33. Sudbury Path

Week 38  3/8/16

This was a very warm day, so we set out on a hike. I picked up Paul at work (Wellesley College) where we ate a picnic lunch at one of our favorite spots on the boardwalk in the wetlands near Lake Waban. We remembered watching reunion fireworks from this bench with Ben and Julia years ago.

We planned to follow one of the trails on the Wellesley Trails Grand Tour.  Maps and descriptions can be found at this link. The trails we followed were very clean and well-marked. The only exception to the latter was an marker just off the Babson College campus that was missing a nail, causing it to swing and make the arrow point the wrong way. We tried to fix this but didn't have the right tools.

The planned start to the Sudbury Path (4.6 miles) is a spot on the Wellesley-Needham town line, but an auto detour caused us to change our plans and park one of our cars at Longfellow Pond. So we began with the Charles River Path, which added less than half a mile to the total. The terrain was varied and interesting.

The Sudbury Path Trail took us along the Sudbury Aqueduct. Many times we were on a raised area as in this picture. There were also some pretty pump houses. We passed through the Town Forest.

At the Wellesley Country Club we followed the street for a short while. We had never seen this marker for the old Town Hall. The building was razed to make way for a clubhouse, so the town erected an obelisk commemorating the founding of the town and other historic events.

After crossing Forest Street and the Babson campus, we followed through more woodlands. When we reached Waban Arches we knew we were near our final destination and the parked location of our second car, Cheever House. 

Here is ton end of Waban Arches.

And the view toward the south from the middle of Waban Arches.