Acton: Hike to the Trail through Time - December 20, 2023

 HIKE REPORT

Wednesday, 20 December 2023, Acton:  Hike to the Trail through Time

Hike Leader:  Janet Miller

4+ miles, 10:00 am start from Acton, MA

 

Hikers (22+):  Janet, Annemarie Altman, Barbara Jacobs, Betty Salzberg, Elsa Lawrence, Jack Mroczkowski, Jim Whinfield, Joanne Samuels, Judy Perrin, Julie Dodd, Kristina Leclaire, Marie Keutmann, Neil MacGaffey, Peggy Gelin, Sally Chapman, Steven Venizelos, Susan Sabin, Ted Nyder, Tim Dodd, Tod Cochran & his dog, Tom Allen, and Zach Woods.

 

In the hike description, I said that “there are places where the trail might be wet” as there was one short section of the trail that was very wet when I scouted the route.  However, after Monday’s intense storm, a better description might have been that “some places on the trail were dry.”

 

We hiked through the Spring Hill conservation area into the Nashoba Brook conservation area and the Trail Through Time (a loop trail on both sides of Nashoba Brook).  I had planned to cross Nashoba Brook on a bridge, but, although the bridge was fine, the trail on the other side was flooded and impassable.  So we stayed on the east side of the brook and saw some stone piles, which are believed to have been built by Native Americans.  We also saw where a pest house had been - where people who were sick with diseases such as smallpox were taken so they would not infect others.

 

Then we reached the site of a nineteenth century pencil factory, where we stopped for a break and some refreshments.  From there we headed back to our starting point on a winding trail, where, like everywhere else, there were numerous sections where we had to circumnavigate places where the trail was under water - that is everyone except the dog, who was quite happy to get her feet wet. 

 

Despite the challenges of negotiating the trail, everybody seemed to enjoy the hike.  Six of us had post-hike lunch together at the Atlantic Sea Grill.

 

Report by Janet Miller.