September 16th 2011: Hiking in Stow and Maynard

This morning, I decided to go into work to start my experiment early, so I had a unique opportunity to capture the sunrise from my office building. It also has great views of Shrewsbury.

After work, I went hiking again, this time in the towns of Stow and Maynard. In Stow, the trail I hiked was the Heath Hen Meadow Woodland. The route I took is as indicated below in black.

From the parking area on Boxboro Road close to its junction with Packard Road, I walked along the blue trail across a bridge until a fork in the road, then I took the path on the right.

I continued along the blue path until its junction with the pink path, then I followed it by turning right onto it. At the next fork with the blue path, I turned right to return to it. Close to the intersection of the blue path with the purple path, there is an almost indiscernible uphill trail leading off to the right of the blue path which I took some time to find. At the top of the slope, one can see a good view of Shelburne Farm.










Carrying on, I headed right onto the purple path and continued until it merges back with the blue path again. I then followed it all the way back to my car, past Flagg Hill Pond.

Flagg Hill Pond

Overall, except for the views of Shelburne Farm, Heath Hen Meadow wasn't that great a place to hike in. I got lost a few times because of poorly marked trails.

Anyway, I next went to Maynard to find Silver Hill. Along the way, I spotted another group of wild turkeys crossing the road.

More Wild Turkeys

The maps of Silver Hill indicated that it could be accessed from Silver Hill Road, but when I went there, I could not find it. I had to ask a resident there for help, who told me that the trail entrance was actually more easily accessed at the end of Reeves Road. In the end, I decided to park at the corner of Silver Hill Road and Hazelwood Road, and walked all the way to the end of Silver Hill Road, and finally found the entrance. The trail map was so small and of little help to me, so I followed the path, and luckily I was able to find my way to the top. Unfortunately, there was nothing much to see here.

Silver Hill

After a disappointing evening of hiking, I decided to end my day by having dinner at Sorento's in Marlborough, which I enjoyed thoroughly.

Portabella and Spinach appetizer

Seafood Risotto