Inaugural Dog-Friendly Hike: Dogtown Complete Loop

Inaugural Dog-Friendly Hike, Sunday July 10, 3 pm

This is the first of what we hope will be monthly dog-friendly hikes, complementing our Sunday morning hikes.  And what better route to start with than...

Dogtown – Complete Loop

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/hakYz6S9prbr3bjHokF2skKp

Please join the Dog-Friendly hiking group on this approximately 4 mile hike along the main trails of the historic “Commons Settlement” – popularly known as Dogtown.

We’ll start the hike on Dogtown Road, then turn left up the Adams Pines Trail for a quick look at Goose Cove Reservoir, then head back along Commons Road to Wharf Road, which will bring us down to Dogtown Square.  Along the way we’ll see boulders marking the cellar holes of 18th century houses.   From Dogtown Square, we’ll head over to the Babson Boulder Trail and follow it down to Babson Reservoir, stopping to see a dozen or more of Roger Babson’s famous boulders carved with inspirational sayings.  From there it will be a short hike up the fire road back to Dogtown Road and our cars.   Here is the complete route: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/hakYz6S9prbr3bjHokF2skKp

This is a relatively easy hike, with mostly gentle grades but plenty of rocks and roots underfoot.  With stops, be prepared to take the full two hours.

Meeting Spot:   We will meet at the main entrance to Dogtown off Cherry St., just a short distance north of the intersection with Reynard Street, on the right.  See the hike map for specifics.  There is a small parking lot part a quarter mile up Dogtown Rd. on the right.   If filled, park on the right side of the road beyond the lot.  Please arrive early.  The hike will depart promptly at 3 PM.

As always please bring water, proper footwear and poles if you use them.  Bug spray/sunscreen is strongly advisable, too.

This hike is the same hike that the Sunday Morning hiking group did on June 26.  The Dog-Friendly hikes will generally be scheduled 2 weeks after the Sunday Morning hikes, following the same route, but in the afternoon.  This gives people for whom Sunday morning is a conflict an opportunity to hike these routes; it gives people with canine companions that opportunity; and it gives people who were waitlisted for the preceding Sunday morning hike that opportunity as well.  We stick to Sunday so that we don't have to worry about hunting seasons (because hunting is prohibited on Sundays in Massachusetts, one of the few remaining Blue Laws).

In the event of rain, the hike may be rescheduled, and an email notification will go out at 8 AM prior to the hike.  The rain date will be the following non-holiday Sunday.

Registration is limited to 20.  Please do NOT register if you hiked this route with us on June 26: we want to give others the opportunity to hike this route.  This is sure to be a popular hike, so please register early to ensure a spot.

If you register and won't be able to make it, please cancel your registration as soon as possible (minimum 24 hours before the hike but the sooner the better), so that people on the waitlist can join us. If you are registered, then viewing the event on capeanntrailstewards.org will show an "already registered" link under the register button. If you click on that, it will display your registration with a cancel button that you can click to cancel.  Please do not be a “no show”!