May 5th 2012: A Day of Hiking and Karaoke

I had a meetup event for karaoke tonight, so I decided to visit the Northeastern 6th circle this morning, heading to Pepperell to hike at a few places. My first destination was the Keyes Conservation Area, located on Oak Hill Street near Blue Herons Way. To get to the parking area, I had to drive along a gravel path and past a bridge over Sucker Brook.

Sucker Brook

After parking at the little parking area there, the path I took here is highlighted below in black.

From the parking area, I first headed to a supposed viewpoint at point I on the map, and there was an okay view of the field from here.

I saw that there was a water body further up north, so I decided to follow the path north to a small pond with okay views.

Finally, I headed back to see viewpoint J, but I could not find a viable path up the field, so I just trudged through the grass to get to the highest point, where there is a decent view of the field below.










After returning to my car, I headed to my next destination nearby on Prescott Street near Old Farm Lane, the Nissitissit Meadows Conservation Area. The route I took from the parking area here is highlighted below in black.

The only thing that was really of note here was the little pond I passed by on my way to the supposed viewpoint K, which was actually an altar to the virgin Mary, her face already weathered away by the elements. I even got lost here and ended up back on Prescott Street away from where my car was parked. Thankfully, I was able to use my GPS to guide myself back to the car.

The next place I went to hike at was the Bemis Road Conservation Area,  the parking area located really close to the border with New Hampshire along Bemis Road.

I decided to park near where the supposed viewpoint H was, and headed to it, which turned out to just be a gate of sorts. I continued walking straight and turned left after crossing the state border to head to viewpoint G, where there is a bridge over Gulf Brook, from which I took some pictures of the water body itself.

Heading back, I took the right path at the next fork, and walked all the way to Bemis Road then along Bemis Road back to my car. Overall nothing much for the effort spent.

Next, I headed to the part of the Jeff Smith Trail on Lawrence Street between Wheeler Street and Lorden Lane. My objective was to head to viewpoint F, where there were partial views of Gulf Brook, though not as good as at the Bemis Conservation Area. The path I took here, which was pretty much going to and from viewpoint F, is shown below in black.

Finally done with Pepperell, I headed to Dunstable next, taking a picture of the Vietnam War memorial near VFW Post 3291.

Finally in Dunstable, I headed first to the Unkety Woods, located along Adam Street close to Jamie Road. Finding no suitable place to park close by, I decided to park at the end of Jamie Road and walk to the trailhead. The path I took to get to the Unkety Bridge is highlighted below in pink.

The bridge itself was a wooden one in need of repair, although the views from the bridge of Unkety Brook were pretty okay I guess.

I headed next to the Main Street Wildlife Preserve, located at the junction of Main Street and Skytop Lane.
After parking at the side of the road along Skytop Lane, the path I took is shown below in black.

I followed the blue path to views of the larger water body to the south.

From here, I decided to turn right onto the green path to see the next water body. The view from atop the hill here was pretty good though, looking back from where I came.

The water body within the green trail was nothing much to look at though, so I headed to the large pond to the west, and pictures I took of the beautiful surroundings here while walking around the pond follow.

From here, I walked the blue trail all the way back to my car, then decided to check out the boat launch area along Fletcher Street as shown above, but did not find anything of significance there.

Feeling extremely hungry at this point, I decided to give up my exploration of Dunstable for the day, and headed into Westford to have lunch at Karma Restaurant, a Chinese Japanese fusion restaurant at 174 Littleton Road.

This restaurant has really nice decor, complete with a bar and sushi bar area too.









I had a meetup dinner to go to later today, so I decided to just focus on the sushi rolls instead of looking at the Chinese options. I got the Karma 3 Layers, an appetizer sushi dish which was excellent, the Golden Banana Maki which had bananas in it, and the Fusion Maki which had mango in it as well.

Karma 3 Layers

Fusion Maki (top) and Golden Banana Maki (bottom)

To top off a delicious meal, I was pleasantly surprised when I was presented with a complimentary dessert dish: vanilla ice cream covered in corn flakes and whipped cream. Man I won't be able to eat much tonight then.

While in Westford, I took the opportunity to visit the Butterfly Place after lunch, which had been closed for the season during the winter months when I last visited the town. I did not know what to expect, but I have to say that I was glad I paid the $12 entrance fee. Outside the main area, there are a few enclosures with butterflies in them, including the monarch butterfly and the painted lady.

Monarch Butterfly

Cattleheart caterpillar

Painted Lady butterflies

When I finally entered the main area, I could not help but be entranced by the environment I came upon. It was an enclosed garden, with all sorts of butterflies flying around, and even little Chinese painted quail running all around. Pictures of the butterflies and birds I saw here follow.

Inside the Garden

Zebra Swallowtail

Butterflies snacking on nectar

Butterflies mating

Koi Pond

Female Quail

Male Chinese Painted Quail

After finally having my fill of butterflies, I still had some time before dinner, so I decided to go hiking at Fletcher Pond, located along Russell's Way near Sherburne Lane. Before heading up the main road to the pond, I took a few pictures of the water body down below by Russell's Way.









Driving up to the pond area, there is a small field here with a baseball diamond as well. the path I took from here, which was pretty much a walk around the pond, is highlighted below in pink.

The views of the pond were beautiful, and there were people fishing here, including a kayaker who actually caught a fish while I was there. Pictures follow.

Successful fisherman

Finally done with sightseeing for the day, I decided to head into Boston for my meetup event at Bubor Cha Cha restaurant in Chinatown. I was hoping to find Malay dishes here, but somehow the menu did not seem to have any, so we ended up having a pretty much typical Chinese meal.

Fried Crispy Squab

Peking Duck

House Special Clam

Kang Kung with Shrimp Paste

Fish Filet and Tofu in Claypot

Following dinner, we headed to Golden Leaf for my second karaoke session in a week. I managed to sing a  lot of good songs, including "Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh and "More Than Words" by Extreme, although I could not find "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. With that ended a productive day of sightseeing.