Two (2) Surprises for Me in the Woods Today!

[HikerAmiga]

On the southern tip of the Blue Hills Reservation (in Massachusetts) are several ponds: Houghton's Pond and a much larger one called, Ponkapoag Pond. Today I started off on the Ponkapoag Trail and circled around this scenic 4.1 mile pond which loops under pines and passes by a rare Atlantic white cedar bog purportedly home to 17 endangered species which I can attest to noticing a few of these trees, plants and vines and marvelling at their uniqueness!

SURPRISE #2: During my hike I came upon an area with many rustic looking cabins and I wondered about them especially since there was a sign referring to them as "AMC Cabins" and I wasn't aware that the AMC owned cabins in this reservation. Upon returning home I checked these out on the AMC website and learned that they actually have 20 cabins for year round use for rent! Imagine, rustic cabins right near a pond and just 15 miles from Boston! Details about these AMC cabins are here: http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/cabins/camps-ponkapoag.cfm

SURPRISE #1: I have to share with you that my walk/hike this afternoon started off on a surprising note!! Very close to the trailhead on Blue Hill River Road and off into the woods, I spotted this while driving along: I had to stop and check it out and can only wonder how this poor animal met it's demise?

 

[PeterM]

HikerAmiga-

hey - thanks looks like a hike I should try sometime :- ))

you didn't mention that the boardwalk out thru the cedar swamp has been washed out by Thursdays rain - maybe its been repaired, but Friday when I did this hike I wasn't in the mood to go swimming.

I'll put an email to one of the rangers I met on the Nov 5th skyline hike & see if / when it might get repaired. This looks to be one of the "special places" I have as favorites in all of my past 2 years of hiking & nice its close by.

Yes the AMC cabins are a nice local resource. $30 for a winter weekend!

 

[una_dogger]

Wow that poor deer.

Sometimes they get hit by cars and wander until they die.

Ditto for wounded deer during hunting season (not sure if there is hunting there).

I guess it could also be natural causes.

Glad you had a nice hike.

 

[HikerAmiga]

HikerAmiga-

hey - thanks looks like a hike I should try sometime :- )

I guess I should thank Peter for enticing me to do Ponkapoag as he had invited me to do this one with him on Friday but I missed him at the trailhead by about 5 minutes or so. Today I decided to venture out on my own and have my own little adventure there.

Thanks Peter!!

 

[Papa Bear]

On the southern tip of the Blue Hills Reservation (in Massachusetts) are several ponds: Houghton's Pond and a much larger one called, Ponkapoag Pond. Today I started off on the Ponkapoag Trail and circled around this scenic 4.1 mile pond which loops under pines and passes by a rare Atlantic white cedar bog purportedly home to 17 endangered species which I can attest to noticing a few of these trees, plants and vines and marvelling at their uniqueness!
...

Years ago (in the 1950s) our scout troop used to camp out at some cabins near there owned by the Quincy Council BSA (I forget where they were exactly) and each trip we would hike around Ponkapoag Pond including what we called the "log trail". It was basically a trail through the cedar bog built on puncheons and was decaying at the time. You could pretty much assume you'd be wet when you went through there.

Is there any sign or even a memory of this trail there today?

 

[bobandgeri]

I (Bob) spent many Summers at a cabin on Ponkapoag Pond when I was 10 - 15 years old. Back then most of the cabins were rented for the entire Summer. We'd canoe from the cabins to the bog across the pond and explore on the boardwalks. The trails also hooked up to horse trails and a nearby farm that rented horses by the hour.

 

[rocksnrolls]

There's a nice little group of trails to the east of Ponkapoag Pond too, if you don't mind the sound of the all-too-close highways...

 

[Barry Sr]

I stopped today as well to check out wether it was good or not.
Someone had sawed off the antlers. It was a car hit when I examined it further.

 

[HikerAmiga]

I stopped today as well to check out wether it was good or not. Someone had sawed off the antlers. It was a car hit when I examined it further.

As if it weren't bad enough that the poor animal was hit by a car and eventually died, someone had to also come by and saw off its antlers to further desecrate it??

 

[chuck]

You can still hop your way over the puncheons. The boardwalk is one of the best blueberry picking spots in the area.
There are nice stands of Atlantic white cedar on the east side of rt 24 in I think Randolph and down further south... north of Lake Nippenicket also nice stands of really big (wooly free) Hemlocks. Going south on rt24 before 495 on the right side (west) biggest stand of White cedar around (somewhat protected in the Hockomock WMA but there is now construction nearby). On the east side of the lake there is an area of very large laurel bushes that are now trees it looks funny in the winter because besides the normal pines there are these laurel trees with green on top looking tropical like compared to all the bare oaks and maples. West of that area into the Hockomock swamp nice old stands of Beeches a few comparable to those found of Dicey Mill trail (Sleeper Bowl) and lots of Hickories. Also found one giant red cedar so old and big that the whole trunk has smoothed out it is by itself near another stand of white cedar.

 

[NYBRAD]

As if it weren't bad enough that the poor animal was hit by a car and eventually died, someone had to also come by and saw off its antlers to further desecrate it??

What? You've never had Antler Soup...... You don't know what you’re missing

Hunters use them to "Rattle in" bucks, or more often to fabricate a story about the buck they shot.

At least they only took the antlers. I've seen the whole head sawed off
I’ve heard the penis is a delicacy in some parts..........

 

[HAMTERO]

Many Deer

There are many deer there. I see 5 or more together when I am riding my MTB there as dusk. Big Owls too, swooping down on critters. I have seen deer in the Middlesex Fells too but only singles.

 

[arghman]

On the southern tip of the Blue Hills Reservation (in Massachusetts) are several ponds: Houghton's Pond and a much larger one called, Ponkapoag Pond. Today I started off on the Ponkapoag Trail and circled around this scenic 4.1 mile pond which loops under pines and passes by a rare Atlantic white cedar bog purportedly home to 17 endangered species which I can attest to noticing a few of these trees, plants and vines and marvelling at their uniqueness!

I'd heard about Ponkapoag before & have wanted to meander around there sometime; it's good to keep hearing reasons to go there.