Exploring the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts
At the beginning of this month, my wife and I celebrated our first year of marriage by visiting Massachusetts. While most of the trip was spent in Salem on Halloween, (which I wrote about here) our last full day was spent driving the east coast and visiting the Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. Today’s article is about that portion of our trip!
Living in Texas all of our lives, Tiff and I are not accustomed to real seasons. This is one of the main reasons we chose Massachusetts as our one-year anniversary destination. The trees we drove through on the way up from Boston to Ipswich were incredible. As we traveled down the sinuous roads, we saw such a wide range of colors that the drive itself was worth the trip up north.
We arrived at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, Massachusetts mid-day. It was chilly, (for a native Texan at least) but otherwise, lovely weather. Once we parked, we paid the $6 entry fee in the visitor’s center and were on our way toward the trailhead.
Once we left the visitor’s center and the other old barn-like structures, we meandered through an open field. At the end, we found the beginning of the trail. The path descended downward with wooden-framed steps that seemed to sprawl endlessly in front of us. It was really quite soothing actually, like a form of forest bathing, or “ shinrin-yoku” as the Japanese call it. I’m currently reading through a book on the subject, so I had to throw that in. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As we reached the end of the companionway, a tree created a bordered threshold for us to pass through, (below).
Quickly after the arch, the forest opened up to a wooden bridge with no railings. Below it lay a pond replete with lily pads, ducks, and an alluring backdrop. Something about the platform we walked on amalgamated with the surrounding beauty of the nature preserve and created a dream-like feeling within me.
The Ipswich Wildlife Sanctuary has such an interesting past. Much of its 2,800-acre landscape was created by a glacier 15,000 years ago. More recently however another historical site was erected called the Rockery. Constructed in 1905, it features boulders stacked to create arches and a grotto setting. It was such a unique feature that we spent some time exploring it and taking in its rocky goodness.
Once we exited the Rockery, we were able to explore on top of it. I’m not sure if it was because of movies I’d seen or the fact that we had been to Salem the day before, but the whole area was now looking to me as a place for sacrifices and ancient ceremonies. For some reason, we never took a picture of the top, but we did take about 30 photos on a branch stretching across the path on the way up. This was clearly a better photo op.
We started to head back to explore one last trail that we had seen while walking down the wooden stairs earlier in the day. It was a great ending to our day of hiking and adventuring. The way Massachusetts gets to experience fall should make all of us southerners envious.
If you find yourself in Ipswich county anytime soon, I highly recommend you visit the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. I suggest you do it in fall as well. This was the perfect way to spend our last full day in Massachusetts. We also made a video, so if you’re interested in seeing this article in moving form, check it out below and thanks for reading!
