Rockport Babson Boulder HIKE

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Gloucester, MA, US

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Route Overview

All Day Adventures

Hiking, Cyclo-Cross, MTB, Fat Bike, Road Bike: in Eastern Mass, and New England www.AllDayAdventures.org

7 mi.

400 ft.

Babson Boulder Hike, 4 Hour tour of the Babson Boulders, Prime-Evil Forest-Dogtown, and South Woods Rockport

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Route Details

The **Babson Boulders Trail**, **Prime-Evil Forest**, and **South Woods** Hike is a 7 mile, 4 hour adventure in the forest of Rockport, on Cape Ann. This hike is on rugged terrain.

[**www.AllDayAdventures.org**](https://www.alldayadventures.org)

The @poi[Babson Boulders](2511638) start within 1000 feet of the entrance trail before you head across the train tracks and onto the @point[Babson Boulder Trail](d,657.68) where you will see many more of these gems.

The hike then continues onto the @point[Moraine Trail](d,2168.15) which I have renamed “The @poi[Prime-Evil Forest](2511640)”.  Once you are on this path you will understand why.  There are random @photo[Boulder Fields](2117044) in every direction among heavy growth forest and lots of Ferns.

Crossing over Main Street you will gain entrance to @poi[South Woods](2510465), Rockport. The trailhead  is a barely discernable trail almost across the street.  Currently this trail does not show on the OSM maps, but the GPS track should guide you properly to Cape Pond, where you will pick up a wide fire-road as you approach the water’s edge.

You will stay on the fire-road till you pass the narrow end of @point[Cape Pond](d,4713.51), and soon you will be on a narrow trail again.   From here is just pure hiking on interesting terrain and territories.  
You should pack some food and bring a camera.  Expect 4 – 6 hours hiking time with stops.

**History:**
Roger Babson donated 1,150 acres of Dogtown land to Gloucester in 1930. Part of his personality and values are still seen in Dogtown today. A unique aspect of Dogtown are the mottos carved in rocks. In the 1930s, Mr. Babson hired out-of-work stone engravers to inscribe a set of mottos collected mainly from the Good Cheer Library which was a set of inspirational and self help books.  There are 24 mottos that are carved into some of Dogtown's larger stones.    (Source: <http://www.billandcori.com>)

When viewing the map for this hike on the RidewithGPS webpage, select the **map view called OSM**. On this view page, you will see the locations of 16 of the 24 inscribed boulders, if you zoom in close enough.

Enjoy your adventure.

Rockport Babson Boulder HIKE

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