October 18, 2021 - Boxford

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!


Previous

Comments

Post a Comment

Top Posts

May 11, 2020 - Chelmsford, Bruce Freeman Rail Trail

Welcome to Susan's Bay Circuit Diary! This blog follows my adventures with my dog Sulu hiking the  Bay Circuit Trail .  Feel free to 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 . Bikejoring  on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail Part II with Walter.  We found a lovely parking spot in Chelmsford at Heart Pond .  First we backtracked to the Chelmsford line where we turned around last time.  Then onward and forward on the very pleasant trail until we hit the turnaround point that would satisfy my self-imposed limit of 5 miles for Sulu.  The weather was forecast to be thunderstorms but we only had about five minutes of riding in sprinkles before reaching the car.  Walter got to stop into the less-congested Acton Trader Joe’s as an extra bonus.  I think we only have one more trip before we finish the Bruce Freem...
Read more

May 13, 2020 - Cow Common, Wayland

Image
Welcome to Susan's Bay Circuit Diary! This blog follows my adventures with my dog Sulu hiking the  Bay Circuit Trail .  Feel free to 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 . Back to Wayland today for a short walk with Sulu.  He’s a little under the weather because he had a vaccination today. We parked at Cow Common conservation area , a beautiful meadow.  Then we walked back to Black Cat Farm where we stopped yesterday, back to Cow Common, and followed the BCT around the field in a sort of box shape, through some woodsy wetlands (it’s adjacent to another piece of Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge).  I had a bit of technology failure probably due to poking my phone too many times - the route recording apps stopped recording, but hopefully this is all the honor system anyway.  A little illicit off...
Read more

May 12, 2020 Black Cat Farm, Wayland

Image
Welcome to Susan's Bay Circuit Diary! This blog follows my adventures with my dog Sulu hiking the  Bay Circuit Trail .  Feel free to 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 . Today was back on the solo trail in Wayland. I parked at the not-on-Google Black Cat Farm Conservation Area . Double on-leash policies posted - one by Sudbury Valley Trustees for whom on-leash is standard, and one COVID-19 related posted by the town.  You could tell they were serious, because almost half the dogs I encountered were on lead. The trail proceeded through some former farm meadows, some wetlands, and then some definitely uninspiring roadside walking (though some sidewalks, yay) to the Trout Brook conservation area where I left off on Sunday, then retraced our steps back to the car. I’m starting to see the noxious plants emerge: poison iv...
Read more