Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge Snowshoe Outing - Wednesday, March 11, 2015

SNOWSHOE REPORT
 
Wednesday, March 11, 2015, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge snowshoe outing

Snowshoe Leader:  Sander Nydick
~6.5 miles, 10:00 am meet up at Stow Shopping Center, Stow, MA.

Snowshoers/xc skiers (7):  Sander, Kim Wach, Marie Keutmann, Rick Lawrence, Roy Westerberg, Russ Keene, and Steve Cohen.

Present at start (1):  Tom Allen.

Present at lunch (2):  Helen Greitzer and Janet Miller. 

On a warm day in March (temps in low 50s) with, perhaps, as much as six feet of soft snow left over from this snowy winter, six hardy individuals with snowshoes and one with cross country skis traversed about six and a half miles in the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge.  I was correct about suggesting snowshoes in my last update.  One potential hiker without snowshoes wisely abandoned the hike after a few minutes.  Because of the deep snow and the leader's slowness, a hike that should have taken two hours took about three and a half hours.  The Refuge is very scenic and everybody seemed to enjoy it.  The hike encompassed a loop that started at the White Pond Road parking lot in Stow and included passing the Visitor's Center in Sudbury.  We passed several structures that once housed munitions during World War II - part of the Refuge during that era was part of the Natick Army Base.

After we returned to our cars, most of the WWs went home.  Russ and I met Helen and Janet at the Boston Bean Coffee House in Maynard for lunch and conversation.

Report by Sander Nydick