Geocachers have a term, cache in, trash out. The only thing they leave behind are the items in the cache. Any trash found along the way gets picked up and deposited in the nearest trash barrel. It’s a wonderful ethos to practice whenever you’re out and about, whether it be in a small landscaped park or a massive state forest.
This Saturday, Taunton is holding a belated Earth Day activity. At the Gertrude Boyden Wildlife Refuge (known to locals simply as the “Bird Sanctuary”) volunteers are encouraged to spend some time between 8 AM and noon walking the trails and picking up any of the refuse that’s found its way onto the site. Over the years the sanctuary has had differing degrees of maintenance. As with any municipal responsibility this year’s budget may not have room for last year’s projects.
Paths spread in multiple directions over the fifty-acre refuge and there are several unique features there besides simple communion with nature. The covered bridge and the mini-log cabin were built with the intent of melding with the surrounding nature, melding and enhancing rather than with an eye for simple utilitarian purposes.
Even if you can’t make the event on Saturday (and the weather doesn’t seem as if it will be cooperative this weekend for park maintenance) the gates are open every day from 9 AM until sunset. Mild hiking trails, a large picnicking area and a fragrance garden are only a few of the attractions on-site. Many of the trails are handicapped accessible. There is one trail along the Three-Mile River that requires quite a bit of agility, with some sections closed off entirely because of erosion from over the past few years.
Heading from Providence along Route 44 East will get you to Taunton and the sanctuary is barely a hundred yards from that main route, its exact address listed as 1298 Cohannet Street. For a fairly decent set of directions the following link should suffice: http://www.trailboundhounds.org/gertrude.htm
The site is also a good resource for finding parks that are pet friendly as well as finding info on coordinated group hikes for people and their dogs.
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Comments
Nice article. Thanks Paul.
Great article,it's good to read your stuff again.Missed reading your articles at "The Call"
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