49 CEDAR HILL TO SAWINK FARM LOOP

KEY AT-A-GLANCE INFORMATION

LENGTH: 8 miles

CONFIGURATION: Out-and-back with two loops

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate

SCENERY: The reserve’s nearly 2,000 acres include abandoned farmland, deciduous woodland, and a drumlin next to a magnificent swamp. Birds of 38 species, including ruffed grouse, willow flycatcher, and a variety of warblers, nest on the property.

EXPOSURE: Mostly shaded

TRAFFIC: Light

TRAIL SURFACE: Packed earth, grass; boardwalks through wetland

HIKING TIME: 3 hours

SEASON: Year-round sunrise–sunset

ACCESS: Free

MAPS: Available at trailhead, at the Northborough town hall, and at the Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Web site: www.sudburyvalleytrustees.org

FACILITIES: None

WHEELCHAIR TRAVERSABLE: No

DRIVING DISTANCE TO BOSTON COMMON: 35 miles

Cedar Hill to Sawink Farm Loop

UTM Zone (WGS 84) 19T

Easting: 284730

Northing: 4686933

Latitude: N 42° 18' 18"

Longitude: W 71° 36' 42"

Directions

From Boston, take Interstate 90 west (portions of which are toll roads). Drive 27.5 miles, then merge onto I-495 north via Exit 11A toward Marlborough. Continue 2.7 miles before merging onto MA 9 west via Exit 23B toward Worcester. After 2.5 miles turn right onto Lyman Street. The parking lot is on the left.

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IN BRIEF

This hike travels within the borders of three towns—Northborough, Marlborough, and Westborough—crossing two abandoned farms, several drumlins, numerous streams, and a magnificent, species-rich swamp.

DESCRIPTION

From the parking lot, walk toward Lyman Street to find the Little Chauncy Trail trailhead on the left. Crossing through an abandoned farm, the flat grassy path skirts a convex meadow on the last high ground above Little Chauncy Pond. In past decades the cloven hooves of ambling cows kept this flood zone clear, now flourishing purple loosestrife and cattail grow like a bushy brow above the unblinking eye of water.

Volunteer members of Northborough and Westborough trails organizations installed a boardwalk here to provide hikers and mountain bikers passage. Not the fine grazing ground for Guernsey heifers it once was, the field has been usurped by milkweed, goldenrod, joe-pye weed, Queen Anne’s lace, burdock, thistle, and hairy vetch. Today the tweed of weeds feeds a great diversity of vibrant birds and bugs from goldfinches, and bobolinks to cicadas and monarch butterflies.

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Three quarters of the way along the pond, the trail climbs from the meadow into pinewoods. Follow the plentiful trail markers as they weave through enormous creaking trees, jackknife around a boulder, and head eastward. In spots the very abundance of markers makes for confusion. For clarity, keep your sights on the triangular red tags initialed “N” for Northborough, and continue eastward, staying to the left at a junction at the crown of the wood.

Easing downhill, the trail leads southeast 200 yards or so past an aspen grove to Lyman Street. To cross, stay with the trail as it bends to the left and forges its way through a tunnel.

Emerging into a thicket of maples rooted in a seasonal floodplain, the trail crosses a field over a low-slung boardwalk passing rapturous grapevines laden with purple fruit smelling like a child’s sticky kiss. In the heat of a late summer day, the altitude at waist level is dense with zooming dragonflies.

Leaving the field, the trail (here called Talbot Trail) ascends into woods composed of white pine, oak, and a good number of birches, and shortly comes to a two-way junction. Bear right to continue on Talbot Trail, and when the trail splits again a short distance on, bear left. Skirting the peak of the hill, the trail cuts a narrow route through pasture consumed by Norway maples and other opportunistic species. Ahead it passes an amoral line of barbed-wire fencing. The still-taut wire pinches the fleshy girth of trees caught against it, scarring them.

As Talbot Trail continues across the slope, it passes a steep trail shooting straight to a water tower on the hilltop. Changing its trajectory, the trail then bends to meet Cole Trail ascending from the west. At this junction bear right to stay with Talbot Trail, now aimed toward a hemlock-shaded brook at the base of the drumlin called Cedar Hill. Once across the sturdy bridge built by local Eagle Scouts, follow the trail up a sandy pitch to a three-way split. Here Plantation Trail and Chestnut Trail bow off to the right, and Cedar Hill Trail branches left. Choose the latter and hike northward onto land protected by the Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT).

Scruffy and neglected looking, this domed former pastureland is anything but. Like a Paris fashion with exposed seams or an odd cut, this hillside jumbled with weeds, unpruned fruit trees, and assorted shrubs has tremendous, if not readily apparent, value. Successional-shrub habitats such as this, created when farmland is abandoned to natural forces, are vital to a substantial number of endangered plant and animal species. In fact, the unkempt state of these 12 acres is not just intentional but carefully planned and managed. Thanks to these efforts, alert hikers might be lucky enough to see golden-winged warblers, eastern meadowlarks, brown thrashers, or American kestrels winging by. Coyotes, red fox, and not-so-shy bobcats also prowl the hillside’s thickets.

From the summit of Cedar Hill, follow the mowed path north among the goldenrod, traveling downhill to reenter the woods. Pine and cedar trees frame the way, and as the trail turns northeast, birch and wizened apple trees fill in. Negotiating loosened rocks and arm-thick roots distracts, but there’s plenty to see, including garter snakes on the hunt for toads and edible mushrooms such as the tasty hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa).

Ahead, at a junction, bear left to continue on Cedar Hill Trail. As the topography gradually levels to Crane Swamp, the trail bends around a glacial erratic the size of an elephant calf and as flat as a plains state. Beyond this, a sign points right, directing the trail under hemlock boughs on into pines shadowed by sugar maples.

After catching a glimpse of the crane nesting ground to the right, the path mounts a boardwalk to cross a stream and its overflow. Leaving this, the northern edge of Crane Swamp, the trail spills into a generous meadow sowed with 25 native wildflower species. In August the purple of the asters juxtaposed with the gold of goldenrod and the dazzling orange of monarch butterflies is gorgeously garish.

North of this rich oasis of life and color, the trail reaches a train track and the town borders of Northborough and Marlborough. Follow the trail as it bends northeast, staying south of the track. Within a few yards, the idyllically pastoral look and feel of the place is supplanted by an entirely different aesthetic and mood, for lying dead ahead, across a paved utility road, is a newly constructed water-treatment facility.

Crane Swamp Trail runs over the pavement, hugging the wooded edge of the wetland to a junction marked both with an SVT sign and the “N” of the Northborough Trail Association. If mosquitoes are biting and time short, bear left to loop directly back to Cedar Hill; otherwise continue straight to pick up the Connector Trail that leads to Sawink Farm.

From this fork the trail runs south within spitting distance of the ziggurat-shaped water-treatment plant ingeniously disguised with native plants. Solid like a mountain with an internal spring, the monolith holds 3.6 million gallons of water.

Beyond the earthen tower, the Connector Trail continues alongside Crane Swamp through lush clover, passing a pond bulldozed to a tear shape. Farther on a sign points the way south over a small bridge. Here the land is once more untouched, or rather, untouched since its last days as a working farm.

To the left is a grove of pine set on upland and to the right a dense wood of young birch and beech. Traveling south between the two, the trail soon meets a stone wall and bends uphill to follow it. Hemlock boughs dim the light along this stretch, scenting the air with the essence of pure antiquity. Where the incline levels, the trail bears right and passes through a parting in the wall to arrive at the start of Sawink Loop.

In 1762 Edmund Brigham cut trees here and hauled stone to establish one of Westborough’s first farms. Ownership changed over time, but the farm stayed in production into the tail end of the last century. After World War II, when farming was beginning to consolidate into the Midwest, Michael Sawink gave up the 35-acre tip of his farm in Northborough to the Sudbury Valley Trustees to ensure it would never be developed. With help from Lawrence Walkup, another local farmer, the SVT saved another 66 acres lying to the south in Westborough.

To circumnavigate these 101 acres, hike southeast on the path to the left of the sign. Traveling within the confines of a stone-wall grid, the trail jogs to the northeast between epic sugar maples. Certainly a good many steaming stacks of pancakes were dribbled with syrup boiled down from the sap of these trees. Giant pines that somehow escaped ax and saw stand in with the maples.

Ahead where the trail eases downhill, red Xs painted on stones mark the way. If you are hiking between August and October watch carefully here for the terrific blue of the flowering bottle gentian (Gentiana clausa).

Shortly the trail passes a meadow on the right and leads to a dirt road straight ahead. To proceed on Sawink Loop, cross the drive to the old pear orchard that now serves as a parking lot for the Sawink Farm Reservation. From the SVT kiosk exit onto the paved road and hike south 100 yards or so to the trailhead on the right.

The western side of Sawink Loop Trail, travels gently uphill over interwoven roots and flat stepping-stones, to reach a plateau with houses built on a cul-de-sac. From here it turns northward and descends steeply to hemlock-sheltered wetlands. Pink markers indicate the way along this section recently cleared with the help of a Westborough Boy Scout troop. After navigating the wetland rather erratically through a convergence of stone walls, the trail climbs back onto dry ground. Passing sisters of the sugar maples seen earlier, the trail soon returns to the start of Sawink Loop.

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From this spot, follow the Connector Trail to its end at the water-treatment plant. At the trail junction, turn left to pick up Crane Swamp Trail heading south. Forming a straight causeway across the dense swamp, the trail leads back to the eastern side of Cedar Hill. Where the hillside meets the swamp, divert onto Plantation Trail heading northwest. After crossing a small steel bridge, the narrow path makes a crooked run up the side of the hill to rejoin a section of Cedar Hill Trail, hiked earlier. Bear left at this fork and retrace your footsteps back to the parking lot on Lyman Street.