Duck Pond trail

Where: Duck Pond Trail
When: March 8, 2026
With: Solo

I was determined to not let this winter end without at least one more XC ski trip. After many years with little/no snow at all, we had an oversupply this season. So much, in fact, that skiing on ungroomed trails was almost impossible. A group of us packed down some trails after one of the first significant storms, and I got out to ski on those. Then another storm came through and all of our hard work was buried.

Propelled by an upcoming Trails Club walk, I walked the Duck Pond trail at Hopkinton State park in snowshoes, just to check the conditions. The trail started out as a packed footpath - a bit rough at first, then fine - before turning into a snowmobile track. Wide, smooth, well packed down. That lasted until an intersection where the trail split off from the snowmobile track. The trail after that was unbroken.

Somewhat reluctantly, I set off on it, breaking the path with my snowshoes. I lost the route a couple of times, but for the most part found my way just fine. I made it all the way to the end, then returned, packing the trail further. One final side trail near the end of the walk - the Ledges trail - also got packed down before I was done for the day.

With the Club walk now less than a week away, I decided to get in one last ski trip, while also checking out the trail conditions for the walk. There had already been some significant melting since my snowshoe trip, with a bare stretch of trail early on. The snowmobile section was in good shape, though a stream crossing was now open water.

Finally I got to the section I'd broken out. It was okay to begin, but then there was an open water crossing, followed by a long stretch where the trail was an open, running stream. I had to ski in the snow to the side until I got past it. There were some more stream crossings, then a long downhill stretch that ended at bare earth. I could see some small patches of snow ahead, so mostly out of stubbornness I continued all the way to the trail's end at Saddle Hill Road.

From there it was just a matter of turned around and following my tracks back, for an uneventful ski out.

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