Baxter Road Open Space

From the corner of the road the blue blazed trail starts next to a post with a Mansfield Open Space property marker.  This spot did not receive the same signage upgrade at the rest of the town in 2024. The trail all but follows the driveway into the woods but soon forks into the shorter blue loop. I stayed right at the fork and continued pretty close to private property for the first 0.25 miles or so. The trail crosses a wide flat area that I’m sure is pretty marshy in spring until climbing a small ridge and the connector trail east that crosses Nelson Brook to reach the yellow loop.

The yellow loop climbs a small hill skirts the edge of another and climbs up the backside of a third.  In late fall with all the leaves off the trees you could get the shape of the land through the trees to the southwest.

Back on the blue trail you navigate the base of some pretty steep dirt ridges that unfortunately appear to be occasional dumping ground for The Den at Cedar Ridge student housing. The trail recrosses the seasonal wet area to return through the pines to the original fork.