Date visited: 10/14/2023

This is a nice series of trails that connect to Cowassock Woods. About 3/4 of the loop was in Ashland, with the rest in Framingham (see that page for pictures from that section). The trails are generally well marked and maintained, and easy to follow, with helpful signs at each intersection that include a map of the property and tell you where you are. We started at the trail head on Salem End Road in Framingham. We hiked portions of the red, yellow, and blue diamond blazed trails. The Ashland section features a giant cement water tank. There were a couple of steep hills, but they were short. Other than that, it was a fairly easy hike. Our hike was about a three miles total.

More Images

Date visited: 11/24/2023

This is a state park located in the towns of Hopkinton and Ashland. Despite the name of the park, the majority of the park is in Ashland. The main feature is the reservoirs, but there are hiking trails and picnic areas as well. In the summer time, there are two beaches for swimming. Dogs are allowed in the park but not on the beaches in the summer. Speaking of which, in-season (mid May to Octoboer 31st) there is a hefty $30 charge to use the park for out of state visitors. That's not really a great way to promote tourism. The park is nice, but it's not $30 nice! The day we visited, there were warning signs posted to keep dogs out of the water because of high bacteria levels. Thankfully, it was a chilly day, otherwise I would have had a hard time keeping Mandy out of the water! Anyway, there are two reservoirs. The large one has a dam with a trail accross the top of it. The smaller reservoir is used as an secondary beach in the summer. It looks like they use the spillway from the dam to fill it in the summer. It was dried up the day we were here. We roughly followed the All-Trails route called "Swimming Pool Reservoir", which basically loops around the smaller reservoir, and runs along side the larger reservoir. The park was moderately busy. There were many dog walkers. I thought a fist fight was going to break out, because one man was upset that another man had his dogs off-leashed (the signs say they are required to be leashed). At one point the first man threatened to call the cops, but I don't think they were ever actually called. The loop we hiked was pretty easy, roughly two miles long. After we completed the loop, we hiked some of the wooded trails away from the reservoir. These weren't very interesting, but it added some needed steps. All in all, it's not a bad place, but I wouldn't recommed it for non-Massachusetts residents in the summer time because of the hefty charge. The pictures below are from the Ashland section. You can see the rest of the photos on the Hopkinton page.

More Images