All to ourselves - Douglas State Forest

The Picket Fence

Back to our Sunday routine, well, almost. We were up and out of the house early today as our grandson had an eight thirty flight lesson and we always show up for that. After we got him situated and I took some pictures, Siri told us the directions to 'The Picket Fence', a great breakfast house in Douglas Massachusetts. See the picture to the right. It was a great old building and seemed a very popular place but we were seated immediately and although all of the wait staff were really busy we were served in very good time by a very friendly waitress, the coffee was good and hot and they had a sheet filled with specials and we are almost always a sucker for specials. This time we both decided to have an omelet special, the taco omelet, filled with chili, cheese onion and lettuce.

Mug shot, yes again

Our waitress told us she had never had it but was planning on trying it at the end of her shift.We were both amazed at the fast service and everything was done with great efficiency. Our breakfast arrived so quickly is was as though they had it sitting on a shelf in the back just waiting for us. And it was good. I normally stick to the two eggs, home fries and toast special, the number one in just about every breakfast place in North America, but this taco omelet was very good and if I see it on a menu again, I'll order it up. Nana and I had a good time chatting and people watching - we saw a woman with camo patches glued to her back and a man with no ears - we like Douglas Mass. Once done and paid we walked out of the restaurant and into a Norman Rockwell painting. The view across the street, which apparently we missed walking in, was just so much Americana that you could almost weep. It is Main Street USA!
Here is a picture.

Douglas, Massachusetts

How's that for a slice of American Pie! Siri took us West for about three miles to the Douglas State Forest where the ranger on duty didn't charge us the $11 he should have because we were 'just hiking', nice guy! We found a place to park and walked down to Wallum Lake and searched out the trailhead. We actually ended up hiking on two different trails.The first loop we did was called the Cedar Swamp trail.

Cedar Swamp

This trail had a nice boardwalk through all the mucky spots, and was dubbed a 'healthy trail' why it is called that we don't know, but I AM feeling much healthier and I know Nana must be too. Some where along this trail we missed the markers and strayed for a bit but that is no matter, we found our way back to the main trail and looped out back to the main road to discover that we were walking on the 'Coffee House Trail'. Excellent we though, there must be a Coffee House along here. This proved to be in error. For the first mile or so the Coffee House Trail shared the path with the 'Mid State Trail' which cuts across Massachusetts North to South, South to North, from Rhode Island across Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Now that would be a fun walk in the woods. This area is strewn with boulders and rock outcroppings and is a little bit hilly in spots but I barely worked up a good puff and grunt. Nana just keeps moving along like she is walking on pavement and I don't think she ever even began to sweat.. I was a bit wet. . .

Stone wall along stream

We came across a huge stone structure, a wall of some sort and Nana scrambled to the top to see what it was. Turns out to be a dam of sorts keeping back a bit of water which was covered in lily pads and cattails.  There was a spot in the dam where the water tumbled down a series of little falls and under a bridge. At this point we were about 3 miles into our walk and realized we had not seen another person since we started on the trail. Not one. And as it turns out it wasn't until we got back to the car that we saw people again. Everyone had gone down to the beach and there was not a single other hiker in the woods but us, and this is a truly beautiful forest. So if you want to have a forest to yourself try the Douglas State Forest. And now for some more pictures.

The beginning by the lake

Nana on a bridge

Lots of mosses and ferns

And beautiful flowers

Midstate Trail Marker