Tyson had picked out a hike in the Belknap range, but then we woke up to rain. According to the radar, more rain was coming up from southwestern Massachusetts and heading in the direction of central New Hampshire. Undeterred, I pulled out my maps and guidebooks. Eastern Massachusetts might stay dry.
Tyson and I ended up hiking Dogtown in Gloucester, way out on Cape Ann. It is a surprisingly large conserved area for being on Boston’s North Shore. The outer tenth of a mile suffered from the detritus of human cities, but farther in, it felt completely wild.
The place has an interesting history. (Historical society article, blog article) We had fun finding most of the Babson Boulders. Babson was a local millionaire. He decided to record his values for posterity by hiring stone carvers during the great Depression to record sayings on rocks. Some of them are common simple values, like “Kindness”. Some seem straight from the Puritans — “If Work Stops, Values Decay.” And then some sound like an oblivious millionaire giving trite advice to the working class — “Stay Out of Debt.”
Being an old pasture that has grown up, the place has a lot of thorny plants, especially greenbrier vines. Tyson kept feeling like he had walked into one of Isaac’s books with dragon eating vines. Tyson came out mostly unscathed, but my legs were a bit the worse for a couple off trail explorations.
Photos
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- Babson Reservoir -- Comments (0)
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- Truth -- Comments (0)
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- Work -- Comments (0)
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- Courage -- Comments (0)
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- To Rockport -- Comments (0)
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- Loyalty -- Comments (0)
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- Kindness -- Comments (0)
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- Intelligence -- Comments (0)
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- Ideals -- Comments (0)
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- Ideas -- Comments (0)
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- Integrity -- Comments (0)
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- Initiative -- Comments (0)
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- Spiritual Power -- Comments (0)
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- Industry -- Comments (0)
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- Use Your Head -- Comments (0)
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- Be On Time -- Comments (0)
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- Study -- Comments (0)
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- If Work Stops Values Decay -- Comments (0)
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- Prosperity Follows Service -- Comments (0)
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- Keep Out of Debt -- Comments (0)
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- Moraine -- Comments (0)
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- Jas Merry Died -- Comments (0)
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- First Attacked -- Comments (0)
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- Never Try Never Win -- Comments (0)
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- Wood frog -- Comments (0)
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- Thorny vines -- Comments (0)
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- Emilie looking at more greenbrier -- Comments (0)
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- Closeup of greenbrier vines -- Comments (0)
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- Peter’s Pulpit -- Comments (0)
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- trail -- Comments (0)
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- Tyson on Whale’s Jaw -- Comments (0)
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- A different vine -- Comments (0)
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- Pickerel frog -- Comments (0)
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- Beech trees with leaf disease -- Comments (0)
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