Bank Street Bogs Nature Preserve, Harwich MA.

   
    Almost summer on Cape Cod. That means tons of traffic, full beaches that cost $15-$20 a day to park, work will be busier and hopefully some nice weather. We finally had real nice weather last week. I had planned to get in a few north side beaches since low tide would be right around the time I liked to walk. My plans changed because my friend that started walking with me in the beginning wanted to start up again. He has a dog and likes to walk the south side beaches. If not for him being there at the start I doubt I would have got in the habit of walking everyday. I thought I would be able to hike some trails later in the afternoons but another friend needed my help. That was good though, I got an extra work out every day since a lot of yard work was needed.
    I finally got my chance to hike a new trail, and of course it was a cold, cloudy day with bits of rain. I couldn’t go too far so I decided to go to Harwich, only two towns away. Bank Street Bogs Nature Preserve is on Bank St. off of Rte 28. Park next to the Harbormaster Workshop on the east side of the street. You can go to the left or the right as the grass path is a loop trail that has a few other paths that cut across. There are 44 nest boxes around the trail that house bluebirds and blue green tree swallows. There is one trail that goes into the woods and connects back to the bog. There are a few times I felt like I was walking in someone’s backyard, which kind of bothered me. The bog is not farmed so trees and bushes are growing instead of cranberries. Grassy Pond supplies the water to Cold Brook that flows through the bog to Saquatucket Harbor. The trail is 2 miles but by walking the connecting trails you can add more. I walk a working bog down the street from my house when I don’t have time to go to a trail. It was cool to see how it would look if they stopped farming it,

Ratings 1- the cellar  2- shoddy  3- tolerable  4- worthy  5- wicked good

Accessibility - 5 - Rte 28 to Bank St in Harwichport
Parking -  2 - Only 4 allotted spaces
Length-  4 - Not too bad
Degree of Difficulty- 5- Easy
Extras-  3  Bird watching
Trail Markings-  5 - easy to follow
Trail Maintenance-   5  good
Variation - 3 can go through woods and can take crossing paths or just go around perimeter
Scenic  - 3 -
Worth Returning - 3 On a nicer day to see the birds
Surface - Grass
Beach -   no
Facilities - no
What I liked - It was cool to see how a bog changes
What I didn’t - Seemed like walking through peoples yards a few times

Rating 38 out of 50