Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary - Westport/South Dartmouth, MA

This post features the Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary, which spans Westport and South Dartmouth, MA.  The Sanctuary is owned and managed by the Massachusetts Audubon Society.  There is no cost to visit, but donations and memberships are encouraged.   

We parked at the Field Station Entrance on Horseneck Road in Westport, diagonally across from Bayside Restaurant, and did the Beach Loop Trail.  We purposely took the trail backward from the description, knowing that once our kiddos saw the beach, they would be less impressed with the salt marsh.  

So, from the parking lot, we turned left to pass through an open field, turned right to meander along a flat, packed sand trail through marsh land, and then turned right onto the beach at the end of the Sanctuary property.  The trail then followed the beach north, passing over large boulders, then turned right through another open field and back to the parking lot.  The trail had some signage, but was a little tricky to follow in the boulder area.  We walked around the boulder a few times, and Scott's GPS watch measured our walk at about 1.7 miles.  A more direct route would seemingly be about 1.3 miles, per the measurements on the trail map.  

The kids LOVED walking along the beach.  It was so nice to see, smell, and hear the ocean, especially during the winter.  The tide was low-ish while we were there, so there was plenty of packed sand.  The rest of the beach is rocky, so the footing would likely be different at high tide.  The field and marsh areas were not unexpectedly swampy.  I would recommend sturdy footwear.  Scott and I were fine with hiking boots, but the girls had chosen to wear sneakers (instead of their boots), which quickly became soaked after they purposely jumped in the marshy puddles...  They were so happy to be at the beach that they didn't mind wet shoes.

The Sanctuary is very close to Horseneck Beach, which gets crowded in the summer months, and I'm not sure what it would be like to visit the Sanctuary in the summer.  But we had a lovely visit and hope to return another time.








































Comments

  1. ColetteMarch 2, 2021 at 6:30 AM

    There are other longer trails too. We once started from Horseneck Rd in Dartmouth and ended up at the beach trail.

    ReplyDelete

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