A GORP Content Partner Adapted from Mountain Biking Southern New England by Paul Angiolillo

Biking Boston Harold Parker State Forest, Dogtown & Gilbert Hills State Forest

Harold Parker State Forest
This second-oldest state park in Massachusetts has plenty of riding opportunities on its approximately 25 miles of trails and jeep roads. The roads through this 3,000-acre area wind around a half-dozen ponds, while double- and single- track trails cut through woods and grassy wetlands, passing granite outcroppings and pine-lined ponds. Depending on whether you stay on the woods roads or tackle the trails, a ride can be anywhere from easy to difficult. This moderate ten-mile loop alternates between trails and roads.

The forest is convenient to many cities and towns in northeastern Massachusetts, including Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Reading, Burlington, and Lynn. It has many campsites (providing that the state budget is not cut further) and a swimming beach on Stearns Pond (also threatened by budget cuts).

QuickFacts General Location: The forest is in Andover and North Andover, 25 miles north of Boston. Elevation Change: The terrain is relatively flat, with some rolling sections and short climbs. Season: Plenty of shade and ponds make this a good summer ride. There is some mud in the spring and, if there's snow in the winter, some trails are used by cross-country skiers. Autumn brings colorful foliage. Services: All services are available in Andover and North Reading, including The Cycle Shop on MA 62 in North Reading, (508) 664-6420. The state forest also offers campsites. Hazards: Watch for walkers, horseback riders, and other trail users, especially around the ponds and trailheads. The terrain sometimes changes abruptly from wide, flat woods roads to narrow, winding trails, and you will cross several paved roads. Rescue Index: You are always close to well-traveled roads and homes. Land Status: State park roads and trails. Maps: Maps are usually stocked in a box outside park headquarters. Or you can contact the Department of Environmental Management. (For a map of the area please click here! 28k)

Finding a Trail: Take Exit 41 off Interstate 93 and turn right onto MA 125 North toward Andover. After 2.5 miles, just after the state police barracks, turn right toward a sign for the state forest. You will pass between 2 large stone pillars onto Harold Parker Road. Follow signs for forest headquarters (where trail maps are stocked). Along the way, you can also park at turnoffs at several trailheads along Harold Parker Road, near several ponds. There's another large parking area just beyond the intersection of Harold Parker Road and Jenkins Road.

Notes on the Trail: In each of the 4 sections of this spread-out forest there are loops and networks of trails and woods roads that can be connected using paved roads. (Some of the woods roads have short trails branching off them that dead-end at private property. If you take one, just double back and pick up the main trail.)

Shorter loops: The flat double-track trails around Brackett Pond and Collins Pond in the western part of the forest are easy and scenic. A longer, more challenging trail runs for 3 miles into the northern part of the forest between Middleton Road and Turnpike Road. The shorter woods road loop inside it is another possible loop. A compact network of single-track trails laces the hills just north of Berry Pond Road.

A long loop: Begin riding on a jeep road heading southwest, just across from forest headquarters. Turn right at a fork, and then left at the next one. You will reach a large gravel parking area (another possible trailhead). Take a sharp left turn out of the gravel lot onto a single-track trail and reach paved Jenkins Road. Turn left for a few hundred feet on the road and then right onto a paved access road into the camping area.

Stay to the right on the access road (watching out for walkers) and, at the bottom of the camping area, turn right, cross a brook, and turn left immediately onto a single-track trail. Cross a couple of streams and reach a T junction at a double-track trail. Turn right, ride along Field Pond, and come out on Harold Parker Road. Then turn left on the pavement and pick up a double-track trail on the other side of the road. This trail will merge with a wider old road.

You can now circumvent Brackett Pond and Collins Pond, or head north and pick up a trail on the right toward Jenkins Road. Then take single-track trails heading east, a long loop trail northward to Turnpike Road, and finally pick up a woods road around Stearns Pond that leads back to forest headquarters.

Dogtown

This moderate ten-mile loop ride connects jeep roads, grassy double-track trails, and rocky single-track trails in an uninhabited area that was once a colonial English settlement. Now it's a secluded habitat with a varied landscape: a highland woods of small trees, a marshy wetland fed by streams, an other-worldly habitat of ghostly white beech trees, a pine forest, and a reservoir with a narrow old asphalt road circumventing it. There's also a small stone dam, built during the 1930s, which you can ride across while on the Luce Trail.

Large boulders dot the area, including Peter's Pulpit and The Whale's Jaw. But they're overshadowed by the area's claim to fame: several dozen modest-sized boulders with homilies carved into them (on the Babson Boulder Trail). A century after the English colonized this area, which lies a few miles inland from the ocean, they decided that fishing and trading would be easier than farming rock-infested soil. So they moved back to the coast, and the town literally went to the dogs. By the 1930s, Dogtown was inhabited by social outcasts and wild dogs.

Enter local financier and philanthropist, Roger Babson (famous for predicting the stock market crash in 1929). He hired local stonecutters to carve inspirational sayings into the boulders in the area. It's hard to imagine what the down-and-out denizens of Dogtown thought of the rocks crying out, "Get a Job," "Never Try Never Win," "Spiritual Power," "Help Mother," "Ideas," and a dozen other exhortations. As a local naturalist has written: "These carvings give you an idea of what Easter Island would look like if it had been settled by Calvinists." About 40 numerals carved into smaller rocks along dirt roads in Dogtown refer to historic sites that you can look up in the Gloucester Public Library.

Dogtown is located on Cape Ann, a summer vacation spot that also offers the charming towns of Rockport and Gloucester, and several dune-covered public beaches that fill up fast on summer weekends (even though the ocean is chilly). Just south of Gloucester lies Ravenswood Park, a small wooded area with some good trails.

QuickFacts General Location: This area is located between the towns of Gloucester and Rockport, 30 miles north of Boston. Elevation Change: The terrain is rolling, with regular short climbs and descents. Season: Summer and fall are best for riding here; good drainage makes this a spring ride, too. Services: All services are available in Gloucester, including the Giles of Gloucester bike shop on Maplewood Street, (508) 283-3603. Hazards: Some of the single-track trails on the eastern side of Dogtown are covered with rocks, making them tricky to "clean." Rescue Index: At most you will be about 1 mile from help. Land Status: Abandoned town roads and public trails. Maps: A trail map is available for $2 (plus 50 cents postage) from the Gloucester Chamber of Commerce in Gloucester, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: (508) 283-1601. (For a map of the area please click here! 28k)

Finding the Trail: From US 128, cross the Cape Ann Canal, and go around a rotary onto MA 127. Immediately turn right on Poplar Street and soon left on Cherry Street. After less than a mile, you will pass a sign on the right for the Cape Ann Sportsmen's Club. A few hundred yards farther, turn right up a patchy asphalt road. Drive slowly on this rugged road, and you will reach a parking area.

Local mountain bikers often congregate in the parking area. Also The Wilds of Cape Ann, A Guide to the Natural Areas of Essex, Gloucester, and Rockport, Massachusetts, by Eleanor Pope, has information about this historical area.

Notes on the trail: Take the loose-gravel road that climbs out of the parking area (Dogtown Road). When the road veers to the right, fork left on a single-track trail (Wharf Road), which ends at a double-track trail (Common Road). Turn left on Common Road for a descending side trip to a reservoir. It's a rolling 2-mile ride on an old asphalt road around the reservoir. There's an outlet trail on the north end of the reservoir, or you can double back on Common Road.

Otherwise, turn right on Common Road, pass a large boulder (called Peter's Pulpit) on the right and, after about a half mile, watch for a left fork onto a narrower double-track trail. Fork there and you will reach The Whale's Jaw, a huge boulder in a small clearing (with a marker near it indicating "north"). This is a congregating spot for both hikers and cyclists.

To do a clockwise loop through a pine forest to the north (which is managed by the New England Forestry Foundation), ride around the boulder and pick up a single-track trail. Then turn left at a T junction. Just before a stone wall comes up on the right, turn right onto a single-track trail and enter a pine forest. (If you miss the turnoff you will reach a paved road.) You will come out at the headquarters of the New England Forestry Foundation on Revere Street. To complete a loop through the pine forest, turn right and loop around to the right, returning to The Whale's Jaw from the other direction.

Return to Common Road. For a shorter ride, backtrack to Dogtown Road. Otherwise, turn left on Common Road, then veer right, cross an old dam, and pick up rocky Luce Trail, which passes through a beech forest. You will come out at an active sand pit. You can double back on Luce Trail and attempt 1 of 3 technical, rock-covered trails that head southwest to the Moraine Trail and Dogtown Road.

Or you can go around the right side of the sand pit, turn right on paved Eastern Avenue, and fork right onto Old Rockport Road, a gated two-wheel-drive dirt road. At the end of this road, turn right into the woods, cross the railroad tracks, and go around the right side of Babson Reservoir. Look for a trail climbing into the woods at the end of the reservoir. You should begin seeing boulders with sayings carved into them, for you're on Babson Boulder Trail. This trail comes out on the Moraine Trail. Turn left and you will reach Dogtown Road on the left.

Gilbert Hills State Forest

This forest, commonly called "Foxboro" state forest, has one of the most extensive networks of single-track trails and woods roads in eastern Massachusetts. This ride is a challenging ten-mile loop marked by green triangular mountain bike signs at intersections. Most of this marked mountain bike ride, created in 1992, uses single-track trails that wind through secluded woods, crisscrossing other trails and gravel roads. (If you don't see a directional sign for a while, just double back and locate the last one you passed.) To do a shorter ride, you can "bail out" on one of the several woods roads that intersect the loop (at about five and seven miles).

This forest is undeveloped—it has no two-wheel-drive roads, swimming areas, or camping. Instead, it's an environment of light, sunny woods dotted with granite boulders, a few picnic tables, and a complex network of trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The gravelly terrain covering many of the woods roads is glacial till, left behind when the glaciers melted and withdrew to the north 15,000 years ago. Adjacent Wrentham State Forest is another favorite local mountain biking area.

QuickFacts General Location: Just outside Foxboro, 35 miles southwest of Boston. Elevation Change: Although the terrain is relatively flat, there are many regular short climbs and descents. Season: These well-drained trails (for the most part) and gravel roads provide good riding conditions even in the often wet spring. Summer brings shade, and autumn offers bright foliage. Services: There is a water spigot at the fire station at forest headquarters. All other services are available in Foxboro. Hazards: Some of these single-track trails can be difficult; all but expert riders should not hesitate to dismount and walk down steep, eroded stretches. Although one can get disoriented in this "spaghetti" network of trails, the area is compact (about 1,000 acres) and bounded on all sides by paved roads. Also, watch for other trail users. Rescue Index: At most you will be about 1.5 miles from help on secluded trails. Land Status: State forest trails and jeep roads. Maps: Maps are usually stocked in the main parking lot next to a large trail map on a board. Otherwise, ask for a map from the Department of Environmental Management (see below).

Finding the Trail: Take Exit 8 on US 95, and bear right toward Foxboro on Mechanic Street. When you reach the commons in Foxboro, go around it and out the other side onto South Street. After 1.3 miles, turn right onto Mill Street, and then veer left following brown state forest signs. After three-tenths of a mile, you will reach forest parking lots on the right and left. Park in the left-hand lot, which is not gated at dusk.

Notes on the Trail: This 10-mile loop is marked by green triangular mountain bike signs on trees at intersections. You must remember to look for these signs—especially at intersections. Sometimes you will be turning off a wider trail onto a narrower one. If you don't see a green mountain bike sign for a while, turn around and find the last one. The trails on the back side of this loop (the most challenging ones) are also marked by yellow all-terrain-vehicle signs. At several points, you can "bail out" on a grave road heading back to the parking area.

Head uphill into the woods on a wide path next to the map display board at the main parking lot. Within a few hundred yards, fork right. (This ride comes out on the left-hand fork.) When you reach a T junction, after less than a half mile, turn left, fork left at the next turn, and you will reach paved Granite Street. Directly across the road, pick up the trail, which veers left, crosses the paved road again, and heads onto a dirt woods road, High Rock Road. (You can do a short loop now by making left turns on all dirt roads.)

A few hundred feet along the woods road, turn right onto a single-track trail that heads north. You will reach another dirt road, Messenger Road. Turn right here, and take the first left fork onto another dirt road. Fork left onto the next uphill trail and head north on the left side of Upper Dam Pond, following the trail as it veers south. Just before you reach Messenger Road again, look for a green mountain bike sign on a trail on the right . Keep following the green mountain bike signs. Again, you can shorten this ride by turning southeast on an intersection dirt road.

Sources of Additional Information

Harold Parker State Forest 1951 North Turnpike Road North Andover, MA 01845 (508) 686-3391	F. Gilbert Hills State Forest Mill Street Foxboro, MA 02035 (508) 543-5850
Department of Environmental Management Division of Forests and Parks 100 Cambridge Street Boston, MA 02202 (617) 727-3180

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