February 18th 2022: Hiking in Hopkinton and Ashland

 With the ice finally melted on the ground, I decided to venture out today for hikes, first at the Hopkinton State Park in Hopkinton and Ashland, where the path I took to check out water bodies in areas I have not been to before is shown below in pink.

Nice views of the stream beside the Grebe Trail, but nothing much of note in the Long Trail area.

From here, it was on to the Brook Hollow Conservation Area in Hopkinton, where the path I took here to get to the Martha Foster Overlook is shown below in pink.

No views to be had here though from the overlook.

My last destination for the day was Ashland State Park in Ashland. I have been to the beach area before in the past, but did not explore much further. This time around, the path I took is shown below in pink.

Really nice views of Ashland Reservoir,

especially from the dam area.

With that, I called it a day for hiking, heading into town to grab a quick bite from Marathon Deli. 

I got the Smoke House (Chicken fingers, cheddar & gouda, hickory bacon & tangy BBQ sauce),

which was a tad on the dry side. Not coming back again for sure. At least it was a pretty fruitful day for hiking.