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With several inches of Wednesday’s snow still on the ground and no snow-specific gear, we targeted a nice flat well-traveled trail for our post-Thanksgiving Saturday hike. We chose the Grand Trunk Trail in Brimfield (also known as the Brimfield Trail and the Titanic Rail Trail). We’d done this trail over the summer with our daughter on a day of exploration and geocaching, and knew it would be passable in boots without too much trouble. In the summer we saw tadpoles, rabbits, and snakes — this time, not so much. ...

We keep finding new places to go on our weekend hikes; today we decided to explore a US Army Corps of Engineers property I’ve driven by a few times called Buffumville Lake. The lake there is part of a flood control dam project, and the area is named after a mill owner named Buffum from the 19th century. After checking the trail map and based on the time we had, we decided to take the South Loop, which goes around the southern area of the lake, closely paralleling the lake shore. The map listed it as 4 miles, but our GPS readings came in at 5. We also learned from Facebook that the lake was currently a few feet low in an attempt to kill off some invasive aquatic plants. ...

This past Saturday, Jess was out of town with her mother, so it fell to me to take Evie to gymnastics and then fill a few hours on my own. I made two important choices: I was going to pick up some beer, and get a hike in. After packing a lunch, I first dropped off some growlers at Tree House Brewing in Monson. Tree House is a world-class brewery which I’ve been following since they first opened in a barn in Brimfield in 2011 (they were brewing a test batch when the famous tornado struck; you can read about it here). They’ve gone from being the area’s best-kept secret to being listed as the brewers of the world’s best American IPA by Beer Advocate. If you’re at all a beer fan, it’s worth seeking them out. It’s worth browsing their site just to see their great beer photography. ...

You cannot ask for much better fall hiking weather than we had this weekend. Mild enough that only a few extra layers were needed, no real wind to speak of, and a clear blue sky letting ample sun through to warm the air just enough. There are two sides of November, and I love them both — this was without a doubt the “beautiful sunny late fall” side. Last weekend while at Rock House, we picked up a trail map for Peaked Mountain in Monson. It’s a bit of a drive (40+ minutes), but we knew we’d have enough time for a couple hours there if we packed a lunch. With the weather so nice, we decided to give it a shot. ...

The weather forecast today was for temperatures in the low 40s, wind, and rain. We briefly considered staying indoors, but we knew we’d regret it. So we added some layers and headed west on Route 9. Nearly all the way through West Brookfield, right before Ware, is the Rock House Reservation. This property, maintained by the Trustees of Reservations, is a favorite local natural retreat. We’ve been here a half-dozen times with our daughter, exploring and geocaching, but this time we went because we knew we could get a few miles of hiking in on familiar trails (map available here) while being sheltered from the worst of the weather by the trees. We’d also never come without her, and wanted to enjoy the scenery of the area at our own pace. ...

Jess and I have been talking about testing ourselves with a longer, tougher hike before winter changes things too drastically. With my mother visiting and able to bring Evie to gymnastics, we decided this weekend was the perfect chance to give a longer outing a try. We departed for Wachusett Mountain State Reservation in Princeton, MA, home of the famous Central MA ski area. We had been pouring over trail maps and plotting a route that would take us around the mountain before going up and over. We knew we’d be looking at several hours of hiking and so packed a lunch and more water than usual. ...

After a rainy week, we knew the trails might be a bit muddy and slippery with fallen leaves, so we opted for some easier locations this weekend. With Evie safely handed off to Saturday gymnastics, we stopped for lunch at Soup to Nuts in Sturbridge. They’re a cozy lunch spot with a limited menu including a rotation of homemade soups and quiches. Even though I’d never heard of it, they’ve been in business 31 years. Shows what I know! ...

With my wife and daughter out of town, I had to make a decision on how to spend my Sunday afternoon: watching the Patriots beat up on the Bills, or hiking on a beautiful sunny October day? Fortunately, I have the technology available to solve this problem — a DVR! Safe in the knowledge that I could watch the Pats any time on this Sunday, I was free to explore other options. ...

Two trips in one weekend? Definitely! With the weather improving greatly, we decided to take another day hike, this one with our daughter. Jess suggested Moore State Park in Paxton, which she had stumbled on in the past when researching hiking locations in the area. We’d driven past it several times when driving North on Route 31, but never stopped. Our daughter enjoys hiking but prefers geocaching to a vanilla hike. Knowing we’re headed to a destination and that once we get there we’ll find a box full of goodies gives her incentive to keep moving. There are several caches hidden at this park, and with that carrot dangling ahead of her, we packed her up and headed North. ...

Another Saturday, another Saturday hike! We had to suffer through some rain for this one, though. We decided to explore Opacum Woods, a property held in trust by the Opacum Land Trust. It’s a beautiful wooded area located behind a nice neighborhood in Sturbridge. It fills the corner made by the connection of Interstates 84 and 90. At the trailhead we met some folks from Opacum who were closing up shop; earlier in the day they had officially opened up a new bridge built as an Eagle Scout project and were handing out new trail maps. They gave us one of the new maps; a definite improvement on the one we had picked up when we ran into them at the Big MOE. ...