Marlboro, Halifax

This is a short loop ride designed to claim these two rather remote towns. Chris calls this an “in the boonies ride,” with wide empty dirt roads going up and down through a forested landscape. This beautiful area appears to have once been heavily farmed land that has since grown back up to forest. Yes, there were some farms and homes interspersed here and there, but surprisingly few considering the proximity to Massachusetts.

This ride starts in Marlboro village. You can park at the Marlboro Town hall, and then head out South Road, a high elevation road that goes up and down for about five miles. It starts as a paved road that soon turns into gravel. This road becomes Lucier Road. You then take a right onto Thomas Hill Road, which screams down almost 600 ft in elevation over a mile and a half. It was a beautiful morning and the fresh air on our faces was tremendous.

At the corner of two roads we met local bike rider named Max, who claimed, before we parted ways, that the hills were more challenging to the west. He rode west as we headed east.

In Halifax we saw remnants of an old community, with a weathered cemetery where some stones registered 1823 or older. Some headstones were so overgrown with moss that they were not even legible.

We rode by the Marlboro Town Park, which looked like nothing more than a meadow with a small gravel pull in with a handicapped parking sign. So cute!