December 8, 2020: Sharon (Borderland State Park) to Easton

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.

From C to the somewhat oversized arrow.

Today I spotted the sign for the Sharon/Easton boundary within 500 feet of the entrance to Borderland State Park. It was our first sub freezing walk, and my iPhone really felt the cold. My battery life plummeted to 2% and I was unable to make many notes or take many pictures. 

View from the carriage road leading from the mansion

We walked around the Ames mansion (as seen in the 2019 film Knives Out) to the Rockland Street Trail. The Easton side of the park is much flatter than the Sharon side. There were a few people on the carriage road leading from the mansion, but the Rockland Street Trail heads into the woods and looked untraveled, so I let Sulu off lead. The trail guide says it can be impassable in wet conditions, and although it’s not spring, the trail is pretty wet.

I wondered if I should have brought a little coat for Sulu as his hair it quite short (I am an unlikely poodle person as I really hate brushing) and he is moving at my pace. He is normally very cold tolerant that’s because he’s so active. Also, thank heavens for Gore-tex! 

Progress is slow on the Rockland Street Trail because of all the water. Freshly maintained boardwalks cover the worst of the wet. Delightfully, there were no sounds of civilization, just the sound of the wind in the trees. 

The Rockland Street Trail led to...Rockland Street and the park boundary. We followed the trail onto a power cut (transmission line right-of-way) which we followed for some time. 

I love power cuts. Sulu always gets to be off leash as there are no houses nearby and I never see other people or dogs. I’ve found I love seeing a big sky, which in New England is a treat. The only big sky is over the ocean, in a really big field, or a power cut. Because it’s cleared and relatively level, I have a good view of the trail ahead of me so I can keep an eye on Sulu. One concern is coyotes. I know they are pretty much everywhere, but one of the few daytime coyote sightings I’ve had was under transmission lines, and I think the coyotes and I are looking for the same habitat. 

We easily found the Fox Mountain trail from the power cut, where we continued off leash into the Beaver Brook Woods.  There's a small parking lot on the road where we can park next time.

Sulu got lots of off leash time today and that made for a good walk for both of us.

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