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

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 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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