I initially was really lost, heading through the Hawthorne Conservation Area, the trail to which is located on the other side of the school than where I was supposed to go, and somehow I managed to get out to Swains Pond Avenue, from which I managed to walk all the way back to my car parked at the school. From here, I finally managed to find the right path, and the approximate path I hiked while exploring this place is shown below in pink.
The first viewpoint on the trail was just okay, being a little overgrown.
Next, I made it to a nice overlook of Swain's Pond.
From here, I headed to the final viewpoints, where I could see the Boston skyline from afar.
From here, I managed to make it back out to Prescott Street, heading back along the road to my car. Not a bad day for hiking I guess.
I was feeling a little hungry, so I decided to grab a bite in town at Coffee, Tea and Me, a small cafe in the downtown area which was filled with people this time of morning, so I decided to bring the All American Crepe (Maple Syrup, Apple Butter, Raisins) I got, together with the Warrior Shake (Banana Pineapple, Blueberry) back out to my car. The shake was simply excellent to quench my thirst, although the crepe was just average.
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| Warrior Shake |
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| All American Crepe |
From here, I passed by a few places in Wakefield
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| Greenwood Union Church |
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| St. Joseph's Church |
on my way to Gloucester, where I originally had a meetup event to go to at Good Harbor Beach, but as the traffic heading there was so terrible, I decided against it in the end and went hiking at the Tompson Street Reservation instead, passing by the First Baptist Church in town at 38 Gloucester Avenue along the way.
The approximate paths I took to explore Sunset Mountain and Eagle Rock is shown below in pink.
After parking at ~96 Fernald Street near the Mount Jacobs Cemetery, I took a side trail to head up to the top of Sunset Mountain, which had pretty decent views of the surroundings.
I decided to go find the site of the 1716 Second Parish Church and Eagle Rock, parking at Bray Street and Thompson Street. However there were so many side trails that I kept getting lost, somehow finding my way to Eagle Rock, which wasn't much to look at anyway, and on trying to get back, just kept getting more lost, passing by several patches of wetlands along the way.
Thankfully, the GPS on my phone eventually led me back to Thompson Street, which I knew because I found the site of the church.
Thankfully, the way back from here was pretty simple, so I was able to proceed with the rest of my day.
My next stop after passing by the Whittier Memorial Bridge on I-95 near Macy Street along the way
was the Amesbury Sports Park in Amesbury, where I had a Groupon to go summer tubing, and more importantly, ride down the hill in a zorb ball.
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| The Hill |
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| The tubing path |
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| My tube |
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| Dragging my tube behind |
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| Heading up the hill |
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| Ready to go |
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| The view from up top |
Overall, I feel the experience at Ski Ward was better though.
After heading back to the bar and finding out my pizza still had yet to come, it was time for my zorb ball ride. While heading up the hill to get to the zorb ball place, I took a few pictures of zorb balls rolling downhill, with people in them of course.
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| View from the top |
There are two ways to ride a zorb ball. Either you are strapped onto the side of the inner ball with a harness, or the inner ball is filled with water, and you go downhill getting soaked. Apparently there is a height requirement to do the harnessed ride, which thankfully I met.
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| The inside of my ball |
Finally it was my turn, and I had to jump into the hole to get inside. After strapping myself in tightly. It was time to go, and I was pushed off to start my roll downhill. The initial experience was pretty fun, with my view alternating between the ground and the sky, going at an ever faster rate as I headed downhill. The bad part was when it finally reached the bottom and slowed down, rocking about a little and making me feel a little nauseous. My 2 slices of cheese pizza (I was given another one for having to wait), though just normal, did help to overcome the nausea though.
Overall, it was a pretty fun experience, and I definitely want to come back to try the wet version of the zorb ride. Apparently people try to stand up and run while rolling downhill like a hamster wheel, but it is extremely difficult to do.
From here, it was finally time to head into Maine to go hiking with friends. More details about my experience there can be found here.
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