Five Walks for Nature Lovers in Nobscot
If you love nature, Nobscot is the neighborhood for you. There are several conservation lands that offer miles of trails through woodlands and fields. Take your pick from these destinations.
Stretching across more than 800 acres in the northwest corner of the city, Callahan State Park offers roughly 7 miles of marked trails, open agricultural fields, and scenic water bodies like Eagle Pond. The entrance on Millwood Street leads you to a level, hard packed trail along a raised dyke with expansive views across the farm fields - a great spot for dog walkers or anyone who has limited mobility. Explore further into the Callahan and you’ll enter a network of woodland trails that wind over streams and through pine groves. A parking lot on Edmands Road brings you to the North side of the Callahan and directly into the woodlands.
Henry’s Hill & Wayside Forest, leading to Wittenborg Woods
More than 100 acres along Wayside Inn Road offer some of the prettiest and least traveled trails in the Nobscot neighborhood. Sudbury Valley Trustees owns and manages this property. From the parking area on the west side of the street, you’ll walk uphill past serene views down an open field and into peaceful wooded trails. Across the road, the trail traverses a brook and brings you to Wittenborg Woods, 83 acres owned and managed by the City, for a longer hike.
The view down the field at Henry’s Hill
Nobscot Scout Reservation
The Nobscot Scout Reservation bridges the Sudbury-Framingham line with parking on Edgell Road. There are more than 450 wooded acres to explore here, with diverse terrain, from hills to streams. Most notable is the trail to Tipping Rock, with views all the way to Boston on a clear day. If you take the trails going south, you’ll find your way into a very pretty stretch of conservation lands owned by Framingham and Sudbury Valley Trustees that reach almost to Edmands Road, past fields and ponds. The Bay Circuit trail runs through the Nobscot Scout Reservation.
Nobscot Scout Reservation abuts Mohawk Chickatawbut Woods to the south, which is under the aegis of the City of Framingham. You can also enter this stretch of woods at the ends of Mohawk or Chickatawbut Drive.
A walk through the Garden in the Woods is like visiting a unique botanical garden made up entirely of native plants. From the visitor center, the trail winds down toward a tranquil pond. From there, you’ll walk past a bog, meadow and through woodlands. In each area, you’ll see plants and flowers that are adapted to that ecosystem. A stream winds through the valley with a sturdy wooden footbridge crossing it. Don’t miss the gift shop on the way out and if you’re considering ways to help native pollinators and other critters, the garden center offers the broadest variety of native plants around to plant in your own garden. Entrance fee is required unless you’re a member.
If you live in Nobscot, you know that an aqueduct trail can be the quickest way to get into nature, especially if one passes through your neighborhood and is open to the public. A 1.1-mile section of the Weston Aqueduct Trail between Water Street and Elm Street is open for public foot travel. For a great, long-distance walk, park on Potter Road to enter a stretch of aqueduct trail that goes past Great Meadows, crosses Wayland and ends in Weston.
On the aqueduct trail overlooking Great Meadows
There are 400 acres of conservation lands managed by the City of Framingham that connect people with nature. Nobscot’s trails are just the start!
