We call ourselves Complete New England because we not only want to cover the popular travel destinations, attractions and news in New England but provide information for local communities.

One of our writers – Jim Hyde – is award winning and loves to bite off regional controversial issues especially if New England politics are concerned or he “smells” something not quite right.

What’s my point?

Well today I’m fulfilling an obligation for local information by identifying 20 nature walks right in our backyards in Boston’s Metro-West area, and you’ll be amazed at the diversity of fauna and wildlife you’ll find in them.

These walks are in towns not normally associated with tourists or swarms of visitors checking out a historic monument. They are in towns such as Sudbury, Ashland, Berlin, Wayland, Westborough, Billerica, and Northborough.

The common connection of all of these nature walks is they are under the management of the Sudbury Valley Trustees who provide protection for these trails allowing the likes of you and me enjoy them.

These paths may not be in competition with the Appalachian Trail in the east or the Pacific Crest out West, but they play as important a role in preserving and conserving our lands and wildlife in a very grass roots way.

These walks straddle rivers such as the Concord, Sudbury and Assabet, and pass through a number of swamps, a myriad of brooks and ponds, including one of the few glacial kettle-ponds found in this region.

The trails will take you through mixed hardwood forests, rocky outcrops, conifer woods such as white pine and eastern hemlock, and a plentiful array of wildflowers.

Some of the walks have interpretive trails with leaflets and most of them are easy and can be traversed in less than an hour. But the enjoyment is in observing and listening rather than speeding through the journey, so take you time and appreciate the gift of these open lands.

In a nutshell these are close to a major city on the eastern seaboard. And if you’ll take some time out to spend an afternoon visiting one of these walks just down the road, I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Enjoy these walks, and if you feel so inclined support the work this organization and its volunteers perform for the communities of Metro-West Boston.

Here’s a list of the trails by town, and some of them repeat as they pass through multiple towns…

ASHLAND:
Cowassock Woods

BERLIN:
Garfield Woods
Mount Pisgah Conservation Area

BILLERICA:
Ralph Hill Conservation Area

FRAMINGHAM:
Cowassock Woods
Henry’s Hill/Gross Tracts
Welch Reservation/Baiting Brook Woods

MARLBOROUGH:
Cedar Hill
Memorial Forest and Desert Area

NORTHBOROUGH:
Cedar Hill
Mount Pisgah Conservation Area

SOUTHBOROUGH:
Turenne Wildlife Habitat

SUDBURY:
Brues Woods
Gray Reservation
Lyons-Cutler Reservation
Memorial Forest and Desert Natural Area
Round Hill
Wolbach farm

WAYLAND:
Greenways Conservation Area
Hamlen Woods
Hazel Brook Conservation Area
Upper Mill Brook

WESTBOROUGH:
Cedar Hill
Sawink Farm
Walkup and Robinson Memorial Reservation

For more information about all of these trails together with directions and maps check out the relevant section of the Sudbury Valley Trustees web site here:

Another New England post by one of our writers is being prepared right now so be sure to visit again or just subscribe to our RSS Feed here and get notified automatically of events and news.

Yankee Traveler
Staff Writer
New England Online Magazine

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