Bay Circuit Trail Section 20
Posted By auntie on September 8, 2017
8.75 miles; Sharon and Easton, MA
I very much liked this section, even though it had some nasty power line stretches and ended with almost 2 miles of road-walking. There were some gorgeous trails and it was a beautiful hiking day, weather-wise. I’ve been very lucky all along with the Bay Circuit Trail hikes as far as the weather has been concerned.
Borderlands Deer
I got dropped off by my Lyft driver at 7:45 am at the gates to Borderlands State Park to start this section. Which doesn’t open until 8:00. D’oh! But a park employee came by about 5 minutes later and just said “go ahead, it only really applies to cars.” The Borderlands State Park deer, however, were not prepared, and I startled quite a few of them as I began to hike.
Ames Mansion
I’m presuming that the family that owned this mansion donated the park to the state of Massachusetts. I am told by the state website that the mansion is furnished exactly as it was in 1910, and is open to tours.
Powerlines
After Borderlands, the BCT enters a powerline cut. I hate these things… in the muddy or wet spots, they fill the roadway with crushed stone, which is very hard to walk on. But apparently this and the next Section of the BCT rely pretty heavily on powerline cuts. Oh joy. At least this stretch made a turn into the woods again on the Fox Mountain trail.
Beech Drops
This is the time of year when you see the beech drops everywhere. Or at least you see them everywhere there are beech trees. They are like Indian Pipes; non-chlorophyll-producing plants that get their food from roots or fungus. In this case from the roots of beech trees.
Old Pond Property
After the powerlines and a bit of road-walking, I entered the Old Pond Property. The BCT Guide for this part of the trail says there is an old, overgrown earthen berm where the local foundry used to test their cannon balls. I really never saw anything that might have been this berm, ymmv. But the parking area had a lovely old corn grinding stone with a plaque that talked about the many mills and foundries that were once a defining feature of this part of Easton.
Wheaton Farm Access Road
So a bit more road-walking brought me to this long, crushed-shell-paved access road that took me by this beautiful meadow, and then into the woods once again on a trail labelled the “100-year-old Cart Path.”
The cart path, which was a lovely, easy trail, and made me think of my friend Marjorie and her “Easy Walks,” eventually merged into the Wards Pond/Fuller Hammond Reservoir property, where there were red and blue blazed trails, although I was able to find the white blazes of the BCT as well, and managed to make my way to Bay Road, and then to Prospect Street and my car.
You can read more about the Bay Circuit Trail here. As always, click on the image, above, for details about this section and to download the GPS track.
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