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Welcome to Life Of The Empty Nesters and discover Mount Jefferson Conservation Area.  On November 12, 2017, I decided to take off for a drive with my camera in the Hubbardston, Massachusetts area.

I was looking for some photography opportunities, when I discovered the Mount Jefferson Conservation area in Hubbardston, MA.  To my surprise, at the end of the trail, I was able to take a nice photograph of Wachusett Mountain.  Wachusett Mountain is located in nearby Princeton, MA.

At the beginning of the trail, there was a mailbox containing several Trail Maps of the area.  The Trail Map explained the trails (14) were open for hiking, cross country skiing, horseback riding, non-motorized mountain biking, and hunting in season.  ATV’s and motorized bikes are prohibited.

In being a conservation area, they also ask that the public respects private property which adjoins some of the trails.  The trails consist of the MT. Jefferson/Malone Road Conservation Areas and the Hubbardston/Templeton State Forest.

I decided to take the Behind The Chimney Trail and began my hiking adventure.  Soon, I would recognize this hiking trail as a moderate level hike.  While walking the trail, I observed forest on both sides of the trail.  I continued down the trail for approximately 8 tenths of a mile.  Then I turned to the right onto the Canesto Brook Trail, which was clearly marked with another sign.

I also observed several blue tree markers on the trail.  The tree markers assisted me, so I would alway be going in the right direction.  Upon walking a short distance down the trail, I came across the a running stream on the left side of the trail.  I stopped and took some pictures of this beautiful running stream.

After taking a few moments to enjoy the beauty, I continued hiking down the Canesto Brook Trail for approximately 5 tenths of a mile.  I then came upon a set of trail signs, the Canesto Brook Trail and the Mill Pond Trail.  Behind the trail signs was a large stone wall structure.  The wall structure had breached running water coming from the bottom of the wall.

After looking around the area, I took a walking path to the top of the stone wall. Here, I observed a small pond area behind the stone wall.  The pond water area was low, however, as you can see from the photographs below, the water was still running through the stone wall.

After a short time of enjoying nature’s beauty, I continued my hike by taking a right onto the Mill Pond Trail.  As I walked down this trail, I enjoyed listening to and watching the birds fly from tree to tree.

The trail had wooded area on both sides and you had a feeling that you were walking in the forest.  Due to time constraints and the fear of not returning before dark, I decided to turn back after about 3 tenths of a mile.  Before turning back, I did observe another small running stream.

While hiking back to the beginning of the trail, I did observe that the majority of the hike was up hill.  As stated at the beginning of this blog, I would categorize this hike as moderate difficulty.

Although, I was only able to hike three of the trails, I would recommend this hiking trail to the public.  I will be returning to the Mount Jefferson Conversation Area area sometime in the future to hike and explore the remaining 11 trails.

I hope you will follow my future blogs, so I can share all my future hiking experiences and some beautiful photographs with you!

Happy Hiking!!