Southern Lawrence Woods Tracing Loop (Middlesex Fells Reservation)
Hike Type: Tracing Loop
Distance: 5.67 miles
Elevation: 427 feet
Time: 2 hours, 13 minutes
Hiking Challenges: 52 Hike Challenge 2026
Hiking Challenges: 52 Hike Challenge 2026
The Hike
It's officially Fool's Spring! Super warm (60s) temperatures in early March. I drove over to the Fells after school and was hoping to finish up the Lawrence Woods section of the reservation, with the liklihood of dreadful rotting snow keeping me grounded. It felt absolutely crazy and wonderful to be hiking in a t-shirt and shorts. I left the snowshoes in the car but brought the spikes - I wouldn't need either of them, but man, I wish I brought the gaiters!
In the first two minutes of my hike I think I hit every possible trail condition (I was wrong, there were going to be more and worse conditions later on) with rotting monorail, dry ground, and mud. The air felt amazing, though! I'd get warm and cold pockets of air, which was very fun. The stream was flowing wonderfully toward Lincoln Road as I crossed a couple of bridges and observed many spur trails that led to private property. There was also a significant amount of dog poop - I'm guessing partially due to the access to private property but also some has likely been in the snow for months now. Every now and then I'd hit patches of dirt and it was WONDERFUL.
I had to really pay attention at points because of how many unmapped trails there were. The trail to South Border Road from C6-5 was entirely unbroken, which made for some slow, squishy trail breaking in bare boots (this was the only spot where snowshoes could have been helpful).
I continued to connect dots, working my way towards the Gate 3/Medford High School corner, and noticed that someone was MAD about the dog poop. So mad that they wrote notes on little orange flags and stabbed them into the piles of poop with a poop bag attached... Wild! Even funnier is that this added to the litter on the ground. The flags read: "I AM A DOG OWNER. THIS IS EMBARASSING. PLEASE PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG." I saw at least 10 of them throughout my hike, with the highest concentration being around Gate 3.
The trail was exceptionally sneakily wet between B6-16 and B6-10. Both of my shoes plunged through what seemed to be a semi-stable monorail, through ice, though slush, and into inches of water. My feet were SOAKED. There was some more of this trail condition in the B6-15/B7-1/B7-2 corner of my hike. In fairness, I expected this condition for the whole hike, and I was only getting it for a fraction of my time, so I guess I'll be grateful?
That same corner of my hike was interesting. Three trail branches led to the Medford High School parking lot that did not seem over-welcoming, while two others led to athletic fields that were basically flooded and got wildly close to peoples' back yards. Either way, I was happy to have them done! I also found an Iron Rung at B7-2, which was fun to see.
With some more cerative maneuvering, I accidentally ended up on an unmapped trail and basically started to bushwahck to finish up my map for the day. I passed a human-less dog (the human was like 0.25 miles away, which was crazy to me), a mountain biker (why??), and more angry poop flags. I followed another series of unmapped trails to get back to the easternmost woods road (passed a little knot-swing, which was fun to see!), and eventually made my way back to the car.
This hike absolutely wiped me out, but I was feeling super satisified that I finished this corner of the park. Speaking from a few days in the future, I am also happy to report that I have ZERO hanging chads in this area, so I'm officially done with it!
Step-by-Step
- Park across from Gate 7 on South Border Road.
- Start hike at Gate 7.
- At C6-7, turn right and hike road.
- At C6-6, turn around.
- At C6-7, turn right.
- Hike Triangle at C7-2/1, then hike to Gate 4.
- At Gate 4, turn around and veer left.
- At C7-1, continue straight/left.
- At C6-5, turn right onto trail.
- At South Border Road, turn around.
- At C6-5, turn right.
- At B6-14, turn right.
- At B6-8, turn around.
- At B6-13, turn right.
- At B6-12, turn around.
- At B6-13, turn right.
- At B7-6, turn left onto trail.
- At Keith Road, turn around.
- At B7-6, turn left onto road.
- At B7-5, turn right onto trail.
- At terminus, turn right.
- At B6-10, turn around.
- At B6-16, turn right.
- At B6-15, turn left.
- At B7-1, turn right and follow loop.
- At B6-15 again, turn right.
- At B7-1, turn left.
- At B7-2, turn right and hike trails.
- Return to B7-2, turn right.
- At B7-3, turn left.
- At B6-16, turn around.
- At B7-3, turn left.
- At B6-17, turn right onto trail.
- At B7-5, turn right.
- At B7-4, turn left.
- At Gate 3, turn around.
- At B7-4, turn left.
- At B7-3, turn right.
- At B6-11, turn around.
- At B6-12, turn left.
- At B6-13, turn right.
- Soon after, turn left onto unmarked trail.
- Follow unmarked trail to easternmost road, then turn left to return to car.
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