Weir Hill

We have the whole day free today.  Betsy would like to do a little Carter's shopping and I would like to get out to take advantage of the sunshine, so we decide to do both.

Not too far from our shopping destination in North Andover is another Trustees property - Weir Hill (pronounced "wire").  I'm supposing that most of the snow has melted or evaporated in the Merrimack Valley, so that's where we're headed.  Hopefully, it won't be too busy on a Sunday morning.  

It's a cold day, but we'll be fine if we dress appropriately.  The high is projected to be in the mid-30's but the wind isn't too bad.

The parking lot is busier than I anticipated.  We bring along our trekking poles just in case.

OK, so there's a little more snow than anticipated.  Actually, this is just a sheet of ice, so we compensate by hugging the edge of the trail.  Yeah, we need those trekking poles.

We arrive at a terrific overlook.  From here, we are able to see Mount Wachusett, Mount Monadnock, and even can glimpse the top of Mount Washington since it is such a clear day.

Betsy gets a little better view standing atop some granite benches.
It's a "blue bird" day, as you can see.

From the map above you can see that this property sits between a pond and and larger lake
that supplies North Andover's with drinking water.  On the pond, there were some people ice fishing.
I loved the shadows cast on the ice from the trees.

There must be a lot of water here in the other seasons.
There were several of these long boardwalks along this trail.

Our walk today was 2.4 miles taking 1:36.  Our elevation gain was 405ft.  Not bad. 

When we finished, we stopped at a nearby farm stand for some treats.  And while Betsy shopped, Steve found a nice place in the sun to catch some rays.  One of the passers-by in the parking lot said that I must be a "professional waiter."  That works for me!