February 15th 2018: Hiking in Holden, West Boylston and Princeton

It has been a while since I hiked regularly, so today was a break from that, with my first hike being at Oak Hill in Holden. The path I took here to view the various detention basins here is shown below in  pink.

Nothing much to see here though.

From here,

Unionville Pond, 645 Wachusett Street

it was on to the Potter Sanctuary nearby, where the path I took here is shown below in pink, venturing into Porcupine Hill as well.

There were only partial views of Asnebumskit Pond here though.

From here, it was on to the town of West Boylston to check out the Lily Ponds, located near the Wachusett Reservoir.

The path I took here is shown below in pink.

I went through the wrong gate, 27, at first, although I was rewarded with a commanding view of the Wachusett Reservoir.

The right gate, 28, was further down the road, and the ponds themselves weren't half bad either.

From here, it was back into Holden for a hike at Poutwater Pond.

The path I took here from the town line with Sterling on Sterling Road is shown below in pink.

Unfotunately, the boardwalk at the pond was pretty much underwater, so there weren't much  views of the pond either.

From here, we headed into the town of Princeton for a hike at the Bullock/McElroy Trails, although there wasn't a need for a hike to get the view of Mount Wachusett in the distance.

Finally, it was too dark for any more hiking, and I decided to head to the Mountain Barn Restaurant in town for dinner. Pretty interesting decor inside.

For food, I got the Potato Gnocchi (Tossed with braised chicken thighs, oyster mushrooms and creamy leaks, topped with roasted beets and crispy leeks).

Really interesting combination of ingredients, and really good too. Glad I stopped by.