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 . From E to F, basically After almost three weeks since Sulu and I were last in Walpole, we were back on the BCT. We were fortunate to have a sunny day for our walk. We parked at a Town Forest lot and found the BCT pretty easily. Walpole has earned high marks from me for abundant accessible open space and a strong commitment to sidewalks. It's surprising how rare that is. My plan was to backtrack to the high school where we left off, return on the same trail to the car, and continue south.  The forest road provided a beautiful path, but shame about the leash law (it’s well signed, so I can’t pretend ignorance either). Furthermore, the ...

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 D to E I was not paying attention, but the last post was my fiftieth post! I am not sure what that speaks to other than perseverance and the sad fact that the pandemic is still with us.  Even at my slow pace I can expect to complete the BCT before “the end” of the pandemic. And this week, I learned about something that was right in front of me: the interactive map on the BCT website.  Although I often refer to the maps by number (for example Walpole is on Map 10 ) and the directions that correspond to each map, there is also the interactive map.  I have poked at it a couple of times but just thought it was gimmicky.  Ba...

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 . Cindy and Lionel are smiling, honest! Today was very exciting as I had hiking companions for the very first time. My friend Cindy took the week off and I arranged a trip for her convenience and pleasure. I selected Andover because it required less driving (since we would be taking separate cars - pandemic), and chose a route with no road walking, because that’s not what people are looking for on a fall hike.  She invited her apartment-mate Lionel to join us.  The weather gods smiled on us and provided a beautiful fall day with ideal temperatures and peak foliage.  We went very tidily from F to G and back again We parked at what tu...

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 . So many changes! Google Maps is now routing me through Boston on 93 South and then to 95 South. I’m definitely processing west and south. In the  beginning, I was sent out Route 2.  Then for a while I was directed west on the Mass Pike, I90. Progress!  Not only are the leaves turning, but the weather is cooling. For the first time in months I felt possibly underdressed. Thanks to the Town of Walpole’s maps  (by the way, these maps are buried deep on the town website and best found  through   MassTrails.com ) I found a parking spot that’s not in the BCT guide at the Harold Ellis Water Treatment Plant.  Walp...

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 . This trip was noteworthy for the luxury amentities.  Where I parked my car at Wheelock School in Medfield, there was not only a row of porta-potties, but trash cans!  So exciting to use the porta-potty not once, but twice, and not carry the poop home with me in my car.  The sun came out shortly after we started Our walk was divided into two parts. The first was “back” to where we ended last time .   We found the trail from the school parking lot fairly easily. It’s always harder to follow the trail backwards because the directions are reversed, but we found the railroad crossing and from there it was easy to find the turnarou...