The sun had just burned a hole through the gray morning clouds when I started out on the wooden-boardwalked hiking trail at East Over Reservation off County Road. The light sparkled on the dew-soaked foliage on that muggy morning in the Marion woods, and there was a stillness, a calm about the place.
This is another fantastic Tri-Town property overseen by the Sippican and the Rochester Land Trusts that I happily hiked on the morning of September 2. I love a good raised wooden platform zig-zagging deeper into the woods like the ones they have at East Over (which can be rather slick in the early morning, so tread with care).
Hiking is my preferred method of therapy because it is so multisensory – the aromatherapy of the fragrant wet foliage of the morning, the sound therapy of the birds and the ubiquitous crickets, and the element of proprioception moving through space in an environment that is wild and free.
By the time I hit my first trail post marked number one, I was further from the labor and logistics of my long weekend of moving into my new home, and closer to losing myself in the moment than I had been in days.
The trail map provided at the kiosk gave me the choice of going left or right. Left seemed like the way I’d rather go, which veers away from a series of loops that I decided I would save for another day.
No longer was I thinking about the cable technician appointment later in the day, or the stacked boxes of miscellaneous items that have no proper place of their own. I was at East Over Reservation – having a light breakfast of wild blueberries that have taken over the forest floor for as far as my eyes could see.
I could hear only the sounds of nature – its birds, insects, bees, nothingness, everythingness. Even Hales Brook stood still, its amphibian inhabitants making no sound as they create silent ripples in the still water while birds carried on their conversations around me.
The trails are very well marked, and the maps are rather detailed. There are plenty available at the main kiosk at the head of the trail and definitely a keeper for the glovebox of your car.
East Over Reserve is so multifaceted. Around every bend is another personality, each one as equally endearing as the one before – pine groves, blueberry bush bramble, wetlands, each with their own perfume, light, and shift in temperature.
The trail is split by a dirt road, looping around and passing the Sippican River all the way back to the road, and then continuing on a backtrack leading to the start.
Although the dry season is upon us, the Sippican River trickled on, and I rested for a moment to watch it upon an obliging tree that had fallen not too long ago. Nearby, I pondered a corral of sorts fashioned out of slender tree trunks, wondering how long it had been there and for what it was constructed.
The walk back was faster, since I had already hiked carefully one way, trying to avoid each spider that sewed its silky trap the night before, only to wind up on a free round-trip ride across the woods on my back, or my head. I was wearing a wig of silky webs by the time I reached the dirt road signaling the return trip back, so I picked up my pace to get a little exercise in the fresh air. The early morning was turning to day, the sun heating up the humidity in the air, making it feel more like I was swimming through the woods rather than walking.
Now an hour after beginning my walk, the whooshing of passing vehicles closing in and spotting the boardwalks again signified the winding down of my hike and the return to the details and my day ahead. A convention of Blue Jays above flew off, reconvening in another corner of the woods as I said farewell to the hundreds of little white Indian Pipes along the walk back.
East Over Reservation is a whopping 322 acres of conservation land with about two and a half miles of hiking trails. There is off street parking in a turnout from the road, and the kiosk is visible from County Road. This one is going on my return list to visit as each season happens upon us.
Do you have a favorite hiking spot in the Tri-Town area? Take a hike and send us your photos at news@wanderer.com!
By Jean Perry
Ms. Perry,
Nice write up and description of Eastover Reservation, but Sippican Lands trust is not part of the management team. The Trustees of Reservations, the Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission and the Rochester Lands Trust are the overseers of the property.