trail so we continued on the Earthen Dam Trail. Earthen Dam Trail gives some pretty views of the area; it was windy, but fun. We came off the earthen dam and took Coco Ridge Extension Trail to what I thought was the Coco Ridge Trail. Our intention was to ride the perimeter of the park and loop back to the parking lot, but we ended up on Juniper Trail. We followed that until there was a downed tree that we couldn’t get around, and turned back and took Birch Trail instead. From there, we ended up on Lady Slipper Trail, and that connected us to Rocky Road Trail. At this point we started going in circles! This section of Rocky Road was wide and smooth; Lady Slipper and Rocky Road should have reversed names. We came out on Pinecone Trail, which meant we had gone in the opposite direction of what I intended. We did the small half-circle on Pinecone and it took us back to Rocky Road. When we arrived back at the Hawk Trail intersection, we took that, but again, it just did a circle and we were back at Rocky Road. We followed Rocky Road back down to where it intersected with Lady Slipper, and went straight, realizing the error had been going left at this intersection the first time instead of right, although we saw some beautiful woods while circling in the southern corner of the park. We also heard lots of birds and saw a few squirrels. On many of the perimeter trails there are homes within sight, and we heard children playing in one neighborhood. There’s a large old stone fireplace in the woods off of Juniper Trail, but we missed seeing it because it is in the section of Juniper we couldn’t access due to the downed tree. We did, however, see a vintage rusted bicycle on the side of one of the other trails — art in nature. Stone walls crisscross the woods in many places of the park, and there are several large, old trees deep in the woods. We followed Rocky Road back north through the park, again crossing into conservation land owned by the Sudbury Valley Trustees. Rocky Road connects to Pioneer Trail, and comes out at the Edmands Road parking lot. The only place Rocky Road Trail was really rocky was just before arriving back at the parking lot. However, many
of the other trails were rocky, and there were lots of tree roots too. I recommend hoof protection. We rode a slow five miles in two hours, and it was a pretty and relaxing place to ride. Close to the parking areas we saw other trail users, but deeper into the park we had the place to ourselves. All of the dogs we met were well behaved and the people were friendly. The bridges over Baiting Brook and other areas were sturdy and horse safe. We saw one bridge on Rocky Road Trail on the way north, in the Sudbury Valley Trustees land, that wasn’t horse friendly — it was narrow and arched, but there was a nice place for the horses to cross the water. East Leigh Farm, just down the road from the Edmands Road parking lot, sells ice cream. I’ll definitely be making a return trip in warmer weather to explore the trails and Beebe Pond in the northern part of the park, and stop for an ice cream. Happy trails! Stacey Stearns, a lifelong equestrian from Connecticut, enjoys trail riding and endurance with her Morgan horses.
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