Seven students from Quabbin Regional High School and five adults made the journey down Tom Swamp Road in Petersham to the start of the Bob Marshall Trail deep in the woods. Several hours later another third of a mile of trail was cleared, getting up to the Petersham State Forest boundary. Reaching the boundary provided a learning moment on how property boundaries are marked where there are no stone walls – with blazes notched into the tree bark and various colored paint applied. Overall the trail will be two miles long running from Tom Swamp to the Harvard Forest buildings on North Main Street.
Many thanks to Bob Clark, Nate, Samantha, Shenna, Ken, Chance, Jenna, Gary, Cole, Cloe, Amy and Cynthia for advancing the Bob Marshall Trail. This trail honors a man who studied forestry and ecology while at Harvard University and traipsing through these woods on his way to Tom Swamp. Bob Marshall’s experiences in the Adirondacks and woods throughout the country led him to activism around wilderness, and the need to preserve wild areas for humans and animals alike. Bob Marshall was one of the founders of The Wilderness Society.