Official Site: [www.shawnature.org]
My Photos: [www.mohiking.com]

14 miles on 10 short trails. (Although that counts many roads and back roads that most people don't walk on. My review is for all the open spaces that I frequent on my normal route- about 4 miles).

I’m in love with the Nature Reserve all over again and now I finally have the photos to show why. For years Shaw Nature Reserve was one of the only places I knew about around here to go hiking, so I know the place very well.

The last few months I’ve been on a kick of exploring only new trails I’ve never been to before. I started to wonder if the Nature Reserve would be not-so-great in my mind after visiting Millstream Gardens and many of the other beautiful places I’ve been to. I stopped there on my way back from my rather dreary and colorless hike at Onondoga and I’m still totally loving the Nature Reserve! And I know exactly why. It has what most other trails and places do not have, many expanses of wide open spaces.

The Nature Reserve is such a joyful place! If you need some sunshine and some blue blue sky, and lots of it, the Nature Reserve is the place to go. My favorite trails there are all the trails out in the open. I have a favorite route.

When you first arrive at the parking lot, there is lovely little lake that is surrounded with Cyperus trees. Down by the little bridge is the start of the Brush Creek Trail. The Brush Creek Trail is a pretty little walk in the woods for about ½ mile, which includes a stroll through the wild flower garden (which includes a little boardwalk over a pond). You cross a couple of little creeks and then pop out of the woods into the sunshine.

At that point, if you veer left you go off into the prairie walk, but first I like to go straight up the hill toward the Trail house. (The Trail house is a restroom). I don’t know if a lot of people know about this, but the best little overlook is up that way. Kind of behind the Trail house area is a large glade. There is a trail that goes along the glade the best overlook in the whole place looks out over the glade and off into the distance. (It’s called Crescent Knoll Overlook).

Also, down the path from the Trail house, they just built a new glade boardwalk. It’s a zig zaggy board walk on which you can go out over the glade a bit for a view. You can also see the boardwalk from Crescent Knoll Overlook. (I took photos off all these things, please check out my fabulous photos in the album).

After spending time at the glade, I go back down the hill and go out onto the Prairie Trail. The prairie is filled with tall grasses and wildlflowers and the whole place turns to golden straw in autumn. It’s a little different every year, but the summer before they did some of the controlled burning (they burn it off every few years), the prairie was just filled with Black Eyed Susans and other variants of the sunflower family. All of these sunflowers bent over into the path, so all you could see was tall grasses and yellow flowers bending over onto the path the entire way. The next year or so after they did the burning, I did not see as many sunflowers but hopefully they will be back soon.

The Prairie Trail slops gently upwards, and at the top is a lookout deck with benches. This is the 2nd great overlook in the place which rives the other place for best. It provides a panoramic view of the prairie, with its picturesque little pond at the bottom of the hill, and the further off view of all the hills around.

Then I go down the hill from the deck (the trail picks up right behind the deck in case you are looking for it. It goes down the hill, passes by the pond and when you are down in that corner, when you hit the road, look for the sign for the Wet Lands Trail. The Wet Lands Trail goes around a combination lake/swampy area that provides a habitat for cat tails, swamp grasses, water lillies. I like this trail because it is also out in the open. In the summer, many wild flowers fill the tall grasses along this trail and it’s very pretty dare I say, happy.

At the very back of this trail there is a curvy board walk that goes across the back end of the lake. I did not go there on this particular day so I didn’t get a photo of it. The board walk has benches and is a great place take a break. Most of the year, the lake is choked with Lilly pads and water lilies in the board walk area. One morning I saw a huge white crane back there.

That is my usual route and from the wet lands trail I usually head back to my car. However, there is still more to the place. If you want woodsy trails, head to the back of the reserve, back past the Trail house. There is a mess of trails back there in the woods down by the Merimac River. One of the trails even goes right down onto a gravel bar right out into the river!

Sometimes for a diversion I will take a different route and take the Wolf Run Trail either out or back. The Wolf Run Trail is pretty much a walk in the woods with some nice features. It goes by a small pond and then a little lake.

March is frog mating season and I love the sound of frogs. I was out there last March and when I got out of my car I heard the loudest sound of frogs. I walked over to the parking lot lake. Standing there, I realized the sound was coming from behind me. I followed the sound down Wolf Run trail and not far down that trail, came across a little pond in the woods that I had never paid much mind to before. The sound was so loud it was amazing! I guess the frogs prefer the little woodland pond over the sunny Cyperus surrounded lake.

All in all, I would say the route I described is about 4 miles. If you want to, you can also take a walk around the Cyperus surrounded lake (I think it’s called Pinetum Lake but I’m not sure), and there is a little bridge at the back end of the lake. The little bridge is picturesque from afar. In the late afternoon as my hike was coming to an end, the low afternoon sun was causing the trees to reflect in the lake. I was having a fabulous time with my new camera.








Edited 1 times. Last edit at 11/07/05 10:51PM by Nick Kasoff.

I think I will go and explore this area on Sunday and thanks for all the detailed info!
I saw a posting on a Yahoo Group about the Shaw Nature Reserve and it has really been an interest to me and I enjoy exploring new places.
Thank You