I did not have any other appointments today, so I decided to head to the western 6th Circle to do my sightseeing there. On the way to the town of New Salem, I passed by the Paxton Public Safety Complex, which had an interesting fireman monument in front of it.
In New Salem, my first destination was
Quabbin Gate 30, located on Route 122 near Daniel Shays Highway. The path I took here to get to the top of Rattlesnake Hill is highlighted below in pink.
Soon after passing the gate, I came upon the Keystone Bridge.
As I continued on my way, I passed my an old man cycling on the path. He eventually asked me where I was going, and after I told him, he gave me rough directions as to how to go. He then rode off, only to stop as there was a young male deer (a buck) on the side of the path. Afraid that I would scare it off, I kept taking pictures of it from afar while approaching it, but it never ran away at all, calmly looking for food as we watched. The man said it was because it was too innocent to know that we might be dangerous, especially if we were holding shotguns, out on a hunt. He decided that in future, he will start scaring the deer off before hunting season starts. I wish it all the best of luck.
Proceeding onward, at the 29-3 junction, I saw the man cycle to the right, and deciding that he was trying to show me the way, I followed him, but shortly after, he saw me and told me I was going the wrong way. This time, he followed me to the power lines, where he directed me to turn right to go up the hill in line with the power lines, and find the path to the right leading up the hill at the end of it.
When I reached the top of the power lines, there was some construction going on here, so I could not find the trail to the top of Rattlesnake Hill at first. Thinking that this was the end of my journeyI decided to take pictures of the partial views here.
On closer examination however, I finally managed to find the right path, hidden beneath the rapidly growing grass, and from here, it was a short hike up to the viewpoint, where the views of Quabbin Reservoir were amazing.
After backtracking all the way back to my car, the last place I went to in New Salem today was Bear's Den,
which I went to recently, but could not take a good picture of the falls because there was not enough light left. This time, I was successful.
Finally done with New Salem, I headed into the town of Belchertown, where the first place I visited was the Jabish Brook Conservation Area, located on Daniel Shays Highway between Kimball Street and Kopec Avenue. The path I took here after finally finding the trailhead is highlighted below.
Other than the brook itself, there was nothing much else to see here.
Next, I visited a few other places in town before heading for lunch.
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| Lake Holland, Channel Drive |
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| Christ Community Church, 1255 Federal Street |
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| Lake Metacomet, Poole Road |
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| Belchertown Fire Department, 10 North Main Street |
Lunch was actually just right next door to the Fire Department, at
McCarthy's Pub, where they have complimentary popcorn and peanuts. I decided to get 2 of the specials today, namely a Basket of Whole Belly Clams, and the Irish Meat Pie.
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| Basket of Whole Belly Clams |
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| Popcorn and Peanuts |
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| Irish Meat Pie |
The food was okay I guess, although the pie was a little salty for my taste. After lunch I finished off Belchertown, visiting other places like the Charles L. McLaughlin Trout Hatchery at 90 East Street, where they had tons of rainbow trout swimming around in manmade ponds.
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| Evergreene Golf, 80 Ware Road |
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| Rainbow Trout at Charles L McLaughlin Trout Hatchery |
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| Empty Ponds |
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| Ponds filled with trout |
Heading into the town of Palmer next, I passed by the Swift River on River Street near Main Street, where there is a beautiful waterfall here.
A few other places I visited in Palmer before moving on to the tornado battered town of Monson follow below.
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| St. Bartholomew's Church, 7 State Street |
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| Forest Lake, Bennett Street and River Street |
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| Palmer Town Hall, 4417 Main Street |
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St. Thomas the Apostle Church,
1076 Thorndike Street |
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Old St. Anne Church,
Main Street between Charles Street and Pleasant Street |
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St. Mary's Episcopal Church,
4080 Main Street |
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Depot Village Professional Building,
3 Converse Street |
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Second Baptist Church,
1050 Thorndike Street |
Heading on to the town of Monson, I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly the reconstruction had taken place after the tornado that hit the town in June of 2011, nearly 1 year ago. Pictures of some of the buildings under reconstruction and other buildings follow below.
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| Tornado damage |
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| Beth's Family Dining, 107 Main Street |
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| Dave Grieve Park, ~206 Main Street |
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Plumley Falls,
Mouton Hill Road and Wales Road |
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Town Common,
High Street and Main Street |
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| Memorial Hall, 210 Main Street |
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Ellis Mill Falls,
Bliss Street near Bridge Street |
From here, I headed to
Conant Brook Dam. I parked on Old Wales Road near Moores Cross Road, where there is a nice waterfall from Monson Reservoir.
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| Waterfall at Conant Brook Dam |
The path I took while here is shown below in pink.
I walked the dirt path to the dam, then had to climb up the stone filled path to the side of the dam.
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| The dam itself |
Atop the dam itself, the views of the Monson Reservoir downstream and the Conant Brook Reservoir upstream were pretty good.
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| Views from atop the dam |
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| Monson Reservoir |
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| Conant Brook Reservoir |
Next, I headed to the
Temple Brook Conservation Area, located on Butler Road close to Lower Hampden Road.The path I took to view Lunden Pond is shown below in pink, although the views weren't that impressive here.
The next place I went to was close by at
Peaked Mountain, along the same road close to Bradway Road. The path I took here to get to the top of Peaked Mountain, which was basically the Summit Loop, is shown below in red.
The hike to the top wasn't as steep as I expected looking at the map, and the paths were easy to navigate without getting lost. The views at the top were fantastic, as shown below.
I moved on to the next viewpoint, but the views here at the Valley View were not that great after all, being covered by trees.
Finally done with Monson, I headed to my final town for the day in Wales.There isn't much to see here in this small town, and by the time I wanted to go to the
Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, it was already too late in the day to go.
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| Lake George, Stafford Road and Union Road |
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| Wales Baptist Church, 23 Main Street |
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| Monument, Main Street and Haynes Hill Road |
My phone did not have any reception, so I decided to go to the nearest place for dinner, which turned out to be the Wales Irish Pub at 27 Holland Road in town. This is a typical pub place with typical pub fare, so I decided to get the Fish and Chips for once in a long while. It turned out to not be that fresh, and I did not even finish half of it.
With that, I headed home after finally finishing most of the Western 6th Circle.
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