14 LYNN WOODS HIKE

KEY AT-A-GLANCE INFORMATION

LENGTH: 4.96 miles

CONFIGURATION: Loop

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate

SCENERY: Miles of woods, scores of vernal pools, pristine Walden Pond, and view of Boston from a rocky peak

EXPOSURE: Mostly shaded except on peaks, where the trail is in full sun

TRAFFIC: Light to moderate

TRAIL SURFACE: Packed earth, some rocky slopes

HIKING TIME: 2.5–3 hours

SEASON: Year-round sunrise–sunset

ACCESS: Free

MAPS: Available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the reservation; Friends of Lynn Woods also provides maps on the organization’s Web site, www.flw.org.

FACILITIES: Picnic tables and an amphitheater where open-air concerts are held in the summer

WHEELCHAIR TRAVERSABLE: Pennybrook Road and the many other gravel cart roads are traversable by scooters and other motorized wheelchairs; however, the other trails included in this hike are not.

DRIVING DISTANCE FROM BOSTON COMMON: 11 miles

Lynn Woods Hike

UTM Zone (WGS84) 19T

Easting: 336703

Northing: 4704645

Latitude: N 42° 28' 37"

Longitude: W 70° 59' 12"

Directions

From Boston, take US 1 north to the Walnut Street exit in Saugus, then head east on Walnut Street into Lynn. After 2 miles, at a blinking light turn left onto Pennybrook Road. Follow Pennybrook Road to its end to reach the parking area.

IN BRIEF

In the course of circumnavigating the Lynn Woods Reservation this hike travels over rugged hiking trails and 17th-century oxcart roads to the top of Mount Moriah, the sweeping shore of Walden Pond, and the fault zone of Tomlin’s Swamp.

DESCRIPTION

A glorious 2,200-acre oasis within the built-up City of Lynn, these woods were declared common land by English settlers in 1629. Turned over to private ownership in 1702, when the townspeople voted to divide the land among the town’s landowners, the woods were gradually made public again after 1881 when a group of activists intent on creating a park organized to purchase lots.

From the parking lot, hike up the driveway to the special-needs camp. A blue arrow painted on a rock points to the trailhead to the right of the cul-de-sac located behind the buildings. At the immediate fork in the woods, take the green trail to the left and continue westward up a rocky slope.

Widening as it rounds Cedar Hill, the trail passes a granite outcropping just before a short path to the hilltop. Have a look, or better yet, pass this detour by, since the view from Cedar Hill is of nothing but trees. To reach a superior view, proceed northwest from intersection B7-5.

Where Cedar Hill meets Mount Moriah, stay to the left to continue on the green trail heading north. After crossing a ridge strewn with rock cut, carried, and spewed by glacial action, the trail bears left at a two-way split.

Beyond a basin piled high with blocks of granite, the trail ascends up a gravel-laced incline. Surfacing on flat ground once again the trail then runs relatively free of stone cover to another two-pronged fork marked B6-3. Together these paths form a ring around Mount Moriah. To reach the hilltop by the more circuitous of the routes, opt for the path to the left.

Making its way around the peak, the trail dips to wetland then levels at a sort of causeway. Granite cliffs loom from one side, and blueberry bushes concealing bog and vernal pools, from the other.

Descending past oaks interspersed with white pine and tender birch saplings, the trail swings east at junction B5-4, bending around a tree charred by lightning. On the right, Mount Moriah stares down like a Cheshire cat, and blueberry bushes chilled to purple by autumn air crowd in. Arcing around the peak, the trail, now marked with blue, crosses a sheet of granite then rises to a plateau where, in autumn, oak trees the color of flames all but singe the soft green of pine and moss.

Beyond a pool, the trail splits in two yet again. At this junction, AB5-2, the dark-blue trail veers to the left, and the (reappearing) green trail curves right. Follow the green trail through a grove of spindly beech to junction B5-3, which lies just beyond. This section of trail, which winds south along the side of Mount Moriah is edged with carefully laid stone and, being well above treetops, provides an excellent vantage point. Birders will lose all sense of time as they catch sight of hooded warblers, golden crowned kinglets, and other less-seen species. During fall migration, from late August to early December, raptors coast by taking advantage of powerful wind currents.

For a 360-degree view of the surroundings, turn right on a short path ahead and scale the last few yards to the top of Mount Moriah. Boston’s skyline on the northwest horizon is hard to miss.

To continue the hike, double back to the green trail, bearing right to descend southward. Upon reaching an intersection, turn left and follow this short linking trail to its end on Pennybrook Road. Leaving rocky elevations for a spell, turn left to pick up this centuries-old cart road.

Built for draft animals to haul out timber, this wide road tips gently toward the bridge for which it was named. About 0.25 miles on, at a broad intersection, Walden Pond Road departs to the left, heading for Saugus. Continue straight, following Pennybrook Road to where it meets a stream spanned by a fieldstone bridge. Long ago, all who crossed were charged a fee of one penny.

Stay on the cart road as it travels along Pennybrook’s tall banking beneath the overreaching branches of maples, hickories, and hemlocks. In 1634, after an exploratory trip to the New World and Lynn, in particular, an Englishman named William Wood published a book recounting what he had found. In this book, titled New England Prospects, Wood writes exuberantly about Lynn’s water and forests. By his description, the water from the streams was “far different from the waters of England, being done so sharp but of fatter substance, and a more jettie color, it is thought there can be no better water in the world.” Enraptured by the trees in the forests, he recorded, in a cheerful rhyme, both the name of each species and its attributes or uses. Noting more than oak and pine, Wood wrote, “Within this Indian Orchard fruits be some, The ruddie Cherrie and the jettie Plumbe, Snake muthering Hazell, with the sweet Saxaphrage.”

Farther along the brook, the road’s grade steepens. Soon, hemlocks gripped tight to a precipitous slope hide the water below. Shortly, however, the magnificent Walden Pond comes into view.

Before meeting the water, Pennybrook Road bends eastward. Where it commits to the new direction, a sign alerts visitors to dos and don’ts and arrows point left and right. Here take the Pennybrook Trail (B4-3), marked with blue, which dips immediately to the pond. Clear across, far enough off to look like a toy, a railroad line makes a silhouette against the sky and water.

Lightly enscribed, as if made by a wandering deer, the slender Pennybrook Trail traces a sketchy route beside the pond. Blue markers are at times hard to find, but with the water’s edge to guide, there’s no losing the trail. At a little over 0.5 miles, diagonally across from a water tower protruding from trees on the opposite bank, Tracy Trail diverts to upland. Leave the lapping waters of Walden Pond here and follow this new route south to where it soon joins Great Woods Road. Turning left onto this cart road, hike on to the second path to the right, D5-6.

Zigzagging west to east, navigating Burrill Hill’s granite ghosts of the last Ice Age, the trail emerges after 0.25 miles at the foot of a 48-foot tower. Although it looks medieval, this fieldstone fire lookout was built in 1936 under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). At 285 feet, Burrill Hill is Lynn’s highest point.

With the tower to the left, hike 0.1 mile downhill on the cart road (Cooke Road) to Boulder Trail. For 0.36 miles, this sliver of a trail meanders through a garden of granite vagrants dropped here by the Wisconsin ice sheet. At the trail’s end, bear left back onto Cooke Road, then right at junction C6-3. From here, hike left, traveling downhill to pass the Undercliff Path before reaching a stream trickling toward Tomlin’s Swamp. Climbing from the wetland, the trail traverses Waycross Road to connect with Pennybrook Road. Follow the cart road 100 yards or so south to return to the parking lot.

Note: Many seasonal events are hosted at the reservation. Program information is provided at www.lynnma.net/community/lynnwoods; additional information can be found at www.flw.org.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

A hike at Lynn Woods combines wonderfully well with a visit to Salem. Three attractions especially worth visiting are: The Salem Witch Museum (19-1/2 Washington Square, Salem; [978] 744-1692); the House of Seven Gables, made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book by the same name (115 Derby Street, Salem; [978] 744-0991); and the Peabody Essex Museum (East India Square, Salem; [978] 745-9500 or [866] 745-1876; hearing impaired [978] 740-3649; program reservations: ext. 3011).