Modern Day Thoreau » Easy Hikes

Ponkapoag Trail

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:29:49 +0000

Ponkapoag Trail

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Perfect Fall Weekend in New England

admin — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:02:08 +0000

The Fall in New England is b y far one of the most special and beautiful places to be. The leaves changing colors, the crisp morning air, and of course the build up to Halloween. This weekend, the 9th and 10th of October, was a particularly beautiful time that embodied these very characteristics. Since the weather was going to be perfect for enjoying the outdoors and all it offers, I planned a day hike on Saturday with some friends at the Wompatuck State Park, on the south shore of Boston followed by a cookout back at the house. On sunday, Erin and I went to the Newburyport Fall Festival, in Newburyport, MA about 50 minutes north of the city.

Wompatuck State Park

The hike at Wompatuck was a perfect start to the weekend. We got there around 3pm, when the lighting in the Fall is perfect and went for about 3.5 miles and about 2 hours. We discovered and old abandoned “factory” that we later found out was part of the munitions depot used in WWII in the Battle of the Atlantic. The park is very large, so we were alone in the wilderness for the entire trip, which is always nice when your with friends. Wompatuck is located off of route 3A about 30 minutes south of Boston and has over 260 campsites, 12miles of paved bike trails and many more miles of hiking trails. You can see our track below:

Newburyport Fall Festival

On Sunday Erin and I went to the Newburyport Fall Festival for so good old family fun. Newburyport, if you don’t already know, is located about 50 minutes north of Boston on 95. Its a small coastal town there boasts a very eclectic and artsy crowd. There are plenty of restaurants in all different types of food, that you will surely find something delicious. The center square of downtown is always lively any time of year, but during the festival there are tons of vendors selling everything from food, to jewelry, to artwork. After walking around for a few hours and shopping all the vendors and shops, we stopped by Loretta. They have delicious sunday brunch/lunch in a small intimate atmosphere. They had the door open giving a nice fall breeze through the place. After strolling along the Merrimack river for a little while after eating, we decided to hit the road and head back to Boston.

Conclusion

I must admit, I don’t know if I’ve had a more perfect New England fall weekend before, as the weather was perfect, and all our activities worked out as we planned (as well as getting a great amount of exercise walking and hiking). You can check out more photos on my Photo Gallery page as well as my Flickr page.

Feel free to comment on YOUR favorite Fall activities!

World’s End Trail – Hingham, MA

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:27:51 +0000

So after a rather long summer hiatus from hiking of any kind, due to various life events, Erin and I decided to go for a like 4 mile hike during the beautiful Labor Day weekend here in New England. The temperatures have been a farcry from what they were a few days ago, so it was perfect weather for nice day hike.

World’s End Trail is part of the Trustees of Reservations trail system, so if you are a member it is free and if not its only $5, certainly not much to preserve such a beautiful piece of land on the South Shore of Boston. The trail is located on the border of Hingham and Nantasket about 25miles south of Boston. If your coming from the north just take 93 south to exit 12 and follow the signs for Quincy Center and then take a left turn on route 3A and that will bring you too the reservation.

In terms of equipment and things to bring, you don’t really need much else other than water and a camera for this hike as the whole loop is only 4.5miles and is easily done in under 1.5 hours. The trails are well groomed and allow bikers and hikers/walkers alike. If you prefer to spend a little more time, there are an abundance of areas why you could have a picnic at, many of which are off the main trail for a little privacy. Perfect for a bottle of whine, a french baguette, and some brie (just remember the wine opener of that could be a mood killer).

There are several variations to the trail that you could do, all of which are different lengths for your hiking tastes. Be sure to stop along the way and take pictures as the views of Nantasket, Hingham, Weymouth and of course Boston are amazing. Below is the GPS track for our trip and some pictures below that. Feel free to comment any other tips for this gem on the south shore. Also here is a link to the Trail Map.

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Ponkapoag Pond Walking Trail

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:32:17 +0000

Last weekend I bravely decided to go for a winter hike in the cold January weather in the hills of the greater Boston area. Blue Hills Reservation is a great spot that offers numerous trails of all different lengths and skill levels (if you’ve read any of my other post you know I’m quite fond of the spot). On saturday, in the low 20° New England weather I thought I’d try a trail that was a little more flat since the ground was so frozen. So, me, my trusty side-kick Erin, and my camera embarked on a small winter quest. Ponkapoag Pond is located on the southern part of the reservation just south of RT 95 and is on a dead end street right off the highway, so you can’t miss it. The first part of the trail in a 1/4 mile path that is fitted for vehicles and is actually just an access road to YMCA center and subsequently the trail itself. The trail is 4 miles in total, but due to the cold, we only were prepared to do about half of that, which included our trek down the frozen boardwalk and eventually to the pond itself. As we walked along, we passed several groups of people who were cross-country skiing as well as several snowhoers. This would would be a great place to get som exercise and enjoy the outdoors as well. As we ventured down the boardwalk trail, it was easy to see several meters into the brush since there were no leaves, but we weren’t fortunate enough to spot and winter woodland creatures on our journey. We passed serveral clearings along the way that provided great shots of the marshy surroundings, and with the sun in the 2 o’clock spot (or 10 if your facing back) there lights provided great shadows.

At the end of the trail we came to what seemed like a huge clearing, only to realize it was actually the pond and it was frozen solid. There were several people ice-fishing and several more cross-country skiing as well. We figured it had to be safe enough to walk on, so we ventured out on the ice. It was very convienent that the ice was covered in snow, as it made it very easy to walk on.

There is something very peaceful about a frozen pond and the cruching of the snow under your boots. It’s a very relaxing experience, assuming your warm enough to enjoy it. While the glare off the vast snow-covered pond, made it hard to get a good exposure, the visual camera (the one in our head), always takes a perfect shot.

I highly recommend this as a nice way to get outdoors in the winter to remain sane, and given that it only took us 2.5 hours including traveling from Quincy and back its a nice way to spend the afternoon even when its 20° out. Check out more photos from the hike here.

Lincoln Land Reservation

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:00:28 +0000

Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT) is located in Lincoln, MA only about 25 mins from downtown Boston. It is a couple of trails that go around the Sandy Pond water reservoir. There is a biking trail and several hiking/walking trails. This location is where the great Henry David Thoreau went when he wanted a peaceful retreat from the busy Boston life.

The trails at LLCT are mostly well kept, but are also mostly poorly marked. The trails have changed from what most trail maps say due to changes in the watershed and the makeup of the land, and in a few spots we were unsure where to go. This isn’t a huge problem though since the area is not particularly large, so I would be unlikely that you would get lost. One thing to make sure to bring is bug spray. The area is mostly wetlands and in the humid summer months there tends to be a plentiful amount of mosquitos. We forgot ours and paid the price the whole hike.

The trail we went on was the one that does a 3.7m loop around the entire pond. It starts on the Black Gum Trail and then switches to several other unmarked trails as it snakes its way around the water. The one downside to this spot is that there isn’t really a great spot to look out over the pond. The trail runs relatively far away from the water and the area is heavily wooded.

The trail itself is pretty much flat for the most part with a change of elevation of about 300 ft. You can see my GPS track on my EveryTrail page. One thing to not about this is that we used the Appalachian Mountain Club book to find this spot, but the book told me that we could park at the DeCordova Museum to enter into the trail, but the museum has since changed its policies and they now charge for admission into their grounds so you can’t park there. If you continue down the road you will see a place to park on the side of the road and a trail entrance. This is the start of the Black Gum Trail.

As we started to walked along the trail we immediately noticed the silence that was present. being removed from any main roadways, made the trail a very quite and peaceful place. The sound of the forest bugs in their ecosystem is very relaxing. About a half mile into the trail we came across the first picture in this post. It was a fireplace from an old house. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was standing in what was Thoreau’s weekend getaway.

After this interesting find, we continued on our route around the pond. Every now and then the water would peek out from behind the thick woods to remind us of the course as well as to why the area was so buggy. After about a mile and a half we came across a memorial for a girl who’d died falling into the pond. As erie as it was, it was a good reminder why their was fence around the entire thing directing people away from the water. There was a clever poem on the stone that was sweet and urking at the same time. It read:

Shiver to think of her light, her warmth.
Fovever frozen in the clear cold pond.
May its glimmer give your pause.
For ice broke hearts the day she drowned.

The trail ends in the parking lot of the Decordova Museum and to get back to your car, you have to walk along the road for about one mile. While still interesting in its own right, not quite the same with cars driving by every now and then. We noticed that there is a continuation of the trail on the left side of the road that enters into a field and exits right across from the parking area, but having been bitten so much, we decided to pass. and save it for another day.

You can check out more photos of this trail on my flickr stream and you can also download and follow the GPS data on Everytrail