Arlington Land Trust

Protecting Open Spaces in Arlington

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Spy Pond Scavenger Hunts

Since the annual Spy Pond Park Fun Day had to be cancelled this year, the Friends of Spy Pond Park created two activities that families, teenagers and adults can do while wearing masks and staying socially distanced in and near Spy Pond Park.

A Public Art Hunt is fun for all ages including preschoolers. Click here for the images of 7 pieces of public art in Spy Pond Park and the bike path above it.

The History Mysteries Hunt uses QR codes to take you around the park to find out what was happening around Spy Pond in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, late 1900s and today. All you have to do is point your smartphone camera at the codes. Click here for the first clue to get you started.

Fall Volunteer Projects

After a hot, dry summer, many of our parks and conservation lands are in need of TLC before fall and winter weather sets in. Following are some scheduled clean-ups and stewardship projects that would appreciate volunteer assistance.

Arlington Reservoir Clean-up

Saturday, September 26,
9 am – 12 noon

The Arlington Reservoir Committee has scheduled a clean-up of the Wildlife Habitat Garden and surrounding areas of the Reservoir off Lowell Street. Bring your own tools (such as wheelbarrow, rakes, spades, loppers, clippers, gloves, etc.) and help tame the overgrown grasses and invasive plants in and around the garden. Members of the committee will be on hand to direct newcomers and welcome veteran volunteers to help prepare the garden for the winter.

Arlington’s Great Meadows
Boardwalk Repair

Friends of Arlington’s Great Meadows is organizing boardwalk repair activities during September. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and construction requirements, the Friends have assembled all the needed materials and have prepared an instructional video. You will be guided on what tools to bring with you and asked to form small teams of family or friends to work together. To learn more about how to participate in these boardwalk repair projects, email David White. 

Note that demolition work at the former nursing home next to Arlington’s Great Meadows in East Lexington is about half done, and currently there is no AGM access from that property. Instead, follow a nearby access path about halfway behind the Emerson Gardens complex off Maple Street in Lexington. It’s marked with an AGM post and a no dumping sign. Please park on the main Emerson Gardens Road, not in the resident parking areas. Alternatively, you can park behind the Waldorf School on Mass Ave. in East Lexington or follow the Minuteman Bikeway to AGM.

Spy Pond Park Work Day

Saturday, October 17, 8-10 am
(rain date Sunday, October 18,
8-10 am)

The Friends of Spy Pond Park will hold their final work day of 2020 to undertake such tasks as removing grass between the cobblestones lining the path through the park and weeding the planting beds, pulling invasive plants, picking up litter, and grooming the tot lot. Meet near the boat ramp at 40 Pond Lane.
Volunteers must register in advance and liability waivers are required for all participants. Please download the waiver form from the FSPP website, fill it out completely, sign it (parental signature for under 18 yrs.), and send a scan or photo of it to fspp@friendsofspypondpark.org by 6 p.m. the Friday before the scheduled Work Day.

More Walking Routes

In our May 2020 post “Walking in Arlington” we presented a number of maps and ideas for walking routes in and around Arlington. In this post we are pleased to suggest some additional routes and resources. Remember to wear a mask, practice social distancing, and follow other relevant guidelines as indicated at each site.

Arlington’s Great Meadows

Arlington’s Great Meadows (AGM) is a 183-acre parcel of land owned by Arlington but located in East Lexington. It is the largest nearby area of undeveloped open space with numerous looping trails and several boardwalks. The Minuteman Bikeway on its southern border provides access at several locations. Other parking and access points are shown on the AGM map.

 Note that the parking area behind the former Golden Living Center nursing home complex is now closed. Demolition has started to remove the buildings and construct a number of town-house units. When the work is completed, a new parking area and public access trail will be provided from Emerson Gardens Road to AGM.

For more information, visit the Friends of Arlington’s Great Meadows website at www.foagm.org

ACROSS Lexington

ACROSS Lexington is a network of marked trails and paths for walkers, runners and trail bikers, including access from the Arlington Reservoir path. The routes use existing public ways to connect the town center with various historic sites, schools and conservation areas. Several ACROSS Lexington trails loop through a number of conservation areas, most of which have their own networks of trails.

The Trail Guide  to Lexington’s Conservation Land includes color trail maps for Lexington’s 26 walkable conservation areas. (Note that some of the maps may be-out-of-date. Please refer to the maps located on the kiosks at trail entry points.)

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Mass Audubon and Trustees Sites

Mass Audubon Society and The Trustees have many properties in the greater Boston area, although some of them remain closed during the pandemic. Consult their websites for further information about which sites and walking trails are open.

https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries

http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/

Walking in Arlington

We hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy during these difficult times. While social distancing guidelines remain in place to protect us all from exposure to Covid-19, we also know how important it is to be outdoors and enjoy the bounties of spring in New England.

Arlington residents have two excellent resources for local walks.

  • Arlington Open Space Committee’s Take A Walk maps.
  • Arlington resident George Stephans’ Circumnavigate Arlington maps.

Take A Walk Maps

We wrote about the Talk A Walk initiative in last January’s blog entry. The Take A Walk maps, linked in that entry, will help you safely explore less traveled parts of Arlington that you may never have visited before and may reveal some surprising discoveries, including beautiful front yard gardens, and bears and other creatures in house windows. Have fun! 

Circumnavigate Arlington Maps

Circumnavigate Arlington

An initiative developed by Arlington resident George Stephans offers a walking route that follows the town’s boundaries. He was initially inspired by suggestions to honor Marathon Monday on April 20 by doing a special running/walking event with some charity component. This idea expanded to consider routes that avoid heavy traffic areas such as the bike path and Mass Ave. As it turns out, one can travel very close to the entire Arlington border on roads that are reasonably safe for walking or running and typically are not very busy.

The Circumnavigate Arlington main page explains this project.

Chamberlin Woods: A Lesser-known Hike in Concord

For many of us in Arlington, going for a walk is one of the best antidotes for pandemic self-isolation. I live off of Pleasant Street near Route 2, and hiking up to and around Menotomy Rocks Park is a regular routine. On good days I go all the way up to Robbins Park and around the water tower. These are my standards, and plenty of my neighbors are enjoying similar outings, but I also like to escape a bit further west for a change of scene.

I’ve visited Concord’s Punkatasset Woods for many years, but these days my usual parking spot on Monument Street has been full. For help finding alternative access to my favorite woods, I turned to the AllTrails smartphone app and discovered a lovely “back door” access via a Concord Land Conservation Trust parcel called Chamberlin Woods.

On a very beautiful, and busy, first Sunday in May, my wife and I parked at the trail entrance on the north-bound side of Lowell St. While many of the better-known trail parking lots were packed, there is room here for about 20 cars and we found a free space. 

The path leads gently into tall pines, occasionally crossing muddy bits of swamp and slow streams, and then crosses into the Estabrook woods and some private land for less than a mile to a stunning outcrop overlooking Bateman’s pond and the back side of Middlesex School. 

We sat and enjoyed a strong southwest wind coming across the pond before looping back to the trail head. Fiddlehead ferns were just starting to uncurl along with skunk cabbages in the swamps. The pine-needle-carpeted trail crossed many different kinds of mosses, and nuthatches, red-bellied woodpeckers, blue jays and red-tailed hawks kept us company. On another day, we’ll bring provisions and hike further in past the overlook to join up with the main Estabrook and Punkatasset trails to the east.

I recommend the app, which does a good job of showing the profusion of available trails. Just remember to charge your phone battery.

Peter Belknap

ALT Board member