October 11th 2015: Hiking in Wendell and New Salem

Today was a beautiful fall day for hiking, so that was what we did. Our first stop was at Bassett Pond in New Salem, where the trailhead to get to it is at the junction of Petersham Road and Blackinton Road heading south. The path to the pond is pretty straightforward, the pond being right at the next cross junction of paths. We spotted a really small garter snake along the way,

and turned back to our car after seeing the beautiful view of the pond.

Next, on our way to the Wendell State Forest in Wendell, we passed through the town of Erving,

Erving Town Hall,

12 East Main Street

Memorials outside Town Hall

Erving Fire Department

Erving Evangelical Church

Water Tower,

Arch Street and Crescent Street

and the Iron Bridge at the end of Farley Road in Wendell.

At Wendell State Forest, the path we took this time is shown below in pink.

The view of Ruggles Pond was beautiful as always.

We passed by Lyon's Falls

and took a detour to Lynn's Falls, which was just a trickle this time of year.

There weren't any views to be had from the top of Jerusalem Hill though, but the 2 lookouts we went to were something else, although the sun from the west was in our face by the time we got there.

On the way back down, we spotted a bobcat and her cub.

Strangely, the mother ran away as we approached, leaving the cub behind to snarl at us warily.

Finally, we were back at our car, and headed for dinner at Deja Brew, a really small bar restaurant in town. For food, we got the Wasabi Potato Stuffed Portabella (balsamic roasted portabella mushroom stuffed with wasbi mashed potatoes, served with fresh vegetables and side salad)

and the Gourmet Pesto Pizza (with anchovies, avocado, tomatoes, roasted garlic).

Not a bad meal really, and a good end to a nice day of hiking.

Recommended Places to Visit: New Salem

Recreation
Water Bodies
South Spectacle Pond
South Athol Road near Sweezy Lane

Beautiful Scenery

Quabbin Overlook #2

~365 Daniel Shays Highway


Hiking
Recommended:
Bear's Den
18 Neilson Road

Rattlesnake Hill
Route 122 near Daniel Shays Highway
N 42.50648, W -72.30231

Quabbin Overlook #1

33 South Main Street behind Fire Department

Bassett Pond
Blackinton Road and Petersham Road


Architecture
Places of Worship

North Congregational Church
60 Elm Street

Central Congregational Church
22 South Main Street


Town Facilities

Town Hall
15 South Main Street


Historical Buildings
Swift River Valley Historical Center
40 Elm Street

Old New Salem Academy
~29 South Main Street

September 2nd 2013: Climbing Up Mount Tully, Orange

I have not been to Northwestern Massachusetts for a while now, so I decided to use Labor Day, when most of my restaurants where I have groupons would probably be closed for the holiday, to head into the Northwest once again. I first visited a few places in Worcester

Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church,

635 Grove Street

and Holden.

Chaffin Pond, 513 Main Street

Bryant Pond, 54 Bailey Road

Stump Pond, 45 Causeway Street

Maple Spring Pond,

Princeton Street near Cobb Street

Quinapoxet Reservoir,

Princeton Street and Elmwood Avenue

Cournoyer Pond,

Mason Road near Wood Street

Holden Reservoir #1, Reservoir Street near S Road

Holden Reservoir #2,

Stonehouse Hill Road and Reservoir Street

At the Trout Brook Conservation Area, located at 332 Manning Street, I took a short stroll down the path to locate the small but nice pond there.

It was here that I saw my first red spotted newt for the day after the rains yesterday, and would see many more throughout the rest of the day.

Heading to the town of  Barre, there is a Christian site at 33 Harty Road having a giant cross painted into the ground, with the giant words "God's Wisdom" that can be seen from outer space.

This is what the whole thing looks like from outer space, courtesy of Google Maps.

From here, I headed into Petersham,

Brown Pond Dam,

East Street and Shaw Road

Harvard Pond,

New Salem Road near Old New Salem Road

New Salem

South Spectacle Pond,

South Athol Road near Sweezy Lane

and Athol

South Athol United Methodist Church

South Athol Pond,

Washington Avenue and South Athol Road

Seventh Day Adventist Church

before finally reaching the town of Orange to start my sightseeing there. Here I visited a few places

Lake Mattawa Beach

Mission Covenant Church

Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church,

62 Cheney Street

Community Church of North Orange and Tully

before heading to lunch at the Equus Restaurant, a small town breakfast place at 217 East Main Street in town, which thankfully was open today.

For food, I decided to go for the Bruce Pile, consisting of Cheese, 2 Poached Eggs, Hashbrowns, chipped beef and gravy. What I did not expect was something that looked like baby food.

Thankfully, the hash browns and eggs were all there, and the dish was actually pretty delicious.


After lunch, it was time to start hiking in town. My first destination was the Kiwanis Bicentennial Park, located at 195 Holtshire Road. There is no official trail map online, but thankfully there was one on the signpost at the trailhead.

I used it to view the two water bodies and the dam here.

After a decent hike, it was time for my next hike at the North Pond Ridge Trail, the entrance to it located at ~50 Chestnut Hill Road. The trail I took to get to the Chestnut Hill Overlook is shown blow in pink.

It was a pretty long hike though, and the view from the overlook was just so-so.

Overall, not worth the hike.

Finally it was time for my third and final hike to get to the top of Tully Mountain, located on the path of the Tully Trail at the end of Mountain Road, where I found parking. Unfortunately, this is exactly where I disoriented myself, as the real trailhead is located further down the road, as I later realized. It is just fortunate that I chose the right paths to get to the top of the mountain and get back to my car. The path I took is shown below in black.

Instead of going clockwise, I actually was going anticlockwise all the way, and I only realized my mistake when I emerged onto the road at the real trailhead, way after my beautiful views at the summit.

After this hike, I was to go for more in the town of Warwick. I headed to Sheomet Lake first at ~595 Athol Road,

which has a beautiful waterfall.

Next, I decided to check out the east side of the Arthur Iversen Conservation Area, where the path I took to get to the small waterfall, the Devil's Dustbowl, located at the very end of the trail on Hodge Brook, is shown below in pink.

The path to get there was pretty overgrown though, and my feet got wet walking past the brook. The waterfall itself was a little disappointing as well.

When I finally backtracked out to my car, I decided it was too late to check out the west side trails on the other side of Gale Road.

For the rest of the day, I checked out a few more places in Warwick until the sun went down.

Richards Reservoir,

End of Old Robbins Road

Fountain,

Warwick Free Public Library

Old Unitarian Church,

Athol Road and Warwick Road

Warwick Fire Department

Moores Pond,
South Holden Road and Wendell Road

Finally, it was too dark to take any more pictures, so I decided to head back into Orange to get a Chinese dinner at Tea House Restaurant, which has pretty decent decor.

For food, I decided to get the Hunan Crispy Beef (sliced beef filet, quick sauteed and pan flipped over high flame, blended in delicate sauce on crispy bed of Chinses rice noodles), which wasn't too bad for Americanized Chinese food.

I do not know why, but I was also given a complimentary bowl of soup as well.

With that, I headed home, ending a long day of hikes, the best of which was of course at Tully Mountain.