Grand Trunk Trail – Brimfield

With several inches of Wednesday’s snow still on the ground and no snow-specific gear, we targeted a nice flat well-traveled trail for our post-Thanksgiving Saturday hike.  We chose the Grand Trunk Trail in Brimfield (also known as the Brimfield Trail and the Titanic Rail Trail).  We’d done this trail over the summer with our daughter on a day of exploration and geocaching, and knew it would be passable in boots without too much trouble. In the summer we saw tadpoles, rabbits, and snakes — this time, not so much.

The history of this trail is interesting; the Grand Trunk Railway wanted to create an extension from Montreal down to Palmer MA, and then over to Providence RI.  When the railway head died on the Titanic, expansion plans died with him, leaving significant chunks of land set aside for the railway undeveloped (or used for trolley lines).  Years later, this land would be turned into a rail trail, with the eventual goal of connecting Franklin MA and Palmer MA.  For now, trails in Brimfield, Sturbridge, and Southbridge exist, and need to eventually be connected and extended.

We started our hike at the parking area near Five Bridges Road, a rural dirt road in Brimfield.  As has become our habit, we took Jess’s 4WD SUV and were glad of it when it was time to park in the snowfilled parking area.  We started heading west towards the trail’s current end point at Route 20 in Brimfield.  The trail is broad and flat, and walks through beautiful forested wetlands.

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The trail had been heavily traveled since the snow, with abundant boot tracks, dog tracks, and cross-country ski tracks.  We were able to handle it in our boots just fine.

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We continued west along the trail, with the intention of forking south to check out the Siog Lake Bypass (into Holland), but we misread the map and ended up taking some minor side trails instead while continuing towards Route 20 in Brimfield.

We snapped plenty of photos of the wooded section of the trail, but there’s not much to say about it; it’s a beautiful area, flat, and easy to traverse.

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After a while, though, the trail enters the section of Brimfield which was devastated by the 2011 tornado.  In this area the trees are all down, and the view is stark.  It’s an impressive and sad contrast.

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On the other hand, the wide-open area is beginning to fill back in with the kind of growth that isn’t seen in the more forested area, and some of the opened-up views can be beautiful.

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After about a mile and a half, we turned around.  We were on a bit of a schedule and wanted to get home in time to do some holiday errands.  We were happy to leave the flattened area and enter back into the wooded paths.

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We made good time getting back to the car and continued a bit east past the parking area.  Here the trail leads into a marsh area where the Quinebaug River winds through.  The views here were completely different, including some recent beaver damage.

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It was here that we had a somber moment of reflection; in a beautiful spot within sight of the river a lone pink cross stands in the ground.  There, in October 1993, the remains of 10-year old murder victim Holly Piirainen were found. Her murder remains unsolved, and just as with Molly Bish there are frequent reminders of the unsolved crime seen around the area.  Especially so close to Thanksgiving, it was a sobering reminder of how thankful we are for our family, and how many are not as fortunate.

It was with this in mind that we took the short walk back to our car, returning to the wooded section of the trail and wrapping up a 3.5 mile excursion in the first real snow of the year.

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