May 26th 2014: Hiking in Wrentham, Medfield, Dover and Westwood

Today, I had 2 groupons to use at places that would be open today on Memorial Day, both in Southeastern Massachusetts, so I decided to spend my day there, starting off with hikes in the town of Wrentham.

At Wollomonopoag, the rough paths I took here are shown below in pink.

I started off from Elysium Street, but soon got disoriented due to the many side trails here. I eventually got to the beaver pond area, which was a pretty swampy area,

but the bridges were all flooded over, so I could not get over to the other side. I noticed, however, that there were trails leading from Bennett Street, so I decided to try my luck from there.

This time, I was able to find Moon Crater Pond,

and eventually come to the other side where I could proceed no further.

The ponds here were nothing to look at though.

My next destination was the Knuckup Hill area. The paths I took to visit the trout ponds and the hill itself, after spending some time trying to find the Building Department where the parking area is located, are shown below in pink.

There was a side trail leading steeply up the hill, which I took to get to the water towers, thinking the vista was here. There were no views to be had in this area,

although this place used to be a ski slope, with an old ski lift mechanism still present.

I was feeling a little disappointed, deciding to head down the hill on the main trail, which is where I managed to find the actual viewpoint, with northward views of Wrentham, especially the Original Congregational Church.

From here, it was on to the trout ponds, which were pretty serene as well.

My next hike was at the Crocker Pond area. It was hard to find the trailhead on Federico Drive, as it was sandwiched between 2 private properties, bound by a wooden fence on both sides which was barely there. The path I took from here is shown below in pink.

Unfortunately, throughout my entire trek, during which I got lost once as well, I was unable to get any good views of the pond itself.

I decided to head to lunch after this. My original plan was the Natty Greene's Tavern in North Attleborough, passing by a few places in Plainville

Johnny's Oil Service Inc, 46 South Street

and North Attleborough,

107 North Washington Street

but it was closed for the holiday, even though I had called a few days before to check, and had been told that they would be open. Oh well. I changed directions and headed north to Medway instead, choosing to have lunch at Yama Fuji, a Japanese restaurant with pretty nice decor.

I got the Hong Kong Style Wonton Soup (Minced pork, shrimp, fried onion and scallion), 

the Tempura Kani Sweet Potato Salad (Fried shredded crab meat, shredded sweet potato w. mango Thai sweet sauce),

the Dynamite (Scallop, shrimp, mushroom, grilled w. homemade creamy spicy sauce),

the Fairy Lady Roll (Spicy blue crab meat, cucumber, radish sprout wrapped with tuna (no rice)) and the Hulk Roll (Lobster Tempura, asparagus, avocado, mango, topped with seaweed salad, spicy wasabi sauce and spicy mayo sauce).

Of the dishes, only the Fairy Lady Roll was a little bland. The scallops were really tasty, while the kani and sweet potato were pretty indistinguishable but delicious in the sauce. Overall, not too bad a meal at all.

From here, it was on to the town of Medfield for more hiking. My first destination was the Shattuck Reservation. The path I took here after parking along Causeway Street to get to the Charles River is shown below in pink.

The river wasn't anything impressive though.

My next hike was at the Norfolk Hunt Club area, where the path I took from the junction of Wight Street and Harding Street to get to the supposed vista is shown below in pink.

Once again, nothing much to see here.

The Medfield State Forest was next, the path I took after parking on old Route 27 is shown below in pink.

The first view of the Charles River was okay I guess.

I then came out of the woods onto a field, where I could see no trails at all.

I was forced to walk through the grass, and at times I thought I saw a path and went for it, but it went nowhere. In the end, I just thrashed my way out to the road, and walked to the end of it to get to the remains of Death Bridge over the Charles River, where the view of it was much better.

After walking the road back to my car, it was off to my final trek of the day in Medfield at the Woodcliff Hills Trail, where I parked on Quarry Road near Minuteman Road. The path I took is shown below in pink.

Again, nothing much to see here.

Disappointed with my hikes in Medfield, I headed to the town of Dover, hoping for better there. There are some trails around the Dover Sherborn High School which I went to check out, the path I took from the high school parking lot being shown below in pink.

There was nothing to see here though.

Next, it was on to Powisset Farm in town.

In order to get to the wooded areas, I had to walk around the entire farm, the path I took being shown below in pink.

There is a small pond at the beginning of the hike,

and the farm is a pretty wide open space.

There was even a coyote running across the field. A pity I could not get closer to it.

Other than that, there were no views to be had on the knoll. Really disappointing after that long walk around the farm, and to think I had to do it again on the way back.

Next, it was on to the Hale Reservation, which I have visited in the past. This time, I wanted to find Storrow Pond, located in the Westwood section of the area. The path I took after parking in the vicinity is shown below in pink.

The pond itself was nothing much to look at,

and after passing the power lines,

My slight detour to the Powisset Rock Shelter yielded nothing either.

The next hike I went on was at Sen Ki. The path I took to get to the rock outcrop overlook is shown below in pink.

There were too many trees at the top to have any good views though.

My final hike of the day was at the Lowell Woods, which I have been to in the past. This time I went to find the water body, the path I took being shown below in black.

Unfortunately, the pond could hardly be seen from where I was on the path.

With that, I called it a day for hiking, and headed to the town of Milton for dinner at Mr. Chan's, a Chinese restaurant that looks more like and functions like a takeout place.

With my coupon, I decided to get the Honey Roasted Walnut Shrimp (Lightly fried jumbo shrimp mixed with a tangy creamy sauce on a bed of lettuce and topped with honey roasted walnuts), 

the Marco Polo (Beef, shrimp, peas in a lobster sauce, served under a bed of crispy egg noodles),

and the Shrimp Fried Rice. 

The food was actually pretty good, especially the noodles, which wasn't something I was expecting.

What a terrible day for hiking on Memorial Day. Moving on to the next week.