For some reason, I love Crow Hill. I’ve only visited it a couple of times, and when I’m on top I surely don’t want to go near the edge. (Stupid fear of heights issue for this hiker.) But it’s a really cool lookout and I think it’s great that there is a place for people to rock climb in my town of Princeton. This top picture is one of the views from the top. You can also see Wachusett peaking out in that right corner and if you hike more north you get even a better view. See?
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Crow Hill was the end of our hike! It was our goal for the day, but we also left a car near the Wachusett Inn in Westminster. Just in case we ran out of time or stamina.
Our hike started in Ashburnham, at Jewell Hill Rd. It’s the third time we’ve parked there, since we got lost the first day and didn’t make it to the car parked there that day. It’s been part of every hike we’ve done so far! No more. We are moving on Jewell Hill Rd., it’s been nice to know ya.
Soon we got into Westminster, which was the bulk of the hike. And I forgot to take any pictures until we got to the Muddy Pond shelter. And then only because Annie reminded me! It’s one of the places you can camp along the way. Looks like a pretty nice place to camp out.
This time Ann Marie hiked with Annie and I. Our numbers are growing!
Muddy Pond is beautiful.
During the hike, we walked on a couple of roads (and crossed over route 2 via a bridge), but not for very long. My favorite road crossing was a place called Grafitti Bridge. I’m not sure what the rest of the graffiti was. All I saw was the peace sign and the word “Imagine” underneath. I never expected that and thought it was beautiful. A perfect symbol of how I feel every time I’m out hiking.
This hike also took us through some fields. This one….
And a cow pasture, complete with a sign for us to close the gate behind us (that’s it on the right of the gate but it’s too dark to read), some boy scouts, some cows…
and some cow plops…
Here’s a panoramic view of the place:
I know you can’t really see the cows, but they were there, up in the left corner by the barn (which is also hard to make out).
We walked up along the side of the pasture, and as we exited (via another gate), there was a mailbox with a guest book inside, which we signed.
A lot of our hike was through woods. Most of it was, actually. Just glorious. Have I mentioned how much I love the woods? Annie and I talk about our love of the woods every hike. I love that I’ve found someone who is drawn to the woods like I am.
Eventually, we came out near the car we parked at Wachusett Inn. Ann Marie had to leave us at that point, because of time constraints. But Annie and I were feeling good physically, had the time, and decided to continue to Crow Hill. It was a pretty neat hike the rest of the way. There were some narrow trails through brush, and some historical steps that had been built a long time ago. We got a good workout on some hills.
And at the top of Crow Hill, those incredible views. And the satisfaction of completing a 6-ish hour hike of 14-ish miles.
I’ll leave you with this neat picture of rock climbers I took as we hiked back down to return to the car.
