Stony Brook Reservation

February 23, 2020 Sunny

This is a small, urban woodland in the southwest part of Boston and Dedham. We parked at a small lot along Dedham Parkway at the south end of the reservation and explored the trails.

The main loop, a Healthy Heart Trail, is paved and mainly flat, and we followed it north, passing by some interesting rocky outcroppings.

We could also see the adjacent George Wright public golf course.

The walkers were greatly outnumbered by joggers on this path, which struck us as a great place for a quick jog. Maybe next time.

We soon reached a high point overlooking Turtle Pond and scrambled down to the trail around the pond.

It was a warm, sunny day and a young man was sunning and reading on the old wooden dock. We looked for turtles here but didn’t find any, and continued around the pond.

Although we hoped to make a circuit around the pond on this path, we found that we had to walk a short distance on the side of the Enneking Parkway (safe to do) and then rejoin the paved path at the southern tip of the pond.

We then made our way back along the paved trail to our car.

The reservation is small, but is very “stony” forest, which makes it pretty interesting. The relative wilderness in this urban area, along with the nicely paved trails, makes it a good walk.

Paved loop trail through a stony forest to a small pond. Good walk for an urban park.
There’s an easy trail but it didn’t go around the pond. It’s bordering a golf course and is very popular with the locals.
At one point we had to walk on the road, with all the trash and brambles, but other than that, it was pretty cool.
The paved paths were good because the other parks didn’t have them, but the walk was regular.
I liked the paved paths.