We planned to walk in the open field at Birchwold Farm in Wrentham, just as the first flakes began falling in what turned out to be an all day affair, dropping a foot of snow hereabouts. Seeing a number of cars in the icy parking lot, we moved on, and spotted, just across the street at Joe’s Rock, an empty parking lot. Whoo-hoo, time to #avoidcrowds!
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
When recently in Southborough, we saw an additional piece of open space within walking distance of where we had just explored. We stopped by to get a look, to see if this would be a good place to bring elder parents. In fact, this might not be a great place for unsteady elders in rather cold weather, but for those of us looking for Easy Walks, willing to dress in layers and willing to climb some gently sloping hills, and back down the same slopes, Breakneck Hill in Southborough is a great spot to spend a few hours.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
We headed to Southborough to explore a trail new to us, the Turenne Wildlife Habitat. We hoped to find a quiet spot unnoticed by other weekend visitors. We mostly have time to get out on weekends because of my husband’s work schedule, and crowded trails have been a challenge throughout this pandemic, when the outdoors has become a refuge for many of us.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
In a time when we have felt so closed in by the pandemic, it has been a blessing that, at least near where I live, the trails have been for the most part ice free. We have enjoyed several very Easy Walks recently, one of which was to return to Hopedale Parklands with Tyler, our ace camera guy from ABMI Cable 8, and my hiking friend Linda. Watch the 16 minute video of our walk here.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
We headed down near the shore to avoid ice on trails, and also because we knew of several places we wanted to check out that we had missed the last time we were in the area. Turns out there are even more open space trails to explore than we realized, which kept us busy exploring for several hours on a weekend morning. Our first stop was at a very small spot that offered views of the Westport River, the Mill Pond Conservation Area part of the Westport Land Conservation Trust and the Trustees of Reservation. The nicely laid out trail brings visitors through a young orchard quite near the street, offering the feel of walking through a local garden.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
I first visited the Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) Walkup Reservation when I was doing the field work for More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, a field guide I created to over fifty trails in the Upper Charles, Neponset, Assabet, and Sudbury river watersheds. Al Sanborn, who had lived in Westborough, was my guide for two of the sixteen towns I included in the book–Westborough and Grafton, and served as the caretaker for the Walkup Reservation for a number of years.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
In our efforts to #avoidcrowds, we opted to stay close to home and head to a town-owned conservation property without an obvious pond or river. We have noted that trails with pond views, or next to waterways have tended to draw extraordinary crowds in these #Covidtimes. While there is no navigable waterway on the Whitney property, there is plenty of water that flows through this area.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
We headed to Berlin/Clinton the first of the New Year, to celebrate #MAfirstweekhikes, and after seeing the crowds of cars at the Francis Street entrance of Forty Caves, in Clinton, we headed over to Berlin to the back side of the property, where we found only two other cars parked at the entrance on Allen Road. This is a Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) property, and we recently joined SVT for two reasons: 1) to support their work conserving open space in the Concord, Assabet, and Sudbury watersheds between Boston and Worcester; 2) to obtain a copy of their publication 42 Walks West of Boston, 2nd edition. We plan to visit more of these wonderful properties in the future, and having a physical copy of their guide book is a great tool in helping us find our way to sometimes difficult to locate trails. ( My book, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, includes several SVT trails, as well as numerous others in the Upper Charles, Neponset, Sudbury, Concord, and Assabet River watersheds).
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
This has been a strange year, for sure. Travel plans have been curtailed, we have stayed close to home, and have put a different priority on #avoidingcrowds. Inspired by my good friend Sue, of Auntie Beak’s Place, I realized it would be a good thing to look back on the year to reflect on the joys and surprising discoveries we encountered on the trail, mostly very close to home this past year. Hence, a very subjective list of my top ten favorite places we visited this past year, 2020.
#10 Blackstone Gorge, Blackstone: While I have probably visited the gorge more times than most any other trail in this area, I have never grown tired of it, in any season. While I found nothing particularly new or remarkable on our visits here, it just felt wrong to leave it off. And so, it’s on the list.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
We have squeezed in as many walks as we can manage for our Cable TV show, “Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are”. We met in Blackstone at the Blackstone Greenway, an essential section of bike path that will some day link many of the towns in the Blackstone Heritage Corridor. View the episode we taped, including some amazing drone footage of the area along the greenway here.
Continue readingFiled under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman 