October 14, 2020 - Andover

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.

Cindy and Lionel are smiling, honest!

Today was very exciting as I had hiking companions for the very first time. My friend Cindy took the week off and I arranged a trip for her convenience and pleasure. I selected Andover because it required less driving (since we would be taking separate cars - pandemic), and chose a route with no road walking, because that’s not what people are looking for on a fall hike.  She invited her apartment-mate Lionel to join us.  The weather gods smiled on us and provided a beautiful fall day with ideal temperatures and peak foliage. 

We went very tidily from F to G and back again

We parked at what turned out to be the Andover dog park (not mentioned in the BCT directions!) and crossed the (road) to the Harold Rafton Reservation. 

Photo: Cindy Woolley

There was signage that bow hunters were active in the area, off the trails and no need to wear orange (making me immediately feel remiss for not dressing Sulu in his orange vest). The trailhead sign did not have a dog rule listed, so I turned Sulu loose.  Unfortunately he did not get a lot of freedom as a) he ran up a side trail to the road, nearly giving me a heart attack and b) there were a few people and dogs on the trail, and his recall skills are not up to the temptation of another dog.

I wish I had a photo of the first bow hunter we saw.  He was dressed entirely in a sand-colored camo, from his hood to his feet, and his high-tech compound bow was also dressed to blend in.  We gave him a wide berth, mostly because he was not wearing a mask.  We exchanged pleasantries about the weather.

Cindy caught me in the act of being a responsible dog owner

It was my first time hiking 100% with a mask and I couldn’t stop my glasses from fogging up. I ended up putting them in my pocket for most of the walk, making the fall colors more Impressionistic than usual.

Mostly we were ooing and aahing over the foliage.  There were some other beautiful scenes, though: frost-killed “ghost ferns” and a hemlock wood. 

As we crossed into the Fish Brook Wetlands conservation area, the landscape became wetter, with ponds and marshes.  There was also clear dogs-on-leash signage, so Sulu stayed on leash.

Photo: Cindy Woolley

We reached the turnaround at the Fish Brook North kiosk, where I last was on July 1.  It was a pleasure to introduce friends to the highlights of the BCT and get some city dwellers into the great outdoors, even if we could hear the highway the entire time.

Once we returned to the cars, I gave Sulu some freedom at the Andover dog park.  It’s a spacious area with a sand cover and about a million tennis balls.

One unpleasant aspect of the walk was that Sulu emerged covered with tiny ticks.  Ticks are definitely still with us! He is protected, but I am not, and I don’t want them making a home in my car or dog bedding.  I pulled off about a dozen during our outdoor lunch, and then another dozen at home.  Walter helped me with a thorough tick check at home which yielded one evil tick on the inside of my shirt.

By the way, if you are free, I welcome masked companions on my journey! I only go during the week to avoid people, let me know if you want to meet me somewhere.

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