By Erik Boyer, Director of Field Operations

Wildlands’ Stewardship Staff and volunteers have been hard at work this fall! A couple highlights include the new trail constructed at our Halfway Pond Conservation Area, and new access to Sylvester Field in Hanover.

*Halfway Pond Conservation Area, Plymouth*

This past August, we began construction on 1.7 miles of new trail at Halfway Pond. Many thanks to a volunteer group from the Sierra Club, who worked alongside Wildlands staff and volunteers to begin this project. We completed the trail this fall with the help of volunteers from REI Hingham. The new trail, “Leona’s Loop,” is named after one of the founding members of Wildlands Trust, Leona Asker. Leona’s Loop connects to Gramp’s Loop and essentially creates a figure eight, providing hikers the opportunity to hike a nearly 4-mile loop. The trail, best accessed from the southeast corner of Gramp’s Loop, begins with a series of switchbacks to the top of a hill. Then, the trail follows a ridgeline running south, providing beautiful views of Halfway Pond from up high. The trail then jaunts west, traveling through pitch pine barren habitat reminiscent of many portions of Gramp’s Loop. Leona’s Loop then links back up with Gramp’s Loop as it heads north. With this new trail, there is now over 6 miles of single-track trail at Halfway Pond, making the preserve a great stop for those looking to add on the miles!

Sylvester Field in Hanover is now home to a new three-car parking lot, constructed by Richie Ohlund from Ohlund Landscape & Masonry Design. Wildlands staff installed a new preserve sign and trailhead kiosk. The kiosk highlights the agricultural past of the land, as well as the ecological importance of its location on the Third Herring Brook (a tributary of the North River). Sylvester Field did not previously have a parking area, so this construction gives a new audience access to the preserve. There is a 0.3-mile trail that hugs the outside of the field down to a scenic spot on the Third Herring Brook.

By Stewardship Manager Erik Boyer

*Mike Arsenault assists stewardship staff with raking debris from the trail.*

This past September, with the help of nine Adopt-a-Preserve (AAP) volunteers, a new .4-mile trail was created at Pudding Hill Reservation in Marshfield. This project was the vision of AAP volunteer Dodie Frank who has been a steward at Pudding Hill for the past two years.

I met Dodie out at the preserve on a muggy, July morning to bushwhack and flag a new trail from the neighborhood trail entrance off Old Ocean Street to a dead-end trail on the west side of the property. We chose a route that consisted of rolling hills, old stone walls and thick stands of white pine saplings. This new connector turns the .5-mile cross-shaped trail into a 1.1-mile loop with varied topography. Over the course of three days in September, we cut through thick brush, established a rough trail tread, and then regraded sections of the trail to make for easier hiking. We then blazed the path and ensured it was ready for the first guided hike held at the property in mid-October.

Now, thanks to the hard work of many, a visit to Pudding Hill provides for a challenging, wooded, 30-minute hike on the north side of the property and a leisurely, short stroll through a meadow to an overlook spot on Chandlers Pond. I would like to give a special shout out to Dodie for her efforts and to Mike Arsenault, Stephen Connolly, Rob MacDonald, Janine Anderson, Bill Vickstrom, Roger Janson, Marilynn Atterbury and Kevin Walsh for helping out.

Wildlands' Trail Updates

New Trail Configuration at Pudding Hill