Cranberry Pool Path, B3-23, & Nearby Trails (Middlesex Fells Reservation)
Hike Type: Figure 8-ish Loop
Distance: 3.05 miles
Elevation: 266 feet
Time: 1 hour, 1 minute
Hiking Challenges: N/A
Hiking Challenges: N/A
The Hike
Back to the Fells to (unfortunately) continue to work on hiking all the trails! I never thought I'd get interested in actually doing it, and who knows if I'll ever finish, but it's nice to have a goal to work on while I'm waiting for the sunset to make it's way back to 5pm again so I can return to the Blue Hills after school. It was the day of my school's winter chorus concert, so I had a just a couple hours to kill. I went back to the Long Pond parking area, now with a traced map of trails I've hiked, and I was off!
There were more people out than on Tuesday, which made sence because it was sunny and 30 degrees with only a slight breeze. I made my way to the Cranberry Pool Path, which I was surprised to learn I hadn't hiked before. I hit the spur to basically somebody's back yard at B3-11, and then continued to follow the yellow-blazed path (feauturing some older pink blazes) to an unnamed trail.
I came across a few informational kiosks on Cranberry Pool Path that I had never seen before:
#12: Slickenside - Long Pond Nature Trail
On the large rock ledge in front of you, look for a patch of shiny, bottle-green rock at eye height and two by four feet in size. This is the slickenside. Pressure and movement resulted in [unclear] heat that the structure of the rock changed. The slickenside is an example of metamorphic rock, a type of rock which has been changed from one crystalline form to another. The green color in this clickenside comes from the mineral epidote.
From this final station, retrace your steps to the Long Pond Parking Lot where you began. If, instead of beginning at the Long Pond Parking Lot, you started the trail from Hillcrest Parkway and are halfway through your walk, now continue along this trail to Station #1 near the Long Pond Parking Lot.
#11: Vernal Pool - Long Pond Nature Trail
Please stay on the trail because these pools, and the areas around them, support fragile life forms.
Vernal pools are small ponds that usually dry up in summer, have no fish, and are used as breeding areas by creature that do not use permanent ponds. Another difference from permanent ponds is that most food chains of the vernal pool are based on dead leaves rather than green plants. Fairy shrimp, mole salamanders, and wood frogs require a vernal pool, where the absence of fish allows them to breed successfully. Before the pool dries up, wood frog tadpoles and salamander larvae must develop sufficiently to move to the surrounding woods where they spend most of their lives. Some creatures, such as dragonflies, caddisfly larvae, and mosquito larvae, are found in both vernal pools and year-round pools.
#10: Secret Woodland Garden - Long Pond Nature Trail
In the 1970s, this was an open rocky ledge with plant growth just beginning after a fire. Notice how many young pines have gained a foothold on the rocky ledge since the fire. Climb the rock ledge and part the young white pine branches to find the Secret Woodland Garden.
On this shady knoll, you fill find rocks carpeted by lichens and soft green moss. Lichen, a plant which can grow on bare rock, is composed of two cooperating organisms: fungi, providing shelter, and algae, producing food by photosynthesis. The lovely green mosses reproruce by spores and absorb moisture and photosynthesize through their tiny leaves. Above the miniature green branches you may see small spires containing spores. As time passes, it will be harder and harder to find the lichen and moss which were the first plants to cologize this ledge after the fire.
I worked my way back to Wyman Path and then followed a long old road, which was well-packed up to B3-16, and then more like sand for the remainder. I hiked past what I believe is the Stoneham/Winchester town marker, and then made my way to the trail at B3-23, which was clearly less-traveled.
I maneuvered back to Nanepashemet Road and followed the Mountain Bike Trail to B4-10, and then followed the trail around to B4-13, which was back to the sandy snow. At this point, I was moving faster becuase 1) I was starving and needed to pick up my food and 2) I needed to get back to school to set up. I followed the Mountain Bike Trail back to Molly's Spring Road, past a few dogs (with a human), and came across two older men metal detecting around the parking lot right at the end... fascinating!
Step-by-Step
- Park at Long Pond.
- Follow yellow blazes to Molly's Spring Road.
- At Molly's Spring Road, turn left.
- At B4-2, turn right onto Cranberry Pool Path.
- At B3-11, turn right onto path.
- At terminus, turn around.
- At Be-11, turn left onto Cranberry Pool Path.
- After B3-8, turn right onto Wyman Path.
- At B3-2, turn left onto path.
- At B3-1, turn right onot trail.
- At B2-1, turn righ tonto trail.
- At B3-3, turn left onto Wyman Path.
- At B3-4, turn right onto path.
- At B4-7, turn around.
- At B3-23, turn left onto trail.
- At B3-22, turn left onto Skyline Trail.
- At B3-21, turn left onto Nanepashemet Road.
- At B4-10, turn left onto trail.
- At B4-11, turn around.
- At B4-10, turn left onto trail.
- At B4-13, turn right onto Skyline Trail.
- At B4-12, turn right onto Mtn. Bike Trail.
- At B4-5, turn left onto Molly's Spring Road.
- Return to car.
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