Pembroke and Duxbury, and the other branch going south through Pembroke, Kingston and Duxbury. A back of the envelope calculation suggested that the northern branch might be shorter, so that’s what I chose. Both branches have about the same ratio of road walking to woods walking.

The trip began with road walking. I immediately fired up my audiobook. It was a beautiful day for a walk, sunny and about 40 degrees. We went past the ice arena and solar-equipped landfill and up toward the school complex, fittingly situated on Learning Lane. After about 1.8 miles we entered the Hobomock School Conservation Area, a woods trail system. The trail directions are not exactly timeless: “area of ferns”…well, those dried stems might be ferns. The trail was mostly clear, though there was snow in the shady areas.

Bear left at the poodle

It’s a different kind of terrain here. There are more ups and downs and the soil is not sandy. The trail directions said there was an “old well” out there somewhere, but I never saw it. I also missed noticing I was on the glacial esker, which is a shame since I learned about eskers back in Walpole and wanted to experience another one.

I kept hearing random distant shotgun blasts. I wanted to think it was something else like construction noise but I think it was guns.

Blazes became more infrequent after about three miles and I referred to AllTrails a few times to verify my direction.

In the cultivated world, signs of spring are beginning to show, but here in the woods, I haven’t seen any. The plants that are green now have been green all winter. I squinted at some buds trying to discern signs of swelling, but couldn’t be sure.

One of four water towers in Pembroke

We followed the trail to the water tower and High Street. There was a little more road walking until the next unnamed conservation land and woods trail. I saw a genuine sign of spring: someone was tapping their maple trees!

On the new woods trail the walking was enjoyable but the markings were few. We did see some kindness rocks scattered along the trail. Although the BCT blazes abandoned me, AllTrails was still my friend and I navigated my way without backtracking. Within sight of the road the blazes magically reappeared. I laughed out loud.

We traveled a total of 4.6 miles to the turnaround on Congress Street. I decided to walk roads back the car, which Google Maps said would save me 45 minutes. This is a mixed blessing of course, as Sulu doesn’t enjoy it very much, but it lets me do more trail miles overall. On my walk back to the car, I passed the entrance to a gun club, which explains the noises I heard. Also seen:

The Lydia Drake Library is a charming one-room private library

We saw these "off leash" goats

There are 11 of these granite sign posts in Pembroke remaining
of the 32 that were installed in 1841

We have officially completed Map 13! Only Map 14 to go before the end of the northern branch of the trail.

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February 24 - Pembroke: Tubb's Meadow Preserve

2021-02-24T16:24:00.084-05:00

From S on the right to the P at Pembroke Town Forest and back again

We started at Tubb's Meadow conservation area which looks to be a favorite spot for dog walkers. There is a dumpster for poop bags and a poop bag dispenser. Also no signage at all about leashes, so Sulu got to run free. I would definitely recommend this site for dog walkers. There are lots of trails and it’s off leash friendly.

The unnamed pond at Tubb's Meadow

The trail was pretty easy traveling. There was ice but was mostly slushy and a little mucky where it’s melting. The temperature was remarkably warm today (I think it hit 50 F during the walk) and sunny, so great day for a walk. I had my coat unzipped from the moment I left the parking lot.

I had some technology problems today - both my apps quit tracking me. I suppose I must’ve poked something accidentally when I was taking pictures of Sulu. I managed to restart them of course but I won’t have an accurate count of my mileage today. The way I found out my app wasn’t working was when I went to check my position on AllTrails. It turned out I missed a turn but I was able to take a shortcut back to the trail. I’m coming back this way so I’ll still complete the BCT mileage for this area.

Humans love this stuff

After picking up the trail, I can’t blame the BCT for this one: it’s a small side trail up the hill but the approach was clearly signed and I just missed it. Perhaps I was looking at my feet or my dog too much.

The trail let out onto busy Route 36. Again there was ambiguous signage on the far side of the road. There was a fork, one side of which has quite a bit a car traffic visible in the snow and the other, a nice sandy trail. There were blazes on the left toward the car road but I couldn’t see any going forward. It looked like from the map that the trail goes to the right - where I wanted to go - and AllTrails appeared to show the same (of course I preferred the less traveled, less icy route). Unfortunately after looking at the trace I made on AllTrails, I should’ve taken the icy trafficked road. So back we go. This just shows the challenges of following the BCT from south to north instead of from north to south as the directions are written.

Deer tracks (1 and 2) and rabbit tracks

We passed behind an elementary school with recess in full swing. Even though there was a chain link fence between us and the children, I put Sulu on leash to give the appearance of being a good citizen. I finally let Sulu off leash again when the trail turned to a woods trail without any tire tracks. According to the directions I expected to have about half a mile before I needed to leash him up. I met another BCT hiker during this section - once identified by her backpack. She wasn’t very chatty so I did not tell her about this blog.

This Cape Cod-like terrain has a lot of water features. Some are human-made ponds for the cranberry industry, but there are a some kettle ponds like those on the Cape. Besides Maquan Pond at Camp Kiwanee from last time, I also saw Oldham Pond, Furnace Pond, and Great Sandy Bottom Pond on my Charlie Foxtrot tour of Pembroke.Today took us by Little Sandy Bottom Pond, and I can see more ponds on the map. The ponds are surrounded by cottages and summer stuff.

Little Sandy Bottom Pond

The turnaround point

Once I was on the road walking to the turnaround point I fired up my audiobook. The BCT designers thoughtfully routed the trail on an access road paralleling the main road, which came out at the ballfields. I remain mystified about the blazes I saw further up the main road last time.
On the way back, with no errors in routing, I noticed a lot of melting had happened since my way out a few hours past and that made the footing easier. I ran into my fellow traveller again. Since she, like me, is on her own, she also has to walk the trail twice.

I remembered to dose Sulu with tick protection a few days ago. I haven’t seen any ticks but this is the kind of weather when they might make an appearance.

We’ll start at Tubb's Meadow next time.

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February 17, 2021 - Hanson to Pembroke

2021-02-17T15:48:00.122-05:00

On the left, the planned route from N back to the road, then on past the Pembroke Town Forest.
On the right, what we really did.

Back in the day when I had a job (in the rapidly receding past), I shared an office with Naomi. We had our little jokes as co-workers do and one long running one was using the NATO Phonetic Alphabet for profane acronyms. The NATO Phonetic Alphabet is the one used by the military for clear spelling over the air, e.g. “Alpha Bravo”. We’d take a “dirty word” and use the “military spelling”. A favorite example was calling someone a “Delta Bravo”. I still revert to those epithets today. Another favorite was adopting the military euphemism “Charlie Foxtrot”, and that perfectly describes today’s walk on the BCT with Sulu.

I started with great confidence and optimism. The day was sunny, the temperature was hovering around freezing, and I hoped a recent rain had melted most of the snow. The parking lot at Cranberry Cove in Hanson-owned Camp Kiwanee was an inhospitable floe of bumpy ice, but I parked on the side and hoped that these were the worst conditions I’d encounter today.

My first mission was to walk back down the access road to my turnaround spot on Route 58. The access road was completely free of snow and ice. I did notice immediately that there was a cold breeze slicing off Maquan Pond.

For the first time in my whole BCT journey I was carrying a pack. The pack was for the convenience of the dog as it contained his boots and coat. I didn’t expect bad conditions but I wanted to be prepared. Today we leave leash-obsessed Hanson and cross into Pembroke which I am hoping has more liberal leash laws (from a glance at their website, it looks like they expect dogs to be “under control”).

The gatehouse

The trail off the access road into the Alton J. Smith reserve started right before the gatehouse to the former estate. Where people have walked before, bumpy ice footprints formed and it was slow going. Once we got into the sun, the trail was less icy.

View of the bog, Alton Smith Reserve

The trail led to a former cranberry bog, so fully exposed sunny walking. It looked like they are letting the cranberry bog revert to a natural swamp.

The sunshine brought out the birds. First I saw a goodly flock of robins and then a small flock of beautiful Eastern bluebirds.

I really did not take into account sunny versus shady. I’m not sure how I could have prepared better. I do own ice cleats from that really icy winter we had a few years back, but they don’t do well on paved areas. If I’m carrying a pack on a future trip I guess I can throw them in there too.

The trail was well marked from the parking area around the bog, and I felt well supported.

This footprint makes my booted foot look petite.

There are some very large footprints here. Some of the size may be down to melting making things appear bigger but some are very large. I took a picture of one early on in the trail with my foot for scale and the other a little further on with Sulu’s foot for scale. Bears? (no, according to the Internet, bears have five toes).

As I proceeded confidently down the “old cart path” I noticed that we were nearing a busy road. I must have missed some turn, I thought, and backtracked to the last blaze. AllTrails doesn’t show the BCT in this location, but I was able to compare the shape of the line of my route in AllTrails to the BCT map and see approximately where I went wrong.

I reviewed the instructions: I was on a wide flat sandy road which could be called an old cart path. I went up a hill to investigate another trail but the directions didn’t say anything about a hill and it looked more like “new motorbike jump path” than "old cart path”. Back we went the way we came, paying extra attention for blazes and examining side trails.

I got to the point where I turned around before. I decided to keep straight on the old cart path. We came to another formerly cultivated area where there were a lot of trails to the right - the berms between the bogs - but none of those were the actual trail.

Up onto Route 14

The trail ended and we clambered up to the busy road - a completely random place on Route 14, not mentioned in the directions anywhere. There was no kiosk anywhere in sight. According to Google Maps, the trail head for the Andruk Bogs, which is adjacent to the Alton J. Smith reserve where we started, was nearby so I decided to walk up there and see if I could intersect the BCT from there.

At that point I wasn’t sure if I was in Pembroke or Hanson, but I was walking on a sidewalk (if covered in ice most of the time) and I appreciated the gesture.

A little walking brought us to the Hanson/Pembroke town line (and an appealing honey stand). Reviewing Google Maps again, it looks like we overshot the entrance to the bog. We reversed direction again and with phone in hand, located the unmarked entrance to the bog trail.

I was dismayed to find that the trail made a fork with the trail I took to get to Route 14 - I didn’t even get 200 feet.

So, a new plan. I looked at the map and I saw that the BCT goes through Pembroke Town Forest. The trail goes right through the parking lot for the forest, so I routed myself via Google Maps to the parking lot for the forest, which is only .4 miles on foot. I will try to pick up the trail there.

Walking toward the forest I saw a BCT blaze indicating turning right onto Route 14 at the rotary, so all may not be lost.

What a muddle. Google thought the Town Forest Entrance was the entrance to the town of Pembroke DPW for all cars and people. I went in there and didn’t see any blazes or signage. Reviewing the directions it looks like the trail comes out through the playing field parking lot which is next door to the DPW so I re-backtracked to go there. Approaching the entrance to the ballfields there’s a flutter of three BCT blazes close to each other which honestly just made me mad, because where were they when I needed them?

Hooray! We finally connected with on the trail! As I entered the J.J. Shepherd Memorial Forest (not the Town Forest, possibly part of the problem) at the top of the parking lot I let Sulu off leash for the first time in a long time. It felt really good.

JJ Shepherd Memorial forest with poodle

BCT blazes were in full force, but the footing was just OK. The forest trail connects with where we were before via a path along a canal. Alongside the canal the footing was especially treacherous. Slushy footprints on the narrow trail had re-frozen over rooty terrain slanted down toward the water.

Does this look stressful to you? If so, I have succeeded.

We finally arrived back where we departed from the BCT and I was able to piece it together in my mind. Finally!

Here are my observations:

The kiosk on the town line is a figment of their imagination - what should have been a major landmark was completely absent.
The pair of signs that I thought indicated keep going in this direction from each direction actually meant I was supposed to turn right
The blaze I didn’t see when I investigated that path is buried deep in the woods and I only noticed it coming back in the return direction.

However all’s well that ends well. We made it back to the car safely in one piece (or is that two pieces - one for me and one for the dog?). I didn’t meet my mileage goals but at least Sulu got to run free in Pembroke for a little while.

January 28, 2021 - Hanson

2021-01-28T17:45:00.086-05:00

From H to M

So much preparation for today’s trip! Yesterday, I went to REI and bought some gaiters to keep the snow out of my low boots. I made paw wax for Sulu to protect his feet in case there’s salt on the roads. I’m a bit disappointed in the paw wax: it’s too soft and I need to melt it down and add more beeswax. Today was my first snowy day walk. Walter and I have dueling weather apps and mine predicted the snow would stop and not accumulate. I might be wrong. I dressed Sulu in his lightweight shell jacket to keep the snow from getting him wet - he’s normally comfortable at this temperature (hovering around freezing), but he gets cold if he gets wet. There was already about four inches of snow on the ground from earlier snow.

Not expecting any off-leash time on the trails in Hanson, I let Sulu off leash at the deserted ballfields where we parked. He was giddy to run in the fresh snow. I actually had quite a hard time catching him to hit the trail.

Our first move was to backtrack on the trail to the railroad crossing where we turned around last time. I was pleasantly surprised by how close it was.

So much road walking on this leg of the journey. At least that this section of the trail is pretty well blazed. I didn’t bring my headphones for the road walking because my audiobook was getting me down. It was a pretty boring walk down High Street though and I was tempted to cut it short.

Very supportive of the police in Hanson - one of many signs I passed

Things perked up once I got to the intersection of Route 58. There were more things to look at, take pictures of, and changes in direction, so I pressed on. The trail made a little loop around the town hall complex with good views of Wampatuck Pond. The ice looked soft, and I was glad I wasn’t going to have to contend with calling Sulu off thin ice.

Wampatuck Pond

The touristic highlight of the walk was the historic Nathaniel Thomas Mill. I was a bit disappointed to later learn that the building is a replica, but it’s an aged looking replica, and the original mill was constructed in 1695. The mill is another piece of the long history of water power in the region.

Nathaniel Thomas Mill

To entertain the bored road walker, the trail takes an inefficient loop through the Hanson Town Forest. This was the first test of my new gaiters. The snow was about four inches deep and they handled it really well. The Hanson Town Forest, like all the other Hanson town lands, is mandated on leash. Of course Sulu would be much happier running free but it would be just my luck to run into the dog warden.

Cold poodle. His tail is up, it's just tucked under the coat.

With the rest of the walk being on roads, the Town Forest loop was definitely the highlight of the day. I decided to press onto point M, the entrance the town’s Camp Kiwanee. There’s a sidewalk along Route 57 which makes the walking much easier. One additional highlight was two houses within a short distance featuring Chevrolet electric cars, one featuring a Volt and a Bolt, and the other a Bolt. Go team e-car! I also passed a self-serve egg and honey farmstand, and stopped by with the car on the way home to get some eggs. I paid with Venmo!

I was lucky enough to have a Dunkin’ Donuts on my walking route today. I was so looking forward to a decaf on the return walk that I neglected to check the map and note that there was a shorter route to the car from my turnaround point. By the time I noticed, it was too late. Because I don’t have a robust mask (a downside of the neck tube style mask) I ordered ahead by the drive-through and picked up my warm decaf for my walk back to the car. I hoped it would liven up the final stretch of boring road walking.

Holy cow! Just a few sips of the coffee and warmth suffused through my whole body. I actually began to perspire on my back. No coffee for poor Sulu though. He was definitely chilly. Every time I stopped, he started to shiver. I resolved no to take any more pictures because I felt bad to him shiver.

We did take a brief parallel path through a historic cemetery (welcoming dogs on lead) and I took a couple of pictures very quickly.

Fern Hill Cemetery

Hanson was settled in the 1660s (it was originally part of Pembroke, and the town's name was chosen practically at random) and some of the houses on High Street are very old. There are very few historical plaques but if you look at these old Cape style houses there are antique details (not to mention the attached barns).

As I walked down this final road there was a strong smell of wood smoke. I looked around and I see curls of smoke coming from many chimneys. I think everyone looked at the weather forecast and decided it was a good day to build a fire.

Despite the weather, it was a good day’s walking and test of our gear. True to my weather app’s prediction, the snow did not accumulate even though it snowed steadily all day. We covered a total of 8.5 miles.

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January 25, 2021 - East Bridgewater to Hanson

2021-01-25T14:21:00.092-05:00

From letter E to letter H

This journey began with a thrill: Google directed me to Route 3 to begin my walk! Route 3 is the last major route on the trek to Duxbury and the southern terminus of the BTC. Today is also the longest travel time I’ve had to a trailhead: nearly an hour.

Parking at the entrance to a drinking water treatment plant, Sulu and I headed back along the road to where we turned around last time. The day was cold (29 degrees F) and clear. Noteworthy on our walk were the large numbers of residential solar panels, and the second lawn jockey in East Bridgewater, only the third for the whole trail. We were back at the car in under an hour.

The trail then led us past the water treatment facility and to a high voltage power line. There was quite the blue jay convention going on along the access road.

Sulu has advanced to having his picture taken in a standing position - a training triumph (the out of focus part is my responsibility). There was some uncertainty picking up the trail at the power line. I didn’t see any blazes along the line of wooden poles running perpendicular to the high voltage line. I turned around and resorted to AllTrails (thank you new battery), which directed me back to where I came from. The printed BCT map was not helpful, but I backtracked to where we came in, I re-read the directions, used my compass app to find East as mentioned in the directions, and found the trail! The area is called the Smith-Nawazelski Conservation Area.

We were immediately on a beautiful boardwalk going over the Poor Meadow Brook. Let me revise that - the boardwalk started off well but has clearly seen better days. We trod carefully and never had to walk in the marsh.

After the boardwalk the trail led into some woods alongside the Poor Meadow Brook. I did my best to follow though there were zero blazes. I came to the medium voltage pole line mentioned in the directions and I headed uphill following the line. I finally saw a random blaze on a random tree off to the side. I’ve seen three tree stands since leaving the water filtration place so this is obviously a popular deer hunting area.

At some point we crossed from East Bridgewater into Hanson. We crossed a road into the Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area. Burrage Pond WMA is a former cranberry property that is being allowed to revert into a natural white cedar and red maple swamp. I couldn’t find information about it online, but I assume it was carved out from the Hockomock years ago. It's a beautiful property and has many trails and ponds - it would be great for some cycling in warmer weather. It's supposed to be a great birding spot in season, too.

Unlike East Bridgewater, Hanson seems fairly serious about their dog rules. I must’ve passed four signs reminding me to keep my dog on leash in this wildlife management area. And I saw another walker with his dog on leash as well.

You can't read the fine print, but hunting dogs are only allowed off lead "to hunt, train, or participate in field trials" with a licensed hunter. They have more lenient poop-pickup rules.

Native holly

We must be in a biome closer to that of Cape Cod. For the first time I was seeing wild holly plants. There was actually a surprising amount of non-pine evergreens. Not just hollies, but carpets of teaberry, laurel, princess pine, deeproot clubmoss, and big stands of inkberry.

Teaberry and deeproot clubmoss

Inkberry

This is a lovely trail but I would enjoy it more if my dog could be off leash.

Sulu was not at all sniffy until we got about halfway through the off leash part of our walk and now in this WMA he’s very attentive to the possibility of lady coyotes.

The trail left the woods and became a berm flanked by extensive marshes on both sides. These are former reservoirs for the cranberry farm that are reverting into marsh.

This berm is supposed to be an old Indian trail but Europeans have had their paws all over this landscape for 400 years so who really knows.

We emerged from the marsh into a woods, reassured by the BCT blaze that I am on the trail.

We turned around at the railroad crossing (in use at the time).

Total: 8.2 miles.

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January 22, 2021 - East Bridgewater

2021-01-22T22:40:00.136-05:00

From A to the purple asterisk

Today we finished our tour of the Bridgewaters with a tour of East Bridgewater. We picked up the trail after the hiatus, parking at an electric substation. I’m not sure why the architects of the BCT chose this particular spot to restart the trail, to launch us on some not-scenic road walking, but here we are.

This scenic and convenient parking area

As well as an extended test of the new phone battery, this is the maiden voyage of an exciting new amenity: my travel potty! In areas with a lot of road walking, or popular trails, there are not a lot of opportunities to crouch behind a shrubbery (and the shrubbery probably has naked branches in January!). Plus, with Covid, normally reliable pit stops have closed their public facilities. Thus the travel potty. I purchased a seat/lid combination that snaps onto a standard five gallon bucket (which we already had). I lined it with two plastic garbage bags, and poured some clumping kitty litter into it. I also purchased a cheap but opaque plastic poncho to obscure my form. I have been so looking forward to trying it, and I am extremely gratified to report that it was completely satisfactory.

Here it is, securely stowed in the back of the Bolt

So, onward with the road walking. I can tell you that people in East Bridgewater throw crap as freely from the car as they do in West Bridgewater. I was grateful to be granted a sidewalk as we proceeded to the junction with Route 18.

The new phone battery allowed me to continue listening to my audiobook while I walked, which made the miles go faster. The library took back The Amber Spyglass with five hours to go, but I am enjoying A Promised Land, read by the author.

Classic New England common

I believe this I-beam is a part of the World Trade Center from 9/11

East Bridgewater has a classic New England town common, and continued the water powered early industry theme I’d seen in other Bridgewaters. We turned off the main road into the Satucket River Conservation area.

Satucket River

I scanned the rules very carefully and saw no mention of dogs, so off the leash went Sulu. The trail directions have some confusing verbiage about an “express route”, but I just followed the blazes along the river.

Free!

Satucket River from the trail

The trail was well equipped with what our friends call “smoochy benches” - I did not smooch Sulu. A lot of brush had grown up between the trail and the water, making photographs problematic. I noticed ferns that were still green in the shelter of a hill - greenery really stands out this time of year.

A standing pose - a new skill!

The trail emerged in a suburban cul-de-sac on Susan’s Place, of all things.

We passed this property maintained in memory of their daughter.
A woman was working there clearing brush.

Lawn jockey never goes out of style. Buy online!

We passed this iconic barn

I continued road walking for some time until I realized I had gone far enough - I have to walk all the way back, after all.

On the way back I took a minute to look at the former cotton gin factory in the historic center. I include the memorial stone because a cotton gin employee lived within living memory.

Most of today's hike overlaps maps 12 and 13. So I declare map 12 DONE!

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January 21, 2021 - West Bridgewater to Bridgewater

2021-01-21T14:02:00.057-05:00

From the P at Reynolds Landing to H

Compressed by a family commitment, I have a short trip planned for today. It’s a bit ridiculous to drive 45 minutes and hike for such a short time, but, hey, I have an electric car! Noteworthy is that I got my phone battery replaced yesterday ($50, 30 minutes) and this will be a test of the new battery. The temperature was hovering around freezing when Sulu and I left the car.

Best view of the Town River

Our walk started at Reynolds Landing in West Bridgewater. We started by walking down to take a look at the landing on the Town River. The river was barely visible down a long muddy entry. That accomplished, we proceeded down a dirt road with the Hockomock Swamp on both sides. It was extremely non-photogenic. The trail then turned left onto Route 28. I know Route 28 from my home town of Somerville where it is two and three lanes in each direction, and from Cape Cod, where it is a congested commercial artery, but this is one of the quietest sections of 28 I have seen.

The town line between Bridgewater and West Bridgewater is on Route 28, the first signed town boundary we’ve seen in a while.

The trail then went left and past the Bridgewater Iron Works Parkland. I expected a bit more, but it’s very much a future museum.

Dam on the Town River at the Iron Works Park

Not long after that the trail ended. There’s a gap until it picks up again in East Bridgewater. I plan to drive the gap.

Weird art of homicidal beans

Trinity Church Graveyard

I am a bit abashed to state that the total trip was 2.9 miles, but progress is progress on this long journey around the bay.

January 15, 2021 - West Bridgewater

2021-01-15T14:57:00.195-05:00

From the red asterisk to the P at Reynolds Landing

After the grim road walking in West Bridgewater last time finding this lovely riverside trail, the Haseotes Mass Wildlife Trail, feels like a miracle. The trail is on a sort of berm with the Town River on my left and marshes on the right. I immediately let Sulu off lead and he enjoyed sniffing and wandering down the trail. Looking at the map, the Town River has a braided path as it wends through the Hockomock Swamp. To the wilderness-schooled eye, the trail is actually kind of dumpy. It looks like it was badly overgrown and a crew came through with chainsaws. There are stumpy ends everywhere. But there are no roads in sight, nature on both sides of me, and no people, so it's very welcome. It's a relatively new segment of the BCT.

Born to run

“The historical Nunckatessett River, known today as Town River, originates in the largest freshwater wetland system in Massachusetts, the Hockomock Swamp, a protected area of Critical Environmental Concern. The 12 mile Town River corridor is one of the earliest areas of colonial settlement with the first church built in 1651, and the very first inland sawmill and grist mill founded in 1654. The Town and Matfield Rivers converge to form the Wild and Scenic Taunton River, federally protected under the National Park Service.” - Nunckatessett Greenway website

Skim Milk Bridge

One especially charming feature of this .6 trail segment is the Skim Milk Bridge. This website describes it as “dry stone constructed”, but that sells it short. It’s constructed from slabs of stone. It reminds me of a clapper bridge we saw in Dartmoor in the UK:

By User:SeanMcTex - Own work, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=269375

We came off the trail through a suburban backyard, as stated in the guide, and set off onto Forest Street, a newly paved road with the Hockomock on one side and sparsely settled with houses on the other.

Soon after leaving the woods we came upon the so-called Solitude Stone. I stared and stared at the stone but could not see any writing. Has the stone worn? Was the lighting bad? Am I old? It’s a mystery.

No picture of the actual stone since I didn't realize
what it was until I got home and looked it up.

Although there was no sidewalk on Forest Street there’s very little traffic and it was an easy road walk.

Despite his shaved ears and tail Sulu is easily recognizable as a poodle. A man I passed working on his car said “I haven’t seen one of those in years.”

This section of the trail is sparsely blazed, but there are marks in key places.

Forest Street turned out to be favorable for seeing birds. I saw a bluebird fly out of someone’s yard onto a telephone wire. That’s a change from the chickadees that I’m accustomed to seeing on the trail. On the way back, I noticed a lot of bird activity by the Town River on Forest Street. I’m terrible at identifying bird calls but they were at least three different species, all non-chickadees. I also a saw a small woodpecker.

It was both sunnier and warmer than I expected today. I wasn’t wearing a middle layer, and wore a baseball cap instead of a warm hat.

1662 Rev. James Keith House

I definitely saw a nicer side of West Bridgewater today. As I came to the junction of Fore Street with the main road I came into a sort of historic district of charming colonial homes.

Canoe Club

The trail guide pointed out the Canoe Club Ballroom on the right and I duly took a picture. In its heyday, performers like Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller graced its stage. Now it's a wedding venue.

There is also a legacy agricultural district with cattle, goats, and chickens. On my way home in the car I stopped by and bought some eggs, and said hi to the steer.

A Little Free Library (Ash Street) reassures me that my kind of people live here

An Eagle Scout project is in process here and they
may be responsible for the shiny new sign

I turned around at Reynolds Landing and headed back to the car after a little over three and a half miles.

Larry and Ted. Or possibly Ted and Larry (sorry, guys)

On the way back to the car I met some fellow BCT hikers, Larry and Ted from Arlington. We stopped for a couple of minutes to compare routes and strategies. I could tell they enjoyed meeting a fellow traveler. They have a blog too, but they haven’t updated it lately. From time to time I see someone who I think is a BCT hiker, but these were the first I stopped to ask. They were surprised that I identified them, but it’s not really normal to see people dressed as hikers on suburban streets. One topic I missed was electric cars. I believe theirs was the Chevy Bolt parked at Reynolds Landing when I turned around.

I took a couple of minutes on my return trip to explore the War Memorial Park in West Bridgewater on my way back. Although there are war memorials, much of the park is devoted to historic industry in the town. The water flow through the park is incredibly complicated. I think there’s a fish ladder for the herring in there but I couldn’t identify it.

Supposed to be an outstanding feature of the park but congested with debris

Part of a divided spillway

The Town River at Forest Street

Now that I'm a connoisseur of split levels... this is a "side split",
where the split is not visible from the front

This old guy was in his paddock on my way back

I think I surprised a grebe on the wooded trail trail back to the car. At first I couldn’t figure out if it was a bird or a mammal in the water. It was quite shy, zigzagging across the river. I startled it three times from one section of river to the next. It didn’t have a duck profile; the neck was longer and with the head had sort of a little white cresty thing. Then the river bent away from the berm that the trail is on and I couldn’t follow it anymore. Naturally it didn’t match any grebe in the book, but I’m pretty confident about the silhouette.

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January 11, 2021 - Easton to West Bridgewater: Hockomock Swamp

2021-01-11T10:52:00.112-05:00

From the P in the middle to B, then to the red asterisk

Today’s trip took a sort of T shape: I parked at the Hockomock Swamp Wildlife Management Area in West Bridgewater and walked back toward Route 138 in Easton where we last left off. Then I went onward into West Bridgewater.

Entrance to the conservation area. This gate is described
as "orange" in the guide.

Hockomock WMA is posted on leash only but I did let him off leash once we got to the power line. I continue to have some vague rationale that if a property is open to hunting, then off leash dogs should be allowed too. How is Sulu supposed to retrieve the pheasant on leash?

The Hockomock Swamp, at over 16,000 acres is the largest vegetated freshwater wetland system in Massachusetts. Over 5,000 acres of it are in conservation. It was a valuable resource to the Wampanoag people. It also has an interesting reputation for the supernatural and unexplainable. Local paranormal enthusiasts refer to it as the “Bridgewater Triangle”.

As usual, I enjoyed the relative privacy of the power cut even though there was evidence of the built environment everywhere. Sulu kept flushing the same flock of juncos (link) as we walked on the dirt road. The temperature was in the low 30s but it felt warmer.

Mr. Freshly Coiffed

I’m was really appreciating the subtle color contrast of the green briars with some red twig shrubs, and then the yellowish tan of the reeds.

There was lots of road noise today from busy Route138 and what I believed was Route 24 on my right.

Oops.

I got to the end of the pole line and my route to the road was interrupted by a big marsh pond, with no sign of an onward trail. I realized, oops I made a mistake, but after fussing with the paper map and guide I had to take out my phone and look at AllTrails to work it out. I basically turned left instead of right when I got to the power cut so I needed to reverse my track. What I took to be “ busy 138” was actually route 24. These are the perils of trying to follow the BCT directions backwards where rights are left and lefts are rights. I went a little more than two miles needlessly.

It's awkward to explain why I interpreted this sign as "go right".

Turnaround at Route 138

Once back on the trail, I started seeing a lot of trash on the trail.Is it the hunters? I have a bag (of course) so decided to pick some of it up. Six water bottles and three beer cans later, I was back at the car, where I took a little break to charge my phone and let Sulu drink.

I did meet this cool new-to-me plant.
Related to the princess pine?

Starting again from the parking lot it’s road walking. After leaving the dirt road that is Maple Street we start on one of the least glamorous parts of the BCT we have yet to encounter. There are places where they’re mysteriously accumulating giant mountains of dirt. There’s a new YouStore facility coming soon, Route 24 in the background… I’m surprised there’s not a dog agility place somewhere around here.

This section is not particularly well blazed either. The two turns after leaving Hockomock were not marked at all. But we’re crossing Route 24! After this there’s only one more major route to cross, Route 3 but I don’t think we’ll see that for a while.

Route 24 above

It looks like they are be building a huge housing development back behind Scotland Street. There’s a ton of heavy equipment and what appeared to be a few rights of way where all kind of work is going on and big vehicles are coming out. So much trash by the road, illegal dumping and dog poop. Basically my impression of West Bridgewater so far is earth desecration and right wing working class. I parked the car at the beginning of a real trail which I look forward to taking.

As of my last walk, I've finished both Map 10 and Map 11! That means only three more maps to complete the southern part of the trail.

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