Douglas State Forest

August 22, 2020 T-Storms

This state forest is in Douglas, south of Worcester, and straddles the border of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The main attractions here are Wallum Lake and several short hiking trails. It can fill up early, so we made a point to arrive by 10 am to beat the crowds.

We started our visit with the “Coffeehouse Loop”, a 2.2 mile trail through forests near the lake. We also took a detour on a shorter trail to see the rare Atlantic White Cedars.

The trail starts from the parking lot and is mainly flat. We took the clockwise direction and first passed through an old quarry with massive piles of broken rubble on either side of the trail.

Soon after this we detoured onto the short Cedar Swamp Trail, which descended into a more swampy area with a boardwalk and numerous signposts pointing out interesting trees and flowers.

Surprisingly there were no bugs at all and very little water on the forest floor due to the locally dry conditions that continued much of this summer and especially in August.

Soon we rejoined the main Coffeehouse Loop. Most of this trail was shaded and fairly wide and soft, covered with pine needles. A few points had small brook crossings.

We also took a short detour from the loop to check out the Southern New England Trunkline Trail, which starts in Douglas and goes northeast 22 miles to the Franklin State Forest. This section of the trail appeared to be packed gravel and better maintained than the Franklin area (see our review in that post).

In any case, we soon came to a pond that had the remains of a former grist mill.

Although there’s not much left, we walked on the long stone wall and admired the scenic pond that once provided the power for the mill.

Here you can see the section that held the main part of the mill through which the water flowed.

The final part of the loop trail follows a large meadow, eventually returning the same parking lot.

At this point, we were ready for a swim, gathered our gear, and headed over to Wallum Lake.

It was a busy day, with an ice cream truck surrounded by young children and their parents. Most of the picnic tables were filled and the smoke from the grills filled the air. It had a relaxed, family feel. We found a spot near the beach and laid out our blanket.

The beach was wide, very clean and sandy, with several lifeguards.

The water was a little cool but we adjusted and really enjoyed our time. It’s very clean and clear, and has a large roped area that never felt crowded. Also, the scenery is wonderful and there were few motor boats in this area, but we did see a few waterskiers go by.

After some swim time, the kids enjoyed playing on the sandy beach until lunch. All in all, this was one of the best swimming lakes we’ve been to on our journey. And this state forest also offers a few interesting hiking trails and access to the bike trail.

It’s a popular park and for good reason. I would say it’s a gem in this part of the state.

• Interesting loop trail to see Atlantic White Cedars, and Wallum Lake was clear and refreshing, with a wide beach and lifeguards.
• The pond is really nice. The best in the area.
• The forest was pretty nice with a boardwalk and a dried-up swamp. The pond was fairly warm, very clear, and had little or no weeds. Great park.
• The trail was okay. The lake was pretty shallow, and the boats that came by made waves.
• The cedar swamp had an old gristmill and the lake was cold, but pretty good, because it had deep parts and I was shooting Liam with water.

For more information: Douglas State Forest official site.