Boxford State Forest

[skunkty14]

Anyone have any info on Boxford State Forest? Decent place to ride? Areas to avoid? Is Bald Hill rideable going up? Looks like a nice little punchy climb. I have the DCR map, I'm hoping to use this as a way to break up the road transfer for a HP - Willowdale - HP mini-epic by adding Boxford in on the way to Willowdale. I'm picturing us jumping in off Liberty St., rip some trail and spit out by Lockwood St. Don't need to maximize every square inch of the place, just a fun little rip.

[digger]

Easy. To make the connections you are interested in, you can follow the Bay Circuit Trail, other than a road section through Boxford Center and a little just south of GRSF it pretty much all in the woods. Boxford SF and the Bald Hill area has some major beaver flooding but some nice trail if you can get around the water, which the BCT mostly does. Bald Hill itself is not a big deal.

http://www.baycircuit.org/
http://www.baycircuit.org/Map3.pdf
http://www.baycircuit.org/Map2.pdf
http://www.btabolt.org/trailmaps.html
http://www.ecga.org/writable/maps/fi...d_hill0209.pdf

Georgetown-Rowley SF has about 6 miles of singletrack off of the BCT if you aren't finding enough.

I am always thankful that people had the vision and follow through to create these connections between some really great open spaces in NE Mass.

[usaoze]

Sounds like a GREAT RIDE/TRIP...BSP enter at the Sharpners Pond St entrance can be done as well as Liberty dirt road trail head....ENJOY

[skunkty14]

Digger, thanks for the info, completely forgot to look into the BCT option. Is Baycircuit in pretty good shape between HP and Boxford? I know some portions on the South Shore where I'm located are in very good shape and others not so much.

Likely we'd take BCT to Boxford and then hit the pavement to Willowdale depending on how spicy the group is feeling. We're planning on a 60-70mi route all told so not too much bonus mileage will be needed.

[digger]

BCT is good from Ward Reservation through HP. OK 114 to Sharpners. The next off road section along Sharpners not sure. Bald Hill ok but there may be more interesting routes through there. The blazed route from Middleton Rd. though Boxford Center to 97 is interesting. Boxford store a welcome resupply, may not be open on Sunday. If you don't want to do Georgetown-Rowley, you can cross I-95 on 97, immediate left on Rowley Rd., look right for singletrack in Cleaveland (alternate BCT blazes, shown on BCT map 2). The rest is good to Willowdale and worth doing IMO.

Have done this several times but with a shuttle. Usually in the fall, bugs can be nasty during the warmer months.

[Fitch]

Thanks for posting this! I used to ride Bald Hill years back when I was getting into riding and was under the impression the area was basically closed now due to lack of upkeep and flooding. Good to know it's still there - it had some cool trails back in the early 00s.

[digger]

Bald Hill hasn't changed that much probably, but we have and our options are now much enhanced from the 90s and 00s. Great singletrack systems have developed in HP and Willowdale, made to order for riding, so the rough and tumble doublewide, beaver, mud, and bug infested character of this area has less allure. Still worth going back - it's one of the most interesting places going for wildlife, history, and interesting land features. One of the most bio-diverse areas in eastern MA.

[Fitch]

Still worth going back - it's one of the most interesting places going for wildlife, history, and interesting land features. One of the most bio-diverse areas in eastern MA.

Yeah, the scenery was always great, and I loved coming across the old farm house chimney up on one of the hills. The car chasis and man-made quarry (Nike missile testing site) were cool to see, as well.