We have been hiking the BCT in segments for some time now. We are well south of Boston having completed 200 or so miles of trail. We are on Map 13 and plan to finish in 3 more hikes.
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| Screenshot of the BCT map showing the gap |
There is a gap in the BCT between points G and points H on Map 13. We recently hiked this section, when we came to the last BCT marker we could find we turned left and followed a thin red line trail shown on the BCT map headed out to route 27. You might notice that the trail does not connect with the road. We then followed route 27 to Crooker Place and then to the parking at H on the map.
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| Wet trail |
I can't recommend this route. The trail was quite wet, required some bushwacking, ended up on a private property construction site alongside some old warehouses, and took us a mile or more out of our way.
We learn a better route
Once we got to parking lot H we met a woman walking her dog who told us you could follow the trails all the way to Elm street from there. She knew the BCT was "back there somewhere". Thus inspired we headed back down the trail a bit and in a few minutes without any problem we came to the end of the trail where an hour or so earlier we had turned left.
How you could cross the gap to H
Much of the trail from G to H runs on or alongside a swath cut through the pine forest. If once you reach the gap instead of turning left you instead stay on the trail, cross a swampy bit on some branches which have been thrown down you will find the trail soon rises to higher ground and turns to the right. A bit farther on it turns to the left and rejoins the swath cut through the pine forest. A little farther on the trail turns left from the swath and comes out at parking area H.
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| View of the gap from google maps. The cleared swath is quite visible, the route leaves the cleared swath to cross a swampy bit and then rejoins the swath. The gap starts just before you cross. |
About the gap
Looking at the Hanson open space map the gap is on land is marked "Privately owned open space" The parking lot and the openspace kiosk at H are on a bit of land marked "town owned land".
My guess is the BCT has not been able to get permission to run the trail across this property and for that reason it's not blazed and not on the map. It would great if the route could be shown on the map as a thin red line as they do other trails in this area which are adjacent to the BCT and or provide some hint in the trail description on how to cross this gap.
Enjoy the trail!
Strangely I had no trouble getting through to the railroad crossing! I did have to resort to using AllTrails, but there was a clear path on a berm across the giant swamp - big puddles but a way around each time. Then there were blazes on the other side. If you are not using AllTrails as a backup, you should check it out.
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