Swift River Reservation

Sunday October 20

It's another beautiful fall day.  However today, we only have a small slot of time this afternoon between finishing one gig in the morning and having another gig at 6pm.  So we turn to Betsy's Nature Walks book, not to be confused with Steve's Hiking books.  To get us going, Betsy saves the normal time spent at the scanner copying the hike description and map, choosing the more expedient method of separating the required pages from the their binding (i.e. "It's my book.", she reasons).

Our hiking destination is the Swift River Reservation, one of 3 tracks of land in Petersham, MA owned by The Trustees of Reservations.  Listed at 1.75 miles long to take only 1:15, we will have ample time for our walk even with the 45 minute ride out there.  Actually, I remember that Nathaniel & I have already done this hike in the winter with snowshoes.  It will look different today without snow.

Start of hike. Sorry for the tree in the way.  You can see how deep blue the sky is through the woods behind us.

The trail winds along the Swift River.  It looks like the beavers have been busy here.

You can see this gate on the map, above.  The tall hemlocks look like the walls of a grand cathedral.

This is the "scenic view" on the hike.  When we get to this kind of "scenic view", it means we need to buy a new book:  the "scenic view" is now gone because the edition of the book we are using is too old.

Sneaking a little further up the trail, we did actually find a nice view (thankfully the leaves have fallen).

The moss on this rock was very thick.  Our feet sank about an inch stepping on it.

"Where's the trail?"  This really was a problem.  The trail blazes were few and far between.  With the fresh coat of fallen leaves, staying on the trail was a challenge.

Does "X" really mark the spot?  Maybe so.  These trees crossed right in our path, as we're nearing the end of the hike.

Across the road (Highway 32), is Connor Pond.  Below the dam to the left is the Swift River.

Above the dam, the water is placid and reflects the lovely fall colors.

Even taking our time, our hike took barely an hour.  It proves you can always sneak in a little Sunday afternoon hike if you try.