Not today, Destruction! Parson’s Reserve and walk on the beach.

TLDR: Destruction Brook Woods was WAY too crowded, redirected to Parson’s Reserve. 32 acres with about a mile and a half of hiking trails in excellent condition. Open daily dawn to dusk. Dogs allowed. Views of Destruction Brook throughout the hike. In the spring the area has a few acres of daffodils to enjoy, I’ll definitely be back for that! Hit Lloyd Demarest for a walk on the beach after and discovered Wylde Reserve by accident.

Destruction Brook Woods has been on my list for a while, and I was planning to hike that one today. When I reached the parking lot it was completely full, with people just getting out of cars with dogs and kids, and more cars trying to pull in. One person even parked on the street as I was leaving. I decided that I really wasn’t in the mood for that sort of circus. I probably never am. I’m really going into the woods for peace and quiet, not to chat with other hikers. I left and headed down the road to decide on another hike.

I parked at a pull-off called Russel’s Mills and it had a sign to read so I couldn’t resist. Seems that it’s famous for launching a whaling ship that sank pretty quickly on its first voyage. Yay! With a calm spot to clear my head and my AllTrails app I found the closest spot to hike, Parson’s Reserve. It’s a little short, but I had wasted a bit of time at Destruciton Brook, so this one seemed good for today.

If I had looked It up ahead of time it would have been clearer, but it was a little confusing showing up there unprepared. Parking is at Russel’s Mills Landing at 50 Horseneck Rd. and the trailhead is a short walk to the North of there. The sign says parking for Russel’s Mills landing only, but the DNRT website instructs you to park there for access to the Parson’s Reserve trail, so it must be OK. Russel’s Mills landing has a playground and a tennis court, so if you’ve got kids this would be awesome to get them on a short hike and then let them play ion the swings after. It looks like a good place to launch a boat, and the Buzzards Bay Coalition has it on their website, so it’s probably OK to park your car and go for a paddle. I’m definitely going to do that one of these days.

This isn’t a big area so you can hear the road noise pretty much throughout, but they aren’t super busy roads, so it didn’t really detract from the experience. I came across a group of 3 hikers and a dog walker. Not too crowded for a warm day for February. The hikers were talking pretty loudly, and because the area isn’t big, I could hear them a few times during my hike. The main reason to visit this property is the daffodil beds. There’s an area within the reserve that is several acres that is completely covered in Daffodils in the spring. I’ll definitely return for that.

I had a little daylight left so I headed to Demarest Lloyd State Park to walk on the beach, technically not a hike I suppose, but I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about stumbling around in the dark. It’s closed for the season (the gate had no lock!) but people commonly park at the entrance and walk the half-mile to the beach. It was pretty cobbley today, but the beach is usually nice and sandy in the summer. My kids always liked it because you can walk really far out, and it doesn’t get deep. Massachusetts State Parks cranked up their out-of-state rates to 40 bucks a day so I’m less likely to go there during the open season now. On the way out I turned around at the end of Barney’s Joy Road and stumbled across Wylde Reserve which is another DNRT property. It looks really tiny and there was no parking lot but is worth a look one of these days. It wasn’t on my map or app so it must be a secret. Shhhh.