Walden Pond, another late winter hike - March 19 2025

 HIKE REPORT

Wednesday, 19 March 2025, Walden Pond, another late winter hike

Hike Leaders:  Janet Miller & Marie Keutmann

~4.5 miles, 10:00 am start from Lincoln, MA

Hikers (17):  Janet, Marie, Aiko Pinkoski, Ann Northup, Annmarie Altman, Barbara Pike, Debra Mello, Harry Spatz, Jack Mroczkowski, Mike Hanauer, Phyllis Evan, Susan Broome, Susan Sabin, and first-timers Ellen Harvey, Gail Spatz, Joyce Bailey, and Karen Brody.

Thanks to the generosity of the Lincoln Food Project, who gave us permission to park on their property, seventeen people gathered on a beautiful sunny day to explore Heywood Meadow, Walden Pond, and some Lincoln conservation land.  We started out by heading to the end of Baker Bridge Road before crossing over Rte 126 and entering the woods on a trail to Heywood Meadow.  There is lots of beaver activity, with freshly cut trees and older signs of beaver activity, at Heywood Meadow.  We then walked along the meadow before turning off on a trail that took us to Walden Pond, where we took a slight detour to stop at the site of Thoreau’s cabin before continuing around the pond to the Visitor Center.

 

From there we climbed Pine Hill, descended part way down the other side, and continued on a trail that took us past the Thoreau Center before descending to Rte 126 and then to our cars.  The total distance was about 4.5 miles.  This was a repeat of the hike that was inspired by Judith McMichael and which I co-led with her. 

 

Some of us gathered at Verrill Farm for post-hike lunch in their very cosy greenhouse.

Report by Janet Miller.

Exploring Wellesley, North of Route 9 - March 12, 2025

 Wednesday, 12 March 2025, A late winter hike – Exploring Wellesley, North of Route 9

Hike Leader:  Susan Sabin

~5.7 miles, 10:00 am start from Wellesley, MA

Hikers (12):  Susan, Aiko Pinkoski, Annemarie Altman, Eileen Maloney, Judy Perrin, Marie Keutmann, Mark Friedman, Phyllis Evan, Renee Rees, Susan Broome, Zach Woods, and first-timer Jamie Merritt-O'Toole.

We headed north from the Longfellow Pond parking lot, along the western edge of the pond.  The pond is man-made, put into use to expand the successful production of paper that had already begun in Newton Lower Falls and Wellesley in the 19th century.

The wooded reservation is interrupted by Route 9, which we crossed before heading back into the woods and continuing to Lower Falls.  There, we stopped to note the sites of several industries (curing of leather and production of paint and paper) that used and polluted the Charles River.

After a picnic break, we headed back to our cars by a somewhat different route.  The weather smiled on us all the way and we, in good spirits and friendship, all smiled back.

Report by Susan Sabin.

Waltham Prospect Hill Park winter hike - March 5. 2025

 HIKE REPORT

Wednesday, 5 March 2025, Waltham - Prospect Hill Park winter hike

Hike Leaders:  Barbara Jacobs and Ted Nyder

4 miles, 10:00 am start from Waltham, MA

 

Hikers (15):  Barbara, Ted, Aiko Pinkoski, Ann Northup, Deb Mello, Jim Whinfield, Marie Keutmann, Marlene Heroux, Melissa Norton, Steven Venizelos, Susan Broome, Susan Sabin, Tom Allen, William Feiring, and Zach Woods.

Present at lunch:  Helen Greitzer.

 

Our hilly, icy, and snowy hike took us through historic Prospect Hill Park in Waltham.  The park was divided through Dividend Land Grants in the 1600s.  As people obtained these land grants, they built stone walls demarcating property boundaries that were established between 1636 and 1638.  The properties were used as woodlots, providing timber for building homes in nearby neighborhoods and firewood for cooking and heating.  There was some pasture land, but very little farming because of the hilliness of the area.

 

Our first stop was at the lean-tos and stone fireplace built for the Boy Scouts in 1934 by the Emergency Relief Administration.  We continued walking up the hill and came to two water towers built in 1974 by the City.  These water towers contain eight million gallons of water, providing water pressure for fire hydrants. Then we checked out the trails and old rope tow buildings of the old ski area (1948-1989).  Alongside the water towers we came to an old Radio Telescope which was used by the Air Force to look for sunspots and solar storms in the 1960s.  It is now used by amateur radio clubs. 

 

As we walked the Ridge Trail we came to Big Prospect and checked out the view.  Even though it was cloudy we could see the Boston skyline and snow on the Blue Hills. 

 

Twelve of us, including Helen, had post-hike lunch at the Craft Food Hall.

 

Report by Barbara Jacobs.

Lincoln Off the Beaten Track winter hike - February 26, 2025

 HIKE REPORT

Wednesday, 26 February 2025, Lincoln - Off the Beaten Track winter hike

Hike Leaders: Marie Keutmann & Richard Vignoni

~5 miles, 10:00 am start from Lincoln, MA

Hikers (20):  Marie, Richard, Aiko Pinkoski, Ann Northup, Annemarie Altman, Barbara Jacobs, Betty Salzberg, Eileen Maloney, Harry Spatz, Janet Miiller, Jim Whinfield, Judy Perrin, Marlene Heroux, Melissa Norton, Rick Lawrence, Sharon Ellis, Susan Sabin, Ted Nyder, William Feiring, and Zach Woods.

It was a gorgeous, sunny, but cool, morning.  Almost all of us put on our microspikes in the parking lot, which proved to be very helpful on the slippery snow and ice on the trails.  We went through open fields, horse pastures, backyards, and woods.  We traversed Flint Fields above the Flint Farm which has been continuously occupied and farmed by the Flint family since Thomas Flint came over from England in 1636.

We stopped in the field to look at rows of young American Chestnuts which have been planted in an experiment to try to grow them to be resistant to the fungus that destroyed most of these magnificent trees a century ago.  In the horse pasture above the field, a very vocal horse kept whinnying for attention and food to no avail.  At the Decordova Museum we used the restrooms and continued on through the grounds.  We then crossed Baker Bridge Road on the way to the remaining two miles of the hike by the elementary school and onto lesser known trails which brought us back to the Pierce House.

A dozen or so of us had lunch at Verrill Farm, eating in the warm greenhouse which we shared with tiny seedlings in pots on the floor.

Report by Marie Keutmann; photo by Richard Vignoni.