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Borderland and Carver Pond

TLDR:

Borderland State Park, South Easton MA. It is REALLY crowded. It is beautiful. 1843 acres with 20 miles of hiking trails. You can hike the whole perimeter of Leach Pond. The trails with few exceptions are incredibly accessible, you can take a stroller or a toddler easily. Dogs, horses, frisbee golf, mountain bikes, fishing, kayaking, all allowed. It does get full on busy days so go early or have a plan B. There are multiple hikes, 1 hour to 3 hours in length. Will not go back.

Carver Pond, Bridgewater Conservation Commission property. Bridgewater, MA. 35 acres, less than 2 miles of trails. Very accessible trails. Dogs allowed. Very short hike, less than an hour. Definitely recommend, will visit again if I’m in the area but a little too small for a trip for just this spot.

Borderland State Park  https://www.mass.gov/locations/borderland-state-park

There are about 3 or 4 Massachusetts State Parks in this general area that I had next on my list, but this one really has discouraged me from wanting to go the other ones. Wrentham State forest, F.Gilbert Hills State Forest, Franklin State Forest are all in the general area. I think the problem is that in the suburb cities and towns around Boston these open spaces are at a premium, and the State Parks are one of the first things that people think of. The other ones might be better but add the crowds to the $20.00 out of state parking fee, and these have dropped to the very bottom of my list. It would be a very different story if I could pay the $5.00 instate fee, or I’d invest in the $60.00 yearly pass. Massachusetts State Parks don’t even offer a yearly nonresident state park pass anymore, which is really a shame. I guess it’s easy to soak the out-of-towners. I was a little surprised at first that they were even charging since this is off-season, and other parks that I’ve been to don’t charge in the offseason. Given the popularity of this place, it would be nuts to turn away the revenue.

I parked at the visitor’s center at 259 Massapoag Ave., North Easton, MA. There is parking for several hundred cars, so that probably should have been a warning. The lot was probably ¾ full when I got there Winter hours are 8-4 whereas during the season it is 8-6. The signage made it clear that they take it seriously. Out of curiosity I hung around and sure enough, a ranger showed up at 3:55. I didn’t hang around long enough to see what grace period he was offering, but I doubt it was very long. I have to admit the potential to get locked in gave me a fair amount of anxiety that made me enjoy the hike less. I felt hurried to make sure I got back to my car. It might be a great place to watch the sunset but based on the closing times you’d get locked in regardless of the season.

There were easily 1000 people here on the day I went. Families with strollers, dog walkers, frisbee golf bros, just an absolute horde. I managed to find a few short sections of trail that had fewer people on them, but even there, the people were talking loudly with each other, or on their phones. Just not an “outdoorsy” crowd. Usually, I’ll slow my pace to get a little distance between myself and other groups, but it was just impossible because the next group would come up behind shortly after. I think even if you were in a canoe out on the lake it would sound loud because sound carries so well over water and the trails are right up against the lake. There was not a single strip of orange on anyone, so they felt safe from hunters or stray shots. I doubt there is much wildlife in the park anyway, except the ducks and geese on the pond. I did get a few looks because I had my orange on. Despite the prevalence of dogs, I only saw uncollected turds once. I imagine if someone tried to get away with that here there would be an army of people to quicky rub the owner’s nose in it.

You could push a wheelchair for most of it, in fact they have a beach wheelchair available, so I’ll give them two thumbs up for accessibility. There’s no need for apps to find your way, most of the trails are pretty much dirt roads, and if you got lost, you wouldn’t have to wait more than 30 seconds for someone to come along.

On the plus side, it IS a beautiful spot. The bathrooms were open. You can walk around the whole way around Leach Pond, and it’s very scenic. There are very few houses along the shore, so it has a natural feel from that perspective. Somebody took the time to put together little story boards for kids talking about animal tracks that were very cute. There are some really impressive pine trees in the park. Today was a windy day and there’s nothing like the sound of the wind through the pines. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for quiet and solitude. This does not make the list.

Carver’s Pond

418 Summer St. Bridgewater, Ma. I was feeling a little disappointed from my trip to Borderlands, I took advantage of their early closing to find a nearby hidden gem. My lifeline was my alltrails app. https://www.alltrails.com/

One of the features you can search is “best views nearby.” It doesn’t have its own driving navigation, but if you hit the “directions” button it can open Google Maps as one of the choices. This one was only 25 minutes away, and towards home. It is right near Bridgewater State University. The trail layout is a little odd, it consists of two separate out and back hikes that are a little less than a mile each. On the eastern trail it looks like you could keep going for a while, there is a cleared trail but there is a Private property sign on a tree at the end of the Town property. It was pretty high on a tree, so it would be possible to miss it. Hopefully one of these days the town buys the property on the south side of the lake, this would be an even better hike if it was a loop.

There are some old industrial features to look at, there is a dam and the foundation of an ice house and iron smelting facility. There are really nice signs at the entrance that describe the history, and a beautifully carved wooden map of the pond. There are tons of places to sit, there were probably 20 benches and a picnic table, and every one of them had a trash bag hanging off the back. There was a guy fishing, and there are a lot of access points to get a line in the water, but it would be nice if the town let a few more areas grow a vegetated buffer-it helps with water quality.

The trails were also very accessible, you can certainly get to the picnic area with a wheelchair, but probably parts of the trail would be a little too much. There were other hikers there but it didn’t feel as crowded as the previous hike so that was a relief.

There is a really nice review of this area on this website: https://marjorieturner.com/2021/06/28/carvers-pond-bridgewater-ma/ You should check out her site, she does reviews of accessible hikes under “easy walks.” She has tons of great content! I’m so glad I found her website, I definitely feel like I can learn a lot from her!

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