The woods of Rochester really set themselves apart from the rest of Tri-Town. Although the Tri-Town area as a whole is blessed with miles of conservation land trails that border the ocean, fields, and ponds, the woods of Rochester just have that je ne sais quoi – a certain charm, a pleasant vibration that is palpable – a kindness about them.
We came back to Rochester after a few satisfying hikes in all three towns, and it felt good to be back – like visiting a new “old” friend. A walk through the woods of Rochester is better than therapy, my friends.
Within the boundaries of the Delano Memorial Forest there is magic. This woodland has a consciousness, a personality. You can feel its gratitude when a visitor comes to meander through its trails. I felt at home here, I felt welcome. It is a friendly wood.
The tall, slender pines towered over little me, swaying and scraping the sky as I wound my way along the two-mile loop. The trees whispered in the wind, and I found myself stopping every so often to listen to their sighs and look up to where they were pointing.
Each hilly bend before me, every dip and turn along the way kept my mind completely in the moment – wondering what was coming next and forgetting about the world outside the wood.
The trail loop would make a great running path, with very few roots reaching out to trip up your step. A run through the woods can be just as invigorating as a rigorous hike, but the Delano Memorial Forest had me slowing down for my senses to take in everything around me. My feet on the earth below, the feathers and little creatures I passed along the way, the birds and wild turkeys that brought me to a standstill.
Some short, beckoning side trails lead to the riverside, “Sarah’s Rock,” and a memorial stone placed in memory of Stephen Delano, reminding everyone “This was his woodland.”
Almost halfway in, the trail forks and, knowing that the left trail would end abruptly at one point according to the Rochester Land Trust trail guide, my curiosity, which always triumphs, made me follow it anyway and I was glad I did. It was like I had stumbled into the baby pine nursery, with young pine saplings lining the straight narrow path that opened up to a reddening cranberry bog.
I had to retrace my steps back to the loop trail, but it was my pleasure to re-experience the path all over again from the opposite direction.
Along the last leg of the loop, I eventually noticed I was walking along a primitive ancient stone wall overtaken by time and buried in a mossy grave. The leaves of centuries of autumns have it almost completely covered, except for a single obelisk-like rock with a forgotten purpose reaching up from the past and speaking to my sense of wonder.
Who put you there, and what for? Why are you there, I wondered? Was I following an old stagecoach road, the stone wall on either side swallowed up beneath the layers of time?
The Delano Memorial Forest is as mysterious as it is enchanting. From the slender, intimate paths to the widening cart paths of the past, this woodland is a gem in every sense of the word.
The trailhead begins on Mary’s Pond Road, marked by wooden posts and a sign. There is parking off the side of the road and, contrary to the Rochester Land Trust map, the trail does indeed loop all the way around from start to finish. The loop took me about an hour, and I enjoyed each and every one of those 60 minutes immensely.
I’ll be back throughout the months to experience this sacred space in every phase of the season. Put this one at the top of your Take a Hike list for sure.
By Jean Perry
