Freetown is HUGE!

TLDR: Mass DNR State forest. Good trail conditions but very wet. Well marked but no unique loop markers. Dogs allowed. Mountain bikes allowed. Dirt bikes allowed from May-November. 5000 acres with other conservation areas attached, could easily be 10,000. Multiple length hikes up to 25 miles! No “goal” to reach. Would recommend but have location finding app or GPS to help guide you. Fine for beginners but navigation is a must. Would do again, but NOT May-November.

After doing 2 hikes last week totaling 6 miles I wanted to stretch it out a bit this week. I foolishly chose a 10 mile loop that took 4 1/2 hours. I pushed a little further than I should have, and if I was just a little stupider, this could have been a bad outcome, or at least an embarrassing one.

I accessed Freetown State Forest from Bell Rock Road, Fall River, MA. Directions on Google Maps showed it as 41.756680, -71.072090. You can put latitude and longitude into Waze or Google Maps and most car GPS. The trailhead was a little south the official parking area for this part of the forest. The gate was locked on the day that I went. There is parking for 20 or so cars, depending on how many are trailering their dirt bikes. There was one other car at the trailhead where I parked, and a third car would not be able to fit. It looks like common practice to park along the roads in this area, and there were probably 6 or 7 cars parked along Bell Rock Road. There are about 6 other parking areas for access as shown on the Mass DNR trail map. I used the Alltrails app to select the hike and to get directions to the parking area, and I highly recommend it. I use the free version and it has been fine so far.

I’ll admit I had a little anxiety about hiking in this area. It’s huge area and looking at the Mass DNR trail map it looked like the area is crisscrossed with trails going in all directions. It made it really hard to figure out a loop ahead of time. Turns out I was correct to be worried, and it was much worse than I thought. The map I downloaded would have been useless to carry for navigation. The route that I followed was marked alternatively with blue paint hashes on the trees, blue triangles with a hiker symbol, white circles stating bioreserve loop trail (20 mi!) and a blue water drop on them, and square numbered bioreserve areas. There were many unmarked trails of varying sizes. One of the problems with areas that allow dirt bikes is that they frequently cut new trails. I looked down at my app every 10 minutes or so to make sure that I was still on track, and even so I had to backtrack several times to stay on my loop.

I saw 2 mountain bikers while I was out there, and no other people. This area would be a blast to bike around on a mountain bike. A patch kit and a pump would be important because there is nothing for miles, and it could be a very long walk back to your car dragging a bike. I saw some deer and heard some gunshots, so orange is a must in this area. It is actively hunted although I didn’t see any tree stands. It was very quiet. I could hear distant road noise when I stopped, but it was definitely in the background. I’m sure the noise is unbearable when the dirt bikes are running.

Backtracking slowed me down so I wasn’t able to get back to my car until an hour after sunset. It was dark. I also got a later start than I should have, and it started raining. I left my waterproof jacket in the car because I didn’t think it was going to rain and I also forgot my flashlight. Luckily I had an external charger for my phone and thankfully it has a light on it. If I didn’t have that light, I wouldn’t have been able to stay on the trail in the dark.  Running the app actively during a hike kills my battery, and if I didn’t have the app running and a light, I wouldn’t have been able to find my way back to my car. I would have had to have someone with a light to come out and rescue me. It was lightly raining, and although 50 degrees is very warm for January I could have easily become hypothermic had I stopped for too long. I did have matches in my pack so I could have started a fire if I couldn’t go on, but it would have been tough to get it going with the rain.

Did I relearn some lessons that I already should know? Heck yeah.

• Start earlier.
• Check gear. I should have brought my hat and gloves too, they were in the car.
• Bring flashlight if ANY chance of getting back after sunset.
• Bring raincoat if it’s cloudy.
• Stick is good. I’ve never been a walking stick guy. I had one on this hike, and it came in very handy as I got tired at the end. I was able to catch myself as I stumbled around in the dark.

It’s a good reminder to have some disaster plan stuff ahead of time. Letting someone know where you’re going and when to expect you back, small space blanket packed, matches, pocketknife, first aid kit, that sort of thing. Most of the small areas that I’ve been hiking you’re fine wandering out of your car in your flop-flops regardless of conditions, but this area is no joke, and you should be prepared. There is NOTHING for miles and miles.