Old Rifle Range
Old Marlboro Rd.
Join wetland scientist John Dick at not cost to retrace the steps of Henry Thoreau. While surveying the Ministerial woodlot, Thoreau encountered a patch of the locally rare (and evergreen) climbing fern, Lygodium palmatum. He added a notation of the site to his field notes for a plan of the parcel, which has since been acquired by the town.
The trail runs along the side of a steep slope, rising and falling in relation to the adjacent wetland, and offering several other species of ferns, as well as remnant shoots of American chestnut. At a cross-trail near the watershed, we will stop to take a compass bearing and go offtrail to visit ‘Thoreau’s fern,” described in an Arnoldia article by Ray Angelo.
Join Us for Breakfast Before Walking!
Make a morning of it, and join John for a pre-walk breakfast at the Belly Buster Diner (306 Boston Rd., Billerica) at 7:30 a.m.!
Directions: There’s a small free parking area at the trailhead (Old Marlboro Rd. near Williams Rd.).
For last-minute changes and to RSVP, please contact: jdick48@comcast.net