Allen’s Pond
TLDR: Massachusetts Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary. Excellent trail conditions despite lots of rain recently. No dogs, no hunting, no bikes, no running, no drones, no smoking. 620 acres total with 7 miles of hiking trails and several shorter loops possible. Open daily dawn to dusk. Beautiful seacoast views including the Elizabeth Islands offshore. Would do again.
I was feeling a little under the weather, but I wanted to get out for a little fresh air and an easy/short hike. I’ve been to this spot several times, so I knew ahead of time what the trails were like. I chose a 3 mile loop that took me about an hour and a half. It was a warm day for February, about 45 degrees and partly cloudy.
I accessed the Sanctuary from the field office entrance at 1280 Horseneck Road, Westport, MA. There is parking for about 10 cars there, and the lot was full when I pulled in. There are 2 other areas to park: Stone Barn Farm at 786 East Horseneck Road, South Dartmouth, MA, and that one has bathrooms. I’m not sure about whether they’re available during the winter. The third parking area is at Allen’s Neck Road.
https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/allens-pond
This is a beautiful spot. It’s very close to Horseneck Beach State Reservation, which is a lovely sandy beach with good waves to play in during the summer. There is a view of Buzzards Bay for a lot of the hike, and you can get really good views of the Elizabeth Islands especially if you get up on one of the large bedrock outcrops throughout the sanctuary. Allen’s Pond, which is a salt pond behind the barrier beach, and Fresh Pond which is fed by Zylfee Brook are other features to enjoy. There are lots of places to stop off and watch birds, and if you want to do a guided hike or take a nature class Audubon offers those from time to time as well. Technically there isn’t a destination to hike to, but the scenery is with you on the entire hike. The trails are very well marked, with signs for each individual loop marked differently with clear trail names. It would be pretty hard to get lost here anyway, because if you walk east for a mile from any point in the area, the ocean is there. There are houses right up against the border of the sanctuary in places so it doesn’t really have a wilderness feel to it except right in the middle. I didn’t really need to use my AllTrails app at all, except to make sure I was circling back on the right trail.
This area is very quiet. There is no road noise at all because there are only small back roads nearby. Although the parking lot was full, I only saw 4 people actually within the sanctuary. There were a bunch of people enjoying the beach along East Beach Road, but I’d bet a buck that most of them don’t even know the trails are there. This is a wildlife refuge, and they’re very strict with uses on the property. This is true of almost all the Audubon properties. No drones, pets, bikes, smoking, fires, camping, hunting, fishing, trapping, running, swimming, collecting, feeding wildlife, or walking off the trail. You definitely don’t need to worry about getting shot at so the orange vest is optional.
This is a great hike for anyone with limited mobility, or if you have kids that need to be carried or pushed in a stroller. The only exception is the cobble beach area which is surprisingly difficult to walk on because the stones are loose. If you have bad ankles avoid this part for sure. I was tempted to do a longer hike, you can do up to 7 miles here. After last week’s hard lesson I decided it would be best to be back well before sunset.
I would definitely come here again, in fact I’ve been here a few times already. It’s a good spot to just sit and watch the sunset, or have a picnic if you’re not in the mood for a walk.
