Assabet River Rail Trail

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again that I love rail trails. It’s the idea of exploring on two wheels or two feet instead of in a car or on a sidewalk (without the complete isolation of a nature walk). I recently took a walk on the Assabet River Rail Trail which runs through the towns of Marlborough and Hudson, Massachusetts. It stops for a while and returns from Maynard to Acton. I had walked part of the Maynard section before, but this time I set out to explore the rail trail starting at the Marlborough trailhead. The Assabet Rail Trail and Lost Shoe Brewing were the destinations of the day.

Lost Shoe Brewing and Roasting Company

I have been seeing a bit of Marlborough on Phantom Gourmet, showing the Renaissance of the downtown. As I remembered, it has a quaint downtown with a few restaurants and some breweries. Given that my visit occurred on a Monday morning during the current pandemic, my brewery options were limited. Flying Dreams, another brewery in town, was not open.

Giving that Lost Shoe is not only a brewery but a coffee roastery too, it has morning hours. It actually opens at 7 in the morning. I called ahead for curbside pickup. The whole interaction was super quick. They were ready with my order as soon as I pulled out front. My trunk was open and the employee delivered the order to my trunk. My order consisted of two IPAs, their take on the All Together Now and Meet Me At Doo Wops, a sour, Galoshes of Fortune, and a milk stout with coffee, New Pair of Brews. The sour and the stout are part of a rotating series.

I really can’t wait to head back here when we can go into businesses once again. It looked truly cool. The drink menu is wild. Beer flights, coffee flights, hell they even make their own hard seltzer! I’m excited to try a flight of coffee, followed up by a flight of beer. With large windows, a brick facade, and inviting industrial feel to the inside, I can certainly see myself enjoying some kind of brew at Lost Shoe in the future.

We parked in a municipal lot on Jefferson Street in Marlborough right off the path and headed north on the rail trail. We brought my son’s pushbike. Even though he’s getting close to five years old, he has never taken to bikes or ride-on vehicles of any sort. This was a momentous trip since he started pedaling his pushbike by himself on this path.

The rail-trail is paved, well-marked and given that it was once the Marlborough branch of the Fitchburg line, is relatively straight. We started out on our journey in the late morning which was good since the trail was pretty quiet. It starts in a more industrial area of town, behind old factories. Fairly quickly the suburbs begin, with housing developments encroaching the rail trail.

Quite the trail!

After this, the path passes through wooded areas with a beautiful view overlooking Fort Meadow Reservoir. The woods are actually on the property of Boston Scientific’s campus. The trail passes over a wooden bridge of sorts. It continues paralleling Sasseville Way, which is another entrance into Boston Scientific. As the trail ducks next to a wall of increasing size, my guess is that this could have been a former station on the train line. Our ride ended at the intersection with Fitchburg Street. We almost made it to the Hudson town line. With my son self-peddling the whole way, we made it in 45 minutes down the trail. Pushbike, stroller, and dog all in tow.

The way back to the Marlborough trailhead is a slight uphill which means my son had to be pushed the majority of the way back to the car. On the walk, there were uplifting messages regarding the current epidemic including a plant-your-own flower garden surrounded by a heart outlined in stones.

My adventure to Marlborough, riding the rail-trail and stopping at a brewery, was a success. I look forward to going back when I can stop inside Lost Shoe. Lost Shoe is located at 19 Weed Street in Marlborough and the parking lot is at Jefferson Street, across from the football field.