On June 4 fourteen members of the TOHG walking/hiking group, a guest and two four-footed friends met at the parking lot of the Maudsley State Park in Newburyport for a 3.5 mile walk. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the upper 60s with sunshine. We started by wandering through the19th century gardens and old foundations and stopped to admire the plein-air paintings in progress by a group of artists who had set up easels along the path. The first portion of the walk lead us through an area where the azaleas were in full bloom and the rhododendrons were starting to bloom. We also spotted some pink Lady Slippers along the way. We then followed the trail that lead along the edge of the Merrimack River to the Laurel trail which winds through one of the largest naturally-occurring stands of mountain laurel in Massachusetts although they were not yet blooming. The walk continued through the higher pine forest area and ended with a walk through a beautiful field.
Eleven of the group then had a great lunch at the Sea Level Oyster Bar in downtown Newburyport; and four followed that up with Gelato from the shop across the street.
Maredith P
