Posted By auntie on October 4, 2017

10.17 miles; Hanson & Pembroke, MA

This was the penultimate section of my BCT hiking, which makes me very sad. This has been a fantastic adventure, and I don’t know what I’m going to do next, although there’s always the “Connecticut 400,” which is actually 825 miles of blue-blazed hiking trail. Hm. Something to think about.

Today’s section had a decent amount of road-walking in the middle, but a lot of non-road hiking, too. Lots of old cranberry bogs in this area. Tubb’s Meadow was especially interesting.

Cheerful Garage Doors

This started where I left off last week, naturally, at the Hanson Town Hall, and continued along the road for about 1/2 mile before turning into the Hanson Town Forest. Gotta say this was a wreck of a trail. There was a small meadow with a mown trail that was crisscrossed with lots of tiny little vines, maybe wild strawberry or wild raspberry, that kept tripping me up. I actually went flying one time. Then the trail turned into a section full of cut logs. Um, no. Since this part of the trail was just kind of a random detour anyway, I found a side trail and cut it short. Sorry BCT people, but this was not fun.

Old Cranberry Bogs (click to embiggify)

This part of the BCT is lousy with old and still working cranberry bogs. I think the photo above is Andruk Bogs. Most of the old bogs are filled with red maple seedlings now, but the one working bog I skirted still had a few berries.

Great Sandy Bottom Pond

The BCT then spent a bit more time road walking, this time along the shore of Great Sandy Bottom Pond. It’s a lovely little lakeside neighborhood with lots of pretty cottages.

Gigantic Bolete

I came across a couple of absolutely gigantic bolete mushrooms along here. I mean, dinner-plate sized. HUUUUGGGGE. The BCT followed a powerline cut through here, then crossed a paved road. The Guide instructions were to

Walk to the far left side of the opening onto the street by the mail box. Cross Center St and enter the paved driveway briefly. In about 20 feet, step off onto the dirt path on the right. Please stay within the narrow corridor of marked path until you climb the hill as the public way closely skirts private property between two houses in this area.

Yeah. There were three mailboxes and three driveways and no blazes. I ended up passing through someone’s backyard and subsequently bushwhacking till I got back to the trail. This actually happened more than once on this section—the bushwhacking part, that is.

Brief View of Tubb’s Meadow

Tubb’s Meadow is 125 acres of old bogs and a reservoir, and is really lovely. There isn’t much of a view, however, as the brush and small trees have really filled in. This was the only glimpse of water I got, actually.

Whoa! Unexpected Water Tower

You know how when you’re hiking, you pretty much focus on your feet, especially on bumpy mown trails with lumps and wet spots? I was doing that and when I finally looked up… Whoa. Tower. Where’d that come from???

Track (click for details)

Not much past the water tower, the Bay Circuit Trail splits into two trails, one that reaches the terminus via a northern route, and one that reaches that same terminus via a southern route. I kind of randomly chose the northern route.

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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Categories: Bay Circuit Trail, Massachusetts, Walks and Hikes
Tags: Hanson MA, MA, Over 10 miles, Pembroke MA