Borderland State Park - November 15, 2025

I didn’t see any paddling trips today, so I decided to join Papa Joe and the crew for a hike at Borderland State Park. We started at the main entrance and hiked 5-miles up into the woods on the West Side, French and Granite Trails before looping back around Leach Pond on the Pond Walk and Swamp Trails.

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.

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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.  

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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.  

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