{"id":15714,"date":"2020-03-28T13:52:10","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=15714"},"modified":"2020-04-25T09:16:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T13:16:47","slug":"mount-misery-lincoln","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/03\/28\/mount-misery-lincoln\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From Mount Misery in Lincoln, Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first article in Wonderland’s series about Miserable Places<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

At 227 acres, Mount Misery is considered to be the largest conservation area in Lincoln, Massachusetts. When we arrived on a recent sunny coronavirus midday, the parking lot off Route 117 was stuffed with cars.<\/p>\n

Despite the name, Mount Misery is a beautiful forest of oak and hemlock and white pine and maples. Blueberry bushes sprout here and there. Skunk cabbage blossoms along the creeks. There are ponds, abandoned stone walls, an old dam and sawmill site. Over the years, beavers have built dams along Beaver Dam Brook, which connects Farrar Pond and the Sudbury River. We found the remains of one beaver construction\u2014punctured by long plastic pipes to let the water rush through. From the hillsides above Terrapin Lake, a kettle hole where they grew cranberries until the early 1990s, we heard frogs singing. And we got chased by loose dogs.<\/p>\n

\"Rocky<\/a>
Rocky cliffs at Mount Misery in Lincoln, Massachusetts, March 26, 2020. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mount Misery rises about 100 feet from the forest floor, with rocky cliffs on one side and more gradual approaches elsewhere. At the top, we found an old foundation. The view is of the surrounding forest, which grows taller than the top, obscuring anything much distant.<\/p>\n

“This is without a doubt the most popular site in our community,” Tom Gumbart, the town’s conservation director, told the Associated Press<\/a> in 2007.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The top of Mount Misery in Lincoln, Massachusetts, March 26, 2020. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Map: