Noanet Peak

One of the things the family and I used to do quite a bit is head over to nearby Dover, Massachusetts and stroll through Noanet Woodlands. It's only ten minutes away from our house and there are over 15 miles of hiking trails through conservation land that encompasses about 25% of the town of Dover. A couple of days after Thanksgiving, we had one of those rare November days that just screamed, "get outside and do something!"

I have been walking through these woods since I was 6 or 7. It was privately owned by "Mrs. Peabody" in those days, but she let people explore the property as if it were public land. When she died, she donated the land to the Trustees of Reservations as conservation land. I remember a friend of mine's dad flipping out when this happened. They lived in Dover and the tax rate went through the roof! Conservation land isn't taxed, you see.

I used to mountain bike in there too, so I have the trails memorized. There are maps at the ranger's station for the less familiar traveler.

The highlight of the walk is to get to the top of Noanet Peak. From the top, you can see Boston. The colors are spectacular in the fall, but we're usually running from one soccer field to another all weekend and can't cut 2-3 hours out of a day to take a leisurely stroll through the woods. It's definitely a good way to spend a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday.

Click the picture and zoom in to get a good look; you can see the Boston skyline clearly over a sea of treetops.