Winter is Over
For the past two years Winter has not interfered with my walking. I would just dress warmer, walk a little faster, and put up with it. This year was different and I let Winter get to me. First of all, this year’s Winter brought a very uncomfortable combination of low temperatures, snow, and rain. Then, for the first time in my adult life, I caught the flew. And, I had a hard time shaking it. My walking didn’t slow down - it stopped. But Winter is over and the walking is back.
For today’s walk I returned to the former military base - The Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. The walking trails are a combination of wooded trails and partially paved base roads. I selected a trail leading to a pond simply because it was a trail I hadn’t tried yet. After checking the map, I selected a trail to the far right. The scenery initially didn’t have too much to offer. I could see patches of snow in the shaded areas and ice covering parts of puddles. As I continued walking it seemed that my estimate of this distance to the pond was way off. But I kept walking until I saw a break in the tree line on my left. In a few minutes I could see a very large pond. It looked more like a lake. I followed the path until I saw a sign pointing to a fishing area.
Following the sign, I took a left to another trail which offered good scenery with water views fuller forest growth. I stopped a couple of times to look out at the pond. As a looked down the shoreline, I could see a what looked like a dock. A few minutes later I found the “dock” was actually a brand new fishing pier. The park volunteers did a great job with this area! I used the pier to get a better view of the pond.
I chose a new path hoping to add variety to the return route. At the end of this path, I came upon three abandoned houses, presumably left over structures from the base. I’ve came across these before in other areas of the park. They must be too expensive to remove. One of the houses had a great water view.
At this point I took yet another path which eventually led me to the parking lot. To my right a saw an old rock wall in the woods. You can’t go into the woods anywhere in New England without seeing one of these walls. I would have kept walking if there was more daylight left. The walk was long and very enjoyable due to the sunshine, cool temperature, and the water views.
Filed under: Central MA on March 30th, 2008 | No Comments »
The most direct path from where I live to the Wildlife Preserve would have been to take Hudson Road to Sudbury Road and enter the refuge there. But two problems arose. There would be no lake views and the traffic makes Hudson Road an uncomfortable walk. I could have avoided Hudson Road altogether, but that would have meant going around the lake and taking Sudbury Road - not much better. I decided to walk along Hudson Road, but to detour along every side street which went towards Lake Boon. This would offer lake views and minimize the Hudson Road walk. And of course it would extend the walking distance.
The good news was the walk was on a Sunday. There was some traffic, but less than normal. So, you wonder, what’s the big deal about a few cars on the road during a walk? The problem I have with them is that they make too much noise. And, this is one of the many reasons why a walk in a natural area (woods, beach, mountains, etc.) is always better.
So I walked down Hudson road - noise and all until I arrived at Sudbury Road. From there the entrance was only a few yards away. The dirt road entrance took me past an area where the forest had recently been cleared. It also took me past a couple of piles of rubbish some *&#! had dumped. I learned later that I really wasn’t on the trail, just a shortcut to it - a sloppy shortcut. A little bit further I saw a couple of yellow signs with arrows pointing to a trail.
This took me into the National Wildlife Refuge. A “Do Not Enter” sign prevented me from entering an Air Force installation on the left. So I continued straight ahead - I was on the trail. It was quiet and there were very few walkers out. The weather was perfect. It was warm and comfortable and there was plenty of area to walk. The walking paths are actually partially paved roads from an old Army Base: The Fort Devens Anex. Every now and then there are marked trails to take you into the wooded areas between the pavement. It’s king of amazing to look around the woods and see no trace of any military structures - or any structures. After walking awhile I did see a deserted house, but that was it.
The paths eventually exit down further on Hudson Road, which is really the main entrance. To avoid spend more time than necessary on Hudson Road I turned around and walk back the way I came. This was a good walk. Not The Best Walk, but good. It offered a change of scenery and a change of pace from my walk-around-lake routine. I’ll return to this walk soon and use another trail.
Many times I’ve mentioned that The Best Walk will always be in a scenic, quiet, and natural setting… but let’s be realistic. There are many days that walks are constrained to what’s immediately available. In those cases neighborhood walks are a good thing. They can be relaxing, put you in better touch with neighbors, and solidify your connection to your immediate surroundings.We live in the Lake Boon area of Hudson, Massachusetts and walking in this neighborhood has its pluses and minuses. The scenery offered by the lake is certainly a plus. On the minus side, there are narrow streets with no sidewalks to provide a buffer from an occasional fast moving car. We’ve found that the best time to walk is early in the morning because at that time the streets are quiet and there’s almost no traffic. We took this walk last Sunday morning.
From our house on Lake Boon Drive, we kept to the side of the street as we headed towards the lake. The street ended quickly as we approached a set of lake front houses. A left turn put us on a mile long stretch to a narrow street build over an earthen dam. This is the far side of the lake where Lake Boon’s runoff spills into the Assabet River. Here it’s common to see people fishing in the lake - the prize fish being the Large Mouth Bass. The causeway offers a good view on the right looking across the lake. On the left the view is also good. It takes in a large area of woods, then the Assabet River. At the end of the causeway, there’s a house with the Assabet River behind it. The same house has a lake view with a lake front beach area. Did I mention that I really like that house?Sometime before the causeway we had crossed into the town of Stow without any announcement. Lake Boon is in the towns of Hudson and Stow - more so in Stow.
We took the next right which took us up a small hill. Between the houses, the lake is still in view. Looking at the houses, you can see a transition still in process. All of the houses in this area were cottages. Lake Boon was at one point a seasonal community. Vacationers came for the summer, mostly from the Boston area. But as the population expanded, some started taking residence along Lake Boon. Why not? The lake offers, boating, swimming, ice skating and fishing in the winter - and the cost of living is less that Boston’s. In order to make living in this area practical, the cottages had to be winterized and enlarged. Over the years the area transformed into a year round community. And, the home improvement projects still continue.Where we live was wooded land a few years ago. Our house is now about four years old. There are houses near us that are brand new but many were the original cottages that have been renovated and anyone can see that the renovations vary quite a bit. If you look real close, there are a couple of cottages remaining. All in all, this area offers a very diverse choice of homes of any price range - any style, any age.As we arrived at the intersection of Pine Point Road and Sudbury Road, we were provided with a choice. With the walk to this point taking us one and a half miles backtracking would provide us with a three mile walk. Or, we can cross Sudbury Road and walk around in a newer residential area. Our choice was to take a right on Sudbury Road which continues around the lake. Note that this choice is only reasonable at low traffic times such as Sunday mornings.
The long Sudbury Road stretch takes you past a couple of lake views, a soccer field, and a boat launch on the right, and a conservation area on the left. It ends at Hudson Road which is the primary connecting road for the nearby towns. Hudson Road becomes Route 62 and Main Street in Hudson. A right turn brings us back into Hudson a few minutes later. This road is always busy and put simply - This section is never a good walk! The trick is to take as detours as possible. Doing so we’ve managed to minimize the the walk on this street. The last detour off of main street takes us back into our street completing a five mile walk.
From our house in Hudson, MA it takes about forty five minutes to drive to The Best Walk in Central Massachusetts. That walk of course would be one taken at Mount Wachusett in the towns of Princeton and Westminster. Why is this the best place to walk. Well, mountains usually offer a wide variety of trails and great scenery. Mount Wachusett is no exception.
We use this mountain for snow skiing in the winter and for trail walking in the warmer mounts. By the way, Mount Wachusett offers pretty good skiing for a relatively small mountain - probably the best without crossing into New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine. For walking (or hiking) there is a wide range of trails to choose from. There is a visitors center with a couple of rangers on duty offering advice and trail maps. The toughest trail takes you to the summit in a about an hour, but you do have to climb over a fair amount of rocks. On the other extreme, there are a few trails with only only modest inclines.
The Hudson and Marlboro sections of the Assabet River Tail Trail have recent opened offering an excellent set of paved trails for walkers. The Assabet River Tail Trail is being built along the former Marlborough Branch Railroad line, which ran from 1850 until 1980. It connected the communities of Marlborough, Hudson, Stow, Maynard and Action, where it met the former Boston-Fitchburg Railroad(now operating as the B&M/MBTA Line). The Marlborough and Hudson trails are almost complete. When complete, the trail will extend to Action.
So far all of our walks have originated from Hudson. In order to take The Best Walk along this trail, park on Washington Street in Hudson near Brooks 
Marlboro, you’ll go through a tunnel under Route 290.
We were impressed that this tunnel was put in place just to support this trail! Once in Marlboro, a trail map is posted to help you determine how long you wish to walk before turning around. Our walks generally take us to the Assabet Valley Regional School then back. And, if we have the time, we’ll go back past the parking area in Hudson, cross Washington Street, then across a bridge over the Assabet River. (Another impressive part of the trail!) From this point the Hudson down town area is straight ahead. We then find ourselves stopping at either Ariba Coffee or Harvest Bagel. before heading back to out car.
Purgatory Chasm competes with 
We entered the park and took a path to our left. This brought us uphill where we could see that to our right was a sharp drove off. Closer inspection revealed that it was a cliff peering over the chasm - a great view. The trail continued and slowly wound its way to the lower level. From the we turned right, entered the chasm, and began climbing over the rocks. After about twenty minutes into this section we stopped to catch our breath. We then slowed down a bit and began zig-zagging across the area until we noticed a few rock climbers. We stopped to watch them for a while. Later we learned that they were a group of students from a nearby college. From this point we were able to walk to another trail which brought us back near the entrance of the park. We spent some time following a trail on the other side of the chasm, then circled back to the entrance.
For some reason we’ve drive past the a park in Sudbury, MA about a hundred times without stopping. The park is on Hudson Road which use when traveling East to Boston and there is a sign clearer calling attention to it. And, our house in Hudson is less than two miles away. We never stopped, but should have because this is a good place to stop and go for a walk. Here you can walk for hours without repeating. The scenery is good (not great - but very acceptable). The positives are in the ease of access and the ability to take long easy walks. My wife and I stopped there last Saturday morning and we were glad we did. In the end we left we park feeling pleased that we found a great alternative to neighborhood walking.
This area was once a military reservation and was an annex to Fort Devens (in Ayer, MA). Almost all signs of the military complex are long gone. However we did walk by a small Air Force compound at one end. We saw a tracking tower in a fenced in area. There were a couple of trucks parked there, but no other signs of life. We walked by then spent our time walking along the long abandoned roads. There’s not a lot of variation to the landscape, but there are a couple of streams, hills, and at one end a small pond. In a couple of spots you can see that the park is a work in progress. Trails are being worked on in the wooded areas and a few small signs announced the upcoming demolition of the military remnants. The small Air Force base appears to be there for the long haul - but it’s off to one end.
Our walk started along on a trail system in the wooded area. But the walk was hindered by icy snow in the shadier areas. One we noticed there were clearer walk ways, the temptation to use change trails was just too great. Our “new trails” were in fact the abandoned military access roads. Away from the shade, the sun could now warm us. We didn’t mind that at all since it was a rather chilly morning in low high 20s(F). This was my wifes first long walk since before Winter started. She was glad we found an easy walk. Judging the distance by the time we spent, we walked around six miles. The quietness of the area made this a very pleasant experience.
From where I live in Hudson, MA - Gates Pond is only about five miles a way and the short drive is well worth it. The two and a half mile walking trail circles an unspoiled pond keeping the water is in constant view. The woodlands surrounding the pond are also unspoiled, no cottages, liter, etc. Because this property has been left in its natural condition, Gates Pond is a rare find. The water is part of Hudson’s water reservoir which probably explains the lack of any development. All things considered, this is a great walk!
Our walk took place this morning (April 8th) and there are still patches of snow on the ground. The temperature was in the low thirties (F) and it was windy. However the sun was shining enough to keep us comfortable except for the shadier areas. And, as with most walks, the body heat kicked within the first twenty minutes. As a matter of fact, we walked at a faster pace ensure that process worked. It did. As we walked along the shore, we noticed that the scenery was good on both sides of us - in the woods and lakeside. At a couple of spots in the woods you can see stone walls - a common sight in the New England woods. We’re told they were build by farmers years ago as they cleared the fields. The walls marked either field or property boundaries.
