Cranberry Pond Meadow Trail

 I was in the mood for something a bit longer, but nothing crazy for elevation today, so headed over to Peterborough and the Cranberry Pond Meadow Trail. This trail has one end at the base of Pack Monadnock and the other in the town of Peterborough. A quarter mile or so heads up the mountain of Pack Monadnock intersecting with Raymond Trail. I had done this section previously with Laura, but needed the section of Raymond Trail back down to East Mountain Road.. so I parked at the Cranberry Pond Meadow parking area and headed up, then down Raymond Trail to complete that section. A short road walk and I turned left onto Cranberry Pond Meadow Trail. From here the trail starts to climb up and over a small hill called Oak Hill. Then just meanders along on private land until it reaches Cranberry Meadow Pond. There were 2 clearings with a bench and one had a firepit. It was a pretty area. Beyond that the trail followed a brook from the pond to a bog area with bridges and up to Old Street Rd. Crossing Old Street Rd, the trail continues through the woods until it meets up with Wheeler Trail, which is a V shaped trail that leads to a small parking area on Rt 101. The first branch coming from the Old Street Rd side wasn't marked with a sign, but I noticed a faded white blaze on a tree (I also had a pre-downloaded digital map which helped me identify I was in the right spot). It was just before a bridge crossing. The only place I got a bit confused was on Wheeler Trail, there was a bridge about 3/4 of the way down the trail that I thought was the end, but it wasn't.. turns out it's a connecting path to the other side of the V. I continued down to the parking area. Heading up the other side of the V, I did do an out and back on that connecting path, just to cover my bases, then continued up to Cranberry Pond Meadow Trail, which was now in a big field with a mowed section to cross. I followed up to Cheney Ave before turning around and heading back. There was some lovely views across to the Wapack Range from here and the colors made it extra pretty. Then, I just backtracked the way I came to the car. 

Strava Activity