Riding the Morraine Trail in Falmouth, MA, North to South
Thought we’d share a great mountain biking/hiking trail in Falmouth that doesn’t see a ton of use. The Morraine Trail follows the spine of a glacial morraine, (an accumulation of soil and rock pushed together by a glacier) from North Falmouth to Falmouth center, about 10 miles. It’s a small but very pretty corridor that runs parallel to route 28 on the Eastern side, with a lot of fun single track for mountain bikes!
Since 1986 the 300 Committee of Falmouth has been purchasing land to connect this trail continuously, which it now does (with a few road crossing here and there). Check out their site, it has a lot of great maps, and you can pick up some physical copies for free from the office! http://www.300committee.org/maps.htm
Gearing up for the cold (about 30 degrees) I put some warmer gear on, took a couple hits and was on the road. Just east of the offramp for 28 south on rt. 151 the inlet for the trail is on the right. The whole trail is well marked with white, horizontal bars on trees and rocks. If you look close to the rock on the right you can see one of the first markers.
There’s a short bit of flowy trail till you hit cross the train tracks
From there a lot of fast single track follows close to the highway, punctuated by some brutal, pukeworthy climbs for a semislob like myself. Keep your eyes open for trail markers at forks, but don’t sweat it cause all trails lead to Rome at this point.
A little trail maintenance was in order here and there, it’s been windy lately.
The route I took led me out of the woods at a power station on Thomas Landers Rd.
I crossed and took a left on Thomas Landers and headed to the first entrance to the Falmouth Technology Park, a right on Research Rd. There are a few different trails in that first section, but wherever you come out, take a left on Thomas Landers and you should run into Research Rd. soon.
Follow Research Rd., past the Social Security office on your right, heading toward the big wind turbine. You can occasionally see the white bar trail markers on the side walk. It’s about a 1/4 mile jog on the road till you come to the next trail inlet. It’s got a nice arrow marker to help. (Thanks 300 Committee)
Some fast trail in here and then a rocky bike and hike to a real tough climb (didn’t make that one!). Keep following the markers!
Eventually you’ll come out on Blacksmith Shop Rd. where you’ll take a right
Just around the bend on Blacksmith Shop you’ll see another trail inlet arrow on the left and a tree with a marker. Its a quick sprint up and a fun longish downhill.
This section is a bit tricky because there are a number of auxiliary trails that the Morraine Trail crosses, but keep checking for markers at intersections. I’m pretty sure it was a right, a left, and then a right that I took and it led me right to Brick Kiln Rd. (It’s a small area so getting “lost” isn’t so bad)
Across Brick Kiln and to the right just a bit is the next entrance to the trail. This section leads you into the Long Pond area.
The first portion of this trail is as close to the Redwood vibe as you can get around here, massively dwarfed I know, but still really beautiful.
Abandoned cars in different states of decay are a must for any nature trail squeezed into well developed areas!
The trees have been drinking.
This section eventually dumps you out onto the service road for the Long Pond area. Take a right and then keep making lefts on the service road and you’ll make it to the pumping station. Take a right on the pavement and head up the hill on the other side of the building and you hit Rt. 28 where you can cross over to the bike path (careful), or you can turn around and do it in the opposite direction (are you mental?!!).
Just before the end of the Long Pond service road (you can barely see the pumping station through the trees) there is a trail head on the right with those telltale white bars on a tree!
This trail, recently bushwhacked, makes a short little technical detour in the same direction as the road, but around a small kettle hole (ponds formed by glaciers).
Damn these woods are nice.
Towards the end I stumbled on a collapse building with nothing but a chimney left standing, looking like a cement antennae.
That’s the Morraine Trail, North to South. Give it a whirl. Bike or Garbage till Death!
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