Bay Circuit Diary

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...

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...

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...

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 . Great progress today! The weather was unseasonably cold and windy (even some snow flurries) so the trails were practically empty on a Saturday.  I parked at the boat ramp at Mount Misery in Lincoln  (that was full last time during the week and I was one of two cars today).  The trail started between two very fancy houses on a private pond (good easement securing, BCT!) and over hill and dale to Wayland. Wayland - still off-leash friendly, bless you Wayland! By the way, it is rather late in my project to acknowledge the effort that anonymous someones have taken to put the little BCT markers up everywhere.  They really are everywhere and ...

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 day with Walter! Our schedule was constrained by his activities on one end and mine on another, but I got to introduce Walter to the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail .   When it’s complete it will run from Framingham to Lowell.   It comprises most of the BCT on Map 5B. So we did a short segment from Acton to the Chelmsford line.   Sulu was a bikejoring trouper. I can’t wait until his new harness comes! Nature highlight: a small woodpecker flew right across our path.   Mask count: very low. Previous Post                                  ...

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 . So orderly today! Yesterday I went from C to D, today I went from B to C. B is the first waypoint after Walden Pond. Walden Pond being such a popular destination (culture *and* recreation in one conveniently located spot!) the parking frequently maxes out on summer days and the towns around it are very strict about casual parking around the park.  “No Walden Pond Parking” signs are common in Concord, for example.   Point B signage Point B is located less than half a mile from the Walden Pond entrance and even though there are conservation areas adjacent to Walden, they don’t have parking because of Walden parking concerns. ...

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 . Jack-in-the-Pulpit emerges Map 7! Things on the map get a little weird after  Walden Pond .  There’s a trail to the west, through  Mount Misery , Lincoln’s flagship conservation area. There’s a trail to the east, through  Drumlin Farm , Audubon’s flagship farm, and there’s a bike route along Route 126, which I observed today is partly but not completely paralleled by a bike trail. So today I thought I would try bikejoring with Sulu from point C on the map (a trail bridge over the commuter rail - cool!) through Mount Misery.  Lincoln is another town, normally off leash friendly, but now on leash due to the pandemic. So bikejoring i...