September 18th 2011: Western 4th Circle

Bright and early, I decided to head to Wells State Park in Sturbridge. The external parking lot can be reached by going to the end of Wells State Park Road. Highlighted below in pink is the route I took.

From the parking lot, I headed right on the road up the slope until I passed the Mill Pond Trail, which was closed due to damage from hurricane Irene. I then found the trail head for the North Trail. However, when I reached the first junction, I chose not to follow any of the marked trails in an attempt to find the viewpoint at Carpenter's Rocks, turning sharply left instead of heading up the middle trail which was the right way. You can see the trail I went on on the map barely as it goes parallel to the main road. After I realized my mistake, I decided to try my luck and head uphill when I found a path leading uphill. Somehow or other I managed to find myself at Carpenter's Rocks, although I did not realize it at the time since I still had no idea where I was. There is a great view from here, with pictures following.












Still lost, I tried to follow the red-marked trail downhill, and somehow ended up at the power lines on the North Trail. The trail passes the power lines at two points, and I took several pictures here.

When I finally got back to the main road and realized where I had gone wrong in the first place, I decided to head toward Walker Pond, and found a good view of it.

Done with Sturbridge, my next town was North Brookfield, but on the way there, I had to pass through East Brookfield, where I spotted the war memorial on Mechanic Street and Pleasant Street.

My destination was the Lake Lashaway beach which is shared by both East and North Brookfield, but I first saw Lake Lashaway from the East Brookfield side on East Main Street, and took a picture of it.

The beach on the North Brookfield side was equally nice, located at the end of Pine Road at its junction with Maple Street.

Other areas I visited included the town hall, which apparently was damaged and under repair, and churches and schools.

North Brookfield Town Hall, decapitated,
167 North Main Street

Christ Memorial Episcopal Church

Haston Public Library

North Brookfield Junior High School

War memorials outside library

St. Joseph Church

Done with North Brookfield,  New Braintree was next. There was not much to see here, although the clear sky today was a beautiful sight to see over the fields, and I took some pictures while driving along the road.

The only buildings of relative notice here were the public library at 45 Memorial Drive

and the Massachusetts State Police Academy.

Trotting along, my next town was Barre. While driving to my next destination along Worcester Road, I saw the Ware River flowing furiously on my left, so I decided to stop and take a few pictures,

including some of Powder Mill Pond near the junction with New Braintree Road.

When I entered the town center area, I was overwhelmed from the sudden openness of the area as I drove in. I immediately became unsure on how to drive in the area, because it seemed like there were no traffic signs in the area. Thankfully, there were hardly any vehicles around to crash into. The town common on South Street and Common Street was a beautiful area though, surrounded by several historical buildings.

The historical buildings are shown below.

Saint Thomas-a-Becket Parish

Barre Savings Bank

Christ Episcopal Church,

499 Vernon Avenue

St. Joseph's Church,

29 South Street

Barre Players Theater

Old Barre Town Hall,

Exchange Street and Mechanic Street

Barre Town Hall,

40 West Street

Woods Memorial Library

Stetson School

It was time for another trail hike, Cook's Canyon Wildlife Sanctuary. It was hard to find the entrance to the place on South Street. It is actually near the junction with Kendall Street on the side away from the town common. The route I took after parking at the entrance is highlighted below in pink.

From the parking area, I walked along the main trail until I came to a fork, then I took the left path. I continued along Cook's Canyon Trail all the way down to the overlook at the dam. In order to take the good pictures I did, I had to walk along a narrow stone wall to the dam itself.

Other than the dam itself, there was nothing much else of note the rest of the way back to the car.

The next place I went to was Barre Falls Dam along Coldbrook Road after Old Boston Turnpike. 

The route I took here is highlighted below in pink.

I first parked at the northernmost parking lot to take some pictures of the surroundings at the disc golf course area, where some people were actually playing a disc golf tournament of some sort.

I then drove down to the dam itself, crossed it and parked in the parking area there. The views from the dam itself were excellent. 

I was also able to head down to where the water was being released in a rush at the bottom of the dam.

It was time to move on to the town of Hubbardston after a hamburger lunch at the Gardner Ale House in Gardner. After viewing Brigham Pond on Brigham Street and Evergreen Road, and a giant cockerel outside the Country Trail Antiques shop at 45 Gardner Road, I headed to the town common on Main Street and Brigham Street.

Hubbardston Town Common

Brigham Pond

Giant Cockerel

Hubbardston Center School

Hubbardston Public Library

Next, I decided to head to the Mount Jefferson Conservation Area, which contains the Templeton and Hubbardston State forests. I thought that there might be a hill here or something that might have good views because of the name, but as it turns out, the entrance to the area is found on Mount Jefferson Road close to its junction with Malone Road. Highlighted in pink below is the route I took.

Starting from the parking area, I headed up the Behind the Chimney Trail, which eventually connected with the Canesto Brook Trail, onto which I turned right. I followed it all the way to the Mill Pond Trail, onto which I turned right to get back out onto the road. Although the map looks simple, the distance I had to hike was pretty far, and unfortunately, not really interesting.

Back out on the road, I decided to head back to my car instead of trying to find the trail heading into the town of Templeton. However, while walking back, I suddenly noticed this german shepherd from afar walking along the road. It spotted me, started barking at me, and even started running towards me. Luckily, I was still on a gravel road, so I was able to find a suitably sized rock and picked it up in case the dog would come and attack me. Fortunately, however, the dog decided to stop at the boundary between the gravel road and the paved road. I stood my ground, stone in hand, watching it closely to see if it would cross the boundary towards me, but it never did, slinking off into the house next to where it was instead. I decided to proceed cautiously, and as I approached the house in question, I kept it in view, constantly on the lookout for the dog, even walking backwards as I continued past the house, but the dog never reappeared. I was able to reach my car without any further incident, thankfully.

It was still light out, so I decided to head to my next town, Westminster. I decided not to do any trails here today, so there was not much else to see here for the rest of the evening.

Forbush Memorial Library

Westminster Town Hall,

11 South Street

Wyman Lake, Leino Park Road

I tried heading to the Crocker Pond Recreational Area at around 112 South Ashburnham Road, but I reached it just as it was closing, and I was told to leave. I caught sight of a beautiful waterfall though, and was determined to head back there someday. With that, my sightseeing for the day was done.