Today the wife and I went for a ride to New Hampshire. On the way we stopped off in Billerica, MA and visited the Warren H Manning State Forest. There is a pull off into a small parking area off of Route 129. The parking lot has a building with bathrooms but they were closed. It was a bit of surprise to find both picnic tables and barbecue grills. I’m just not used to seeing those combos in state parks.That was not my only surprise.
After heading down the path leading off the parking lot we quickly reached what seemed an unusual playground. Check it out….
It is a little tricky to see (I’m not the best photographer and the light was tricky) but there are a few scattered structures here. It turns out this is a small water park. The tall flower structure, which I was wondering how a kid might climb on it, is not to climb on but to splash down water. This was the same for each of the separate pieces.
The little bit of the forest we saw was not to exciting. A lot of pines which must have been planted long ago to replace the state’s forest timber harvest. Still, it was a beautiful part of a nice fall day and a walk in the woods is almost always a welcome respite.