May 25th 2014: Hiking and Scuba Diving

My 4th day of scuba diving lessons was to start at noon today, so I headed northward in the morning, heading first to Sargisson Beach at ~150 Whiley Road in Groton. One actually has to hike a little through the woods to get to the beach, but it was a pretty nice beach to say the least, though small.

There were other trails here to check out Knops Pond as well.

Next, it was on to the Groton Place Wildlife Sanctuary,

where the path I took to see the water bodies here is shown below in pink.

The ponds here are decent looking,

and I even spotted a large turtle sticking its nose out of the water. Unfortunately it had already sunk back down into the depths by the time I took out my camera. I also went close to the Nashua River, but the views here were just okay.

The next place was at the Groton Town Forest, where the path I took to get to Ames Pond is shown below in pink.

An okay pond I guess, and a nice walk in the woods.

The last place I visited in Groton was Fitch's Bridge, located at the end of Fitch Bridge Road,

 with nice views of the Nashua River.

From here, it was on to the town of Westford. My first hike was along the Snake Meadow Brook Trail, where the path I took is shown below in pink.

The trailhead was pretty hard to find, and when I did, the trail was so overgrown, and there was nothing to see, except for 2 horses in the pasture.

Next, I visited the Nabnasset Pond area, which I have been to before, to check out some water bodies I missed the last time. The paths I took here is shown below in pink.

The Nutting Trail yielded a nice water body beside the road,

while my other trek brought me to Shipley Swamp.

Next, it was on to the Fletcher Pond area to find places I missed. The paths I took is shown below in pink.

The only good place here was the Twin Peaks water tower area,

which has a lookout area with nice views.

Apparently I had missed out on other places in the area, especially in the north. Got to go back I guess.

Finally, I decided it was time to head to scuba diving class. I grabbed some pizza from Veneto Ristorante in Chelmsford, which is more a pizza takeout place than a restaurant. The Polynesian Pizza (Sweet and spicy sauce, mozzarella cheese, bacon, grilled chicken, and pineapple) wasn't too bad though.

The pool session wasn't as strenuous as the first time, but I was still a little unwieldy in my scuba suit, even underwater, as my suit didn't fit as well this time, and I had trouble keeping still in the water. At least I'm finally done with it. Hope I can do the open water sessions out in the ocean soon.

After scuba, I continued my sightseeing in the town of Carlisle,

Buttrick Pond, 801 Concord Street

starting with the Conant Land. The path I took here after parking behind the town hall is shown below in pink.

Fishtail Pond was nothing to look at though.

Next, the Towle Land in town. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

The pond here looks more like a marsh.

Apparently, there is an old cow tunnel nearby that I totally missed here. Another place to go back to in future.

From here, it was on to an early dinner at Sora, a restaurant located within the Doubletree By Hilton Bedford Glen hotel, which consequently had a pretty nice ambience.

I decided to get a half portion of the Lobster Gnocchi (lobster, black truffle butter cream, grana padano)

and the Ricotta Pie for dessert. 

Pretty good actually, though nothing absolutely amazing. Recommend for ambience I guess.

As it was still light out, I resumed my hiking, this time in the town of Lincoln, passing by the Cambridge Reservoir along the way.

At the Osborne Farm area at the end of Page Farm Road, the path I took to view the water bodies here is shown below in black.

I like the little bridge over the water here.

Next, it was on to Pine Hill, the trailhead located at ~229 Sandy Pond Road. The path I took here is shown below in black.

I had to climb up a pretty steep hill off trail to get to the top,

where thankfully there was a break in the trees giving me a good view westwards.

With that, I decided to call it a day for sightseeing, and headed to my friend's place in Natick for a small party, which lasted till late, although I was already exhausted from the day's activities. And there's still more to come tomorrow.