Bay Circuit Diary

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 pandemic isn’t over, but many businesses and activities have returned to some form of normal. I’m back to two to three dog classes a week, and it’s getting harder to make time to hike the BCT with Sulu. Fortunately, I used better planning this time and chose a strategic parking space at the Shattuck Reservation . My plan was to do road walking toward Medfield Center in one direction, then woods walking to the road crossing where I stopped last time I was in the area. It was a gorgeous day - I could hear the buzzing of cicadas in the early fall sunshine.The lower temperatures made the road walking less onerous.    We started along...

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 . Oh technology! A blessing, a curse and a crutch! (I have clearly been reading too many romance novels because this last looks like a legitimate sentence to me, but I will let it stand).   Why don’t I have field notes and photos to share from this last walk in Medfield? A stupid iPhone technology issue caused by a flaky charging cable. And the story also begins with more embarrassing technology problems.   Remember in previous entries how I boasted of my facility with online mapping programs and plant ID programs ?   Well guess what does not work without a good phone signal? Yes, all those lovely Internet aids.   One noteworthy...

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 . I have completed Map 8 ! Today was poodle parlor day for Sulu, so I took advantage of his absence to complete the final segment of Map 8, the Sudbury Reservoir which does not allow dogs (or bicycles). I was last here in May . It was my first rainy day hike. It was a gentle rain and did not at all make for a forced march.  I did that very English thing, hiking with an umbrella. The umbrella worked beautifully. The trail was wide and open, and I stayed dry without being overheated by the raincoat. The umbrella and the dog would have been incompatible as it would leave me with zero hands for anything else like the phone.  The trail start...

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 . I have been reading a ton during the pandemic. According to Goodreads , I’ve read about 120 books so far this year. A couple of books have reflected on my walking journey on the BCT. The one I’m reading now is A Paradise of All These Parts  by John Hanson Mitchell, a natural history of the Boston area. When Paradise came out about ten years ago we were fortunate to attend a reading/signing. The talk the author gave was a lively summary of the highlights of the book. As I am finally reading the book, I hear the author’s voice illuminating the text. Somerville doesn’t get a mention in the book (it was Charlestown Beyond the Neck ...

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 . We arrived uneventfully at the previously scoped parking spot and s tarted out with some sucky road walking on the sidewalk-free and busy route 27. After a third of a mile the shoulder widened and the trip became less harrowing. Right after the Medfield line we crossed the Charles River and then ducked into the Medfield State Forest with a quick stop at the river for Sulu. Medfield State Forest (at least the part I was in) consisted of scrubby woodlands punctuated by open dry fields of Queen Anne’s Lace.   The trail began parallel to the river with big tangles of that invasive vine I can’t stand.  Roundleaf greenbrier. Previously ...