29 BALD HILL LOOP

KEY AT-A-GLANCE INFORMATION

LENGTH: 6.53 miles

CONFIGURATION: Loop

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate

SCENERY: Farmland reverted back to woodland, kettle ponds, vernal pools, a massive beaver dam, and the remains of an 18th-century farmstead

EXPOSURE: Mostly shade

TRAFFIC: Light

TRAIL SURFACE: Packed earth, loose gravel, mud, and flooded areas

HIKING TIME: 3 hours

SEASON: Open year-round sunrise–sunset

ACCESS: Free

MAPS: Available from the Boxford Trail Association/Boxford Open Land Trust; 7 Elm Street, P.O. Box 9,5 Boxford, MA 01921, (978) 887-7031, or the Boxford town hall; 7A Spofford Road, Boxford, MA 01931; open 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday–Thursday; (978) 887-6000

FACILITIES: None

SPECIAL COMMENTS: Sturdy water-resistant boots are recommended.

WHEELCHAIR TRAVERSABLE: No

DRIVING DISTANCE FROM BOSTON COMMON: 26 miles

Bald Hill Loop

UTM Zone (WGS84) 19T

Easting: 335780

Northing: 4723988

Latitude: N 42° 39' 04"

Longitude: W 71° 00' 12"

Directions

From Boston, take US 1 north toward Tobin Bridge/Revere. At 15.2 miles, merge onto I-95 north, and continue 6.3 miles to Exit 51. Take Endicott Road toward Topsfield/Middleton. Head west from the exit ramp 0.2 miles. Turn north onto Middleton Road and travel 2.4 miles to the pullout on the left located just beyond a small, white house.

IN BRIEF

This hike circles a great outwash plain of the Wisconsin Glacier and while scaling Bald Hill, passes through an 18th-century farmstead once owned by a veteran of the American Revolution.

DESCRIPTION

There is more to these quiet woods than first meets the eye. Sometime before or after the Wisconsin Glacier bulldozed through, volcanic forces convulsed at Crooked Pond. Drawn by abundant game, sheltering hills, and ponds rippling with fish, people of the Agawam tribe settled here. Colonial farmers came and went, and in the early 1900s the Diamond Match Company literally reduced much of the forest to matchsticks. In 1968 300 acres of the land nearly experienced the sad glory of becoming an antiballistic-missile radar site. A decade earlier Bald Hill survived its own close call when determined locals foiled a development plan. Over time, parcel-by-parcel, collaborative effort saved a total of 1,624 acres.

Start the hike directly behind the parking area on the wide cart road running west into a wooded landscape reminiscent of an unmade bed. At the first junction marked number 19, bear right to continue southwest. Ascending a fold in the earth the trail passes two kettle ponds, one on either side, as it bridges wetland. After winding over and between hillocks in the company of red squirrels and chipmunks, the trail meets up with a weather-loosened stone wall. At an unmarked junction beyond the wall, bear left to descend a rocky but gentle slope.

Upon reaching a clearing stay with the cart road as it undulates northwest. Though not identified by trail markers, the rutted cart road is easy to follow. Passing by more vernal pools and kettle ponds, where rare blue-spotted salamanders and their lungless four-toed brethren Hemidactylium scutatum hide under logs and leaves, the trail meets another stone wall then narrows as it arrives at junction 18. Bear left here and left again at the next split immediately following to continue south.

Proceeding along the edge of an enormous expanse of wetland, the cart road now bordered by stone walls on either side, rolls over waves of earth and stone. Ferns thrive in the understory beneath spindly oaks and vigorous pine saplings. Velveteen moss blankets the rocks underfoot. Coasting down a long slope to intersection number 8, the cart road meets with the Bay Circuit Trail. Bear left here.

Curving southwest along a floodplain, perpetually flooded thanks to industrious beavers, the trail clings to eroding land. Here roots pop from the banking like veins on the back of an old man’s hand. A foot away, water darkened by shadow and oak tannins glistens under bristly bush twigs. The trail then climbs away from the wet and travels along a slope of rocky silt, known in glacial terms as a “kame terrace.” At the crest of this rise two logs laid a foot apart mark where another path splinters off to Middleton. As the trail continues beside a stone wall on a level stretch, and the woods thin, it feels as though there’s more room to breathe.

Gaining momentum as it passes a hemlock grove beside a vernal pool, the trail descends and quickly devolves into muddy chaos. A human’s chaos, however, is a beaver’s order. Immediately to the left a dam constructed of maple, oak, birch, and any other fellable tree stacked on a 20- to 30-foot diagonal and packed with mud, holds back a sheet of water as flat and heavy as rolled steel.

Characteristic of construction sites, the dam has obstructed traffic and altered the pathway. On a bank opposite the mire, the trail climbs back onto upland beneath the boughs of hemlock trees. Continuing uphill in this quieting evergreen wood, the trail comes to a tree marked with two white dashes, an indication that the Bay Circuit Trail is about to change course. Junction 8A follows. At this three-way split, hike straight through, staying on what appears to be one of two branches of the Bay Circuit Trail.

The western slope of Bald Hill lies ahead. Composed of rock, silt, and topsoil squeezed together as two sheets of glacial ice collided, the drumlin amounts to a farmer’s dream since the deep loam supported by layers of rock and gravel is fertile ground with excellent drainage. Beginning in the 18th century, the Gould family took ownership of 50 acres of the hill’s southern slope. In 1784, the land passed into the hands of the Russell family, who in turn sold it—71 years later—to Ebenezer Hooper, a ship captain from Marblehead who, it seems, had had enough of sea faring.

Tracing the hillside between parallel stone walls, the old cart road leads up a gravel slope to a turn indicated by marker number 10, and beyond a pasture. Swing left at the turn to climb northwest to the site of the Hooper family farmhouse. Though the house is gone, the foundation and remnants of the garden remain. Vinca vines still climb the garden steps behind the house, and rhododendrons continue to flower each spring. Across the way is a small meadow where the family cow once grazed. Two or three hundred yards farther up the rugged slope, the trail reaches a mowed field atop Bald Hill.

From the 247-foot peak, follow the track as it bends southeast and descends back into oak woods. At junction 12 bear left and continue northeast. As the trail descends farther water seems to percolate from all sides. And as conditions get wetter more species of ferns appear, along with birches. Sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) and spicebush (Lindera benzoin) give the air a spicy twang. Spicebush wakes the woods in the crisp days of March and April with its greenish-yellow blossoms, and later its leaves nourish the caterpillars of swallowtail butterflies. Late-summer blossoms of white alder or pepperbush attract hummingbirds and honeybees.

Ahead, where a vast pond becomes visible through brush, the trail arrives at junction 13A. Leave the cart road here and bear right onto a lightly etched path heading southeast along the edge of Crooked Pond. Aiming for higher ground, the trail ducks under hemlock cover on the pond’s eastern side, veering wide of the wetland. In the dark woods bereft of underbrush, it can be difficult to be sure of the way. Ignore the arrow pointing uphill to the right and instead continue straight, hiking northeast.

Easing downhill then up again in great sine-wave undulations, the trail meets with several stone walls. On the north side of Crooked Pond, the trail rushes downhill over a streambed. Markers disappear for a spell, but the north-pointing route is easy to follow. By now the pond is starkly visible on the left constrained by upland immediately to the right. From this point on, the true route is anyone’s guess—though before beavers got busy, it probably cut a trajectory farther west across land now covered by water. In any case, use the water as a guide until a marker for Bay Circuit Trail materializes near a stone wall close to the pond. A few feet farther on, there is a blue marker and then a sign posted by the Boxford Wildlife Sanctuary asserting the rights of the beaver. At this junction, bear left to follow Bay Circuit Trail markers as they lead northwest.

Still hugging the expanding pond, the trail aims west then arcs northward to higher ground. At the fork ahead, stay to the right with Bay Circuit Trail to climb away from the pond. After scaling the rocky side of another basin, the trail slips back down to wetland, then, negotiating sloping deposits of sand and gravel, arrives at junction 23. At this split, bear left, staying on Bay Circuit Trail. Junction 22 is just beyond a wet patch crossed by wooden planks; turn right here to continue northeast. Where it approaches a stone wall, the trail bends resolutely east. Ignore an arrow pointing north and stay with the trail until it reaches junction 20A, soon after. Bear left and continue to the fork marked number 20. At this split, turn right and follow the trail north to junction 19. At this final fork, bear right once more to return to the parking lot.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

If the timing is right, consider coordinating your hike with a stop at the county fair. The Topsfield Fair is held every year from the last week in September through the first week in October and is open daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. To reach the fairgrounds from Boxford, take I-95 south to Exit 53 (MA 97). Follow MA 97 south to US 1, then follow US 1 south to the sign on the left. In addition to the fair, the fairground hosts other events year-round. Visit the Web site, www.topsfieldfair.org to view the schedule.