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 »
