Monday, July 29, 2024

Biking The Bay Circuit Trail - Medfield to Sharon (Day 8)

Last weekend I met Bill and Tony at the Noon Hill Reservation Parking lot to begin our 8th ride on the BCT. The initial 1.5 miles were very difficult as they involved a steep hike-a-bike to the summit on Noon Hill followed by a very technical descent down the other side. At mile 3, we hit our first obstacle. The trail under the utility lines in Medfield had not been maintained by the power company and was severely overgrown and impassable. This required a road detour around the Medfield Water Supply Land which added one mile to the ride.

View from the Noon Hill overlook

Fortunately, the powerline section in Walpole was in better shape than in Medfield.

After getting back to the BCT route, we followed a trail along Mine Brook for approximately 2.5 miles. The next two miles alternated between short sections of road and offroad riding. This was followed by 2.5 mile of difficult riding, with several hike-a-bike moments. This was due to trail winding along, and up and down, steep and rocky eskers. The remaining miles were all on pavement as the official BCT bike route is prohibited from entering the Moose Hill Audubon property. The final mile up Moose Hill Road rose 107 feet at a max grade of 9% with the summit marking the high point of the ride at 476 feet.

Neponset River Dam at the start of the Walpole Town Forest section.

A high esker trail known as the "Old Indian Highway" in Walpole Town Forest.

Note: I did not take photos during the ride. Photos shown are from my Spring 2014 hike but are representative of what we encountered on this ride.


 Overview of route - Red indicates paved, blue is unpaved


Ride Summary:

Day 8 - 18.0 miles, 150.3 cumulative.
Paved - 10.6 miles, 81.8 cumulative.
Unpaved - 7.4 miles, 68.5 cumulative.
Elevation gain - 1,457 feet, 10,285 cumulative.
Max grade - 29.1%!!
High point - Moose Hill Road, Sharon 476 feet
Towns traversed - Medfield, Walpole and Sharon
Green spaces visited - Noon Hill Reservation, Mine Brook Conservation Area and Walpole Town Forest 

Biking the Bay Circuit Trail - Ashland to Medfield (Day 7)

I did this ride in October 2023 but didn't take any photos nor did I care to write a ride report. There is a ride summary below and cumulative milage and elevation totals for my all my rides to date. This was the most difficult section on the BCT so far, mainly due to the difficult terrain and steep climb up to King Phillips Overlook in Rocky Narrows.

Route overview - Red is paved, Blue is unpaved


Ride Summary:
Day 7 - 18.5 miles, 132.3 cumulative.
Paved - 6.0 miles, 71.2 cumulative.
Unpaved - 12.5 miles, 61.1 cumulative.
Elevation gain - 1,530 feet, 8,828 cumulative.
Max grade - 29.4%!!
High point - Brush Hill, Sherborn Town Forest, 557 feet
Towns traversed - Ashland, Sherborn and Medfield
Green spaces visited - Barber Reservation, Sherborn Town Forest, Rocky Narrows, Shattuck Reservation and Noon Hill Reservation
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