Join us for a 4-mile weekday hike around the Town of Manchester's Dexter Pond Conservation Area and through Greenbelt's DeNormandie Woods property to Cranberry Pond.
We will begin our hike with a half-mile loop trail around Dexter Pond that is maintained by Cape Ann Trail Stewards and was recently blazed by CATS volunteers on behalf of the Town of Manchester. We will then cross into Greenbelt's newly acquired DeNormandie Woods property and follow a route that will take us up to Cranberry Pond and then back around to Dexter Pond at our starting point.
View along the newly-blazed Dexter Pond trail
The terrain is moderate with mixed carriage road and single-track trails, with sections of embedded boulders and exposed roots. There are rolling hills up and down throughout the route within the DeNormandie property areas. The total distance is 4.1 miles-- allow up to 2.5 hours.
You can view our route on a GaiaGPS map HERE, and you can view Greenbelt's DeNormandie Woods trail map (which also includes the Dexter Pond trail) HERE.
We will meet at the dirt parking area next to Dexter Pond off Colburn Rd. See the location in Google Maps HERE.
Some cars will park in this lot, and when this lot is full there is another pullout parking area 0.4 miles further down Colburn Rd. at the DeNormandie entrance (refer to Greenbelt map linked above). Plan to arrive early enough to allow enough time to find parking and walk to the meeting location.
Please arrive early in order to be ready for the group's 9am departure. The hike will depart promptly at 9am.
THANK YOU TO OUR 2026 EVENT SPONSORS!
Premier Sponsors:
Sustainer Sponsors:
Steward Sponsors:
Sustainer Sponsor:
Community Sponsor:
Cape Ann Trail Stewards | PO Box 690 | Essex | MA | 01929