MA – Walking in the Woods

Manning State Forest, MA

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….

manning-forest

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.

Summer is Finally Here!

It is great how the weather of June and July has finally left us behind. The dog days of August are just not going to be that bad this year as we have suffered through so little heat this year. I just hope it is not a long cold winter as it will seem twice as long!

Not much to report. Just a short walk around the Rez today. With the sun and heat there were plenty of people the beach. The water in the Rez is thick with lots of vegetation. There is no doubt that it has accumulated so many nutrients and is choking on its own growth of water plants. I think the cooler weather also helped in the early summer. It did something to really stimulate growth and contribute to the profusion.

Dunback Meadow

Where:

Lexington, MA

What:

Town of Lexington Conservation Property

Size:

170 acres

Access:

The intersection of Allen Street and Pitcairn Place, Lexington.

The back of the ballfield behind the Bowman School, Lexington.

Features:

The conservators of the property include the following information about the property:

Dunback Meadow is the largest Conservation Property in Lexington. Clematis Brook flows through this property, eventually emptying into Beaver Brook in Belmont. The property’s diversified landscape consists of an extensive open meadow, red pine grove, community gardens, and a red maple swamp. From the time Lexington was settled, a section of this area was known as the Hunting Swamp, and it has included a portion where peat was cut for fuel, where cows were pastured, and where hay was cut.

There are maps and photos found towards the end of this post.

A July 2009 visit

I spent an early afternoon, coming into the property from the Allen Street access. There is no parking lot but you can park along the side of the road. A small wooden sign marks the entrance. The trail went downhill from the road and then skirted the edge of the community garden area. Continuing down the trail led through an area with high, dense brush. Following along on the northeast section of the trail led to the edge of a large wet meadow. The vegetation was largely high grass and other herbaceous plants, including lots of milkweed.

We eventually made our way to a second public access point for Dunback Meadow, which is located at the back of the Clarke Middle School ballfield. The trail crossed across a number of boardwalk areas and skirted along the edge of the meadow. We briefly talked to another person that come through on his bicycle. The gentleman told us he thought he had seen a fisher on the property a few weeks earlier.

Doubling back along our route, we then ventured into the wooded portion of the property. We crossed a small waterway and some old and new boardwalk areas of the trail. The mosquitoes were out in abundance in the woods, as we expected, and we did not dally long on this part of our trip.

The visit ended with our heading out of the woods, and up the hill to the street where our cars were parked.

Maps

a hand drawn map of the area that contains the Dunback Meadow

Topographic map of the area that contains the Dunback Meadow

This map is upside down in comparison to the hand drawn map just above it. The approximate location of the two official entrances and a third unofficial entrance are marked by the hikers in red.