This cache is hidden in a 615 acre wooded area located in the
western part of Sudbury and the eastern part of Marlboro. It is
known by various names including Hop Brook Reservation, Memorial
Forest Reservation, and the Desert Natural Area. The property is
owned by four different public and private entities, but all of it
is open to the public for recreational use. There are numerous
trails throughout the forest and it's a great area for hiking and
cross-country skiing. The Sudbury portion of this area, centered
around Hop Brook and its tributaries Trout Brook and Cranberry
Brook, was owned from the 1930's until 1950 by Henry Ford.
The cache itself is located at an interesting intersection of
various paths and boundaries. A nearby stone marker marks the spot where the towns of Hudson and Sudbury and
the city of Marlboro all meet. The marker sits on a long-abandoned
rail line, part of the old Central Massachusetts Railroad which
laid down these tracks in 1881 as part of a route from Hudson to
Boston. Currently, in 2023, the railbed has been removed by Eversource to install underground power lines. (Work is still in process but the cache is still in existence, just slightly moved from its original position). After the power line installation is complete, a "rail trail" will be laid beside the power lines. This will become part of the existing Mass Central Rail Trail.
In 1967 Tenneco clearcut a swath of land and installed a
natural gas pipeline that also runs through the junction where this
cache is located. The area directly north of the cache, owned by
the federal government, was a former U.S. Military Reservation and
is now designated as the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. You will still
see some of the barbed wire that used to keep visitors out when it was the military reservation. Lastly, the old road
between Marlboro and Concord, still called Old Concord Road on some
maps but long abandoned, runs through this junction.
There are several approaches to the cache. The most
straightforward is from the Marlboro side, where you can park at
coordinates 42 22.544 North and 71 29.566 West and walk along the
old abandoned road, now a hiking path, for a mile or so. This is
the most direct route, but in the spring it may be flooded
and un-passable where Cranberry Brook crosses it. In fact several
of the latest logs indicate that the water has remained on this
path into the fall. For those who want more of a challenge,
or to ensure that your feet stay dry, park at one of two parking
areas off Dutton Road in Sudbury and hike in along one of a number
of interesting paths. Coordinates for the first of these two
parking areas are 42 22.283 North and 71 27.739 West, where there
is space for about four or five cars to park. A Short distance
away, at coordinates 42 22.562 North and 71 27.325 West, there is
space for two cars to park. Follow the trails in from either of
these two spots. We recommend you print a map of the area, even if
you don't intend to use it, just in case you might need it:
People have been known to have gotten lost in here!
Although the terrain is easy and the level of difficulty is not
hard, you should plan about an hour round trip from Marlboro and an
hour and a half round trip minimum from Sudbury.