The West Woods — Attraction in Russell Township

I recently visited The West Woods for the first time to do some hiking. There is a beautiful air conditioned nature center building with some exhibits and very nice restrooms adjacent to a large parking lot. I hiked the Ansel's Cave trail which was a pretty steady uphill incline through the woods for about the first 20 minutes or more of hiking. There were also some steps involved before you finally reach the Sharon Conglomerate rock outcroppings. A plaque gave some information about the rock formations. There was also a scenic Creek nearby and a little wooden bridge and small boardwalk area near more of the outcroppings then the trail continues uphill with additional steps which were somewhat steep, so this would not be a great hike for folks with mobility issues. The trail continues through the woods and then loops back toward the park driveway and nature center area. I also did some hiking on the trails near the nature center area, and those were an easier hike. I definitely recommend bringing some water with you if you are hiking to the rocky outcroppings since a lot of it is uphill. This park is located near the border of Newbury and Russell but it was definitely...

Very nice nature center and they give you seed to walk to this one place and hold your hand out and the birds will eat out of it. The only thing it was getting late and my husband was not patient enough to wait for the birds to come eat from my hands. We did take a little walk on a paved trail which was very nice and there are beautiful. It’s not a long walk. They do have longer paths, but this one was just right for me. I do recommend this place. It is kid friendly. All kinds of things for kids. Bathroom was very clean and everyone was super nice. I don’t know the ladies on the horses but I hope they did mind me using the picture. I just wanted to show all the things you can see. The ladies were nice enough to let me take pictures of the horses....

We did the "Bird in the Hand" thing. It was amazing! We stopped in the lodge and got a little film canister of Bird seed, then walked a path that led to a Bird feeder in the woods. Following instructions, we took the feeder down and put it under a box. Then we put the Bird seed in our hands and stood very still. Soon Chickadees were landing on our hands to take some food and then fly off. It was amazing! We learned that you get a lot more action if only one person holds food at a time, and also to make sure that the light shines on the food. (Black gloves and black sunflower seeds) It was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to do it again.

Ps. It only works when there is snow cover and not too much wind, or the...