Noon Hill - March 2, 20205

From the top of Noon Hill

It was another chilly morning with no paddling trips that I could see, so I decided to join Papa Joe for his trip at Noon Hill in Medfield, MA.

Noon Hill is a prominent summit and scenic vista surrounded by 204-acres of open space. It offers 4.5 miles of hiking trails and is part of a larger network of open space that includes the Shattuck Reservation located to the northwest along the Charles River. A system of trails spans the two properties, some of which are part of the Bay Circuit Trail.

Along Holt Pond

We headed out from the parking lot at 158 Noon Hill Road in Medfield. At 370-feet, Noon Hill rises gently above the surrounding landscape giving great views to the southeast of neighboring Walpole and Norfolk.

Icy conditions along with rocks and roots that could snag on micospikes made the trails a little treacherous. We followed the trail over to the Shattuck Reservation, and then around Holt Pond to return to the cars. Distance was 4.1-miles.

Links:

My Pictures

Moose Hill – March 12, 2023

The crew on the Summit Trail

I was thinking about doing a Tville run today to try out my new drysuit, but the group wasn’t meeting until noon, which would have made for a long day. Instead, I decided to stay close to home and do the Papa Joe hike at the Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon, MA.

Moose Hill was established in 1916 and is Mass Audubon’s oldest wildlife sanctuary. Moose Hill has 20-miles of trails through forests, fields, and wetlands. We started on the Summit Trail, which takes you up the to the highest point on the sanctuary - 534-feet with an abandoned fire tower at the top.

View of Gillette from the Bluff Overlook

From there, we worked our way over to the Bluff Trail which includes the Allens Ledge Chimney and the Bluff Overlook with its great views of Gillette Stadium. Shaped by glaciers thousands of years ago, you can still see striations in the bedrock that were left by glaciers.

Billing's Loop was closed for maple sugaring tours, but we worked our way back to the parking lot, and we finished up with a loop around the Vernal Pool Trail. The Bay Circuit and Warner trails pass through this property as well.

Links:
My Pictures
Moose Hill Trail Map

Bay Circuit Trail

Warner Trail
Warner Trail Guidebook

Harold Parker State Forest/Skug River Reservation - January 14, 2023

Paddlers on dry land -
Bob, Erik, Bill and Jonathan

Its been a while since I've been out with Papa Joe and the crew, so I decided to join this week's hike at Harold Parker State Forest/Skug River Reservation. The drive was a little longer than I would usually do for a hike, but I really needed to get out and get some exercise.

The Harold Parker State Forest in Andover includes over 3,000 acres of forest with over 35 miles of logging roads and trails. The area was inhabited by Pentacook Indians until it was settled by English farmers around 1650. By the middle of the nineteenth century the farms were abandoned and the fields have slowly been replaced by woodlands.

King of the rock -
now how do I get down?

We met at the trailhead at the Skugg River Reservation (315 Salem Street, Andover, MA) and headed out on boardwalks and bridges through the wetlands. The trail eventually climbed into a pretty pine forest as we wove our way around the Delano, Brakett, Field, Collins and Bear Ponds. 

The trail was littered with huge glacial erratics. I used my climbing skills to get up on one, and then had a hard time getting back down. We were on the Bay Circuit Trail for a short time on the way back to the cars. My knee was fine, and it was nice to see Bill, Jonathan and Bob.

Links:

My Pictures
Harold Parker State Forest
Skug River Reservation
Bay Circuit Trail

Noon Hill/Shattuck Reservation - January 22, 2022

That's me

It was another chilly morning with no paddling trips that I could see, so I decided to join Papa Joe for his trip at Noon Hill/Shattuck Reservation in Medfield, MA.

Noon Hill is a prominent summit and scenic vista surrounded by 204-acres of open space. It offers 4.5 miles of hiking trails and is part of a larger network of open space that includes the Shattuck Reservation located to the northwest along the Charles River. A system of trails spans the two properties, some of which are part of the Bay Circuit Trail.

The crew on Noon Hill

We headed out from the parking lot at 158 Noon Hill Road in Medfield on the yellow blazed trail to Noon Hill. At 370-feet, Noon Hill rises gently above the surrounding landscape giving great views to the southeast of neighboring Walpole and Norfolk.

Icy conditions along with rocks and roots that could snag on micospikes made the trails a little treacherous. On the way down from Noon Hill we had the first accident – a face-plant resulting in a cut on the bridge of the nose. After the cut was bandaged, the decision was made to head back to the cars before heading out again.

Not who you want at your trip

On our second attempt, we headed out past the skaters on Holt Pond and crossed the street onto the red blazed trail in the Shattuck Reservation. Before we reached the Charles River, though, we our second accident - another face-plant resulting in a nasty bump on the head and sprained wrist. This time an ambulance was called as a precaution, which brought our hike to an end. Thankfully both are home doing fine. 

Shit happens - nice to be with a group that is prepared and knows how to respond when it does. Hike ended up being about 3.5-miles.

Links;

My Pictures

Trail Map
Noon Hill Reservation
Shattuck Reservation
Bay Circuit Trail

Borderland State Park - October 31, 2020

Masked up and ready to go

A freak snowstorm yesterday left everything covered in snow this morning. I had a couple of options for things to do today. This was the annual Halloween dam release on the Piscat in Goffstown. I actually haven’t done that trip in a couple of years, and was thinking about heading up with my bike and doing a bike shuttle. Unfortunately a trip didn’t materialize, and with the snow I wasn’t sure about a bike shuttle. Instead I decided to do a hike at Borderland State Park with Papa Joe.  

The Borderland Estate was established in 1906 when Oakes Ames, a Harvard botanist and his wife Blanche purchased land on the border of Sharon and Easton. There they built a mansion and created a nature preserve with woodland paths, roadways and man-made ponds. The estate remained in the family for 65 years until it was acquired by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1971 and opened as a state park. Today the park includes 1,843 acres with more than 20 miles of trails including sections of the Bay Circuit Trail.

Mike at Leach Pond

We started at the main entrance, and hiked 5-miles around Leach Pond and up through the woods around the Granite Loop Trail. For the first couple of hours snow covered the trees making for a beautiful walk through a winter wonderland. By the time we got back to the Stone Lodge at Leach Pond for our break, most of the snow had fallen off the trees and it felt more like fall again.  

Links:

My Pictures

Borderland State Park - November 25, 2018

The crew

Usually I paddle at least once over the Thanksgiving holiday, but it didn’t work out this year.  Instead I did the Papa Joe hike at the Borderland State Park. 

Borderland State Park was of the former estate of the Ames family. In 1906, Oakes Ames and his wife Blanche purchased this land on the border of Sharon and Easton where they built a mansion and created a nature preserve with woodland paths and roadways and man-made ponds. Today the park includes 1,843 acres with more than 20 miles of trails including sections of the  of the Bay Circuit Trail.

We started at the main entrance, and hiked 6.3 miles around Leach Pond and through the park. It didn’t rain during the hike, but the many of the trails were flooded.  Still a good time.  

Links:

My Pictures