Hazel Brook Conservation Area

A short walk along the trails here is highlighted by views along an old farm pond. Look for families of Canada geese in the late spring, as well as sunning turtles and frogs along the pond edge. Continue to a loop around the adjacent fields to the north, or into the forest where a loop will bring you across Hazel Brook and up the hill to the Weston town line and the adjacent Town Forest, offering many longer options for exploration.

Full Description

Hazel Brook Conservation Area rewards your senses almost immediately with the sound of the rushing waters of Hazel Brook, soon followed by the sight of a beautiful pond. Hazel Brook Conservation Area offers a varied landscape of water, open fields, and hardwood forest. With the old forest roads and a view across fields that has hardly changed in 150 years, you may feel you’ve stepped back in time. 

  • A figure-eight hike through Hazel Brook Conservation Area takes about one hour, but you can extend your walk beyond the property’s boundary. A moderately easy hike uphill through the quiet woods leads you to a network of more than 65 miles of trails through Weston Town Forest (see Weston maps) and other public lands.
  • The trail through the woods will take you past large oaks, beeches, pines, and maples.
  • Stone walls indicate that the land was formerly used for agriculture, probably for the grazing of farm animals, as do the white pines that are filling in an abandoned field.

Hazel Brook and its surrounding areas are a prime example of the domino effect in land protection. Gifts from one or two landowners encouraged others to also protect land along the brook’s course, starting with its headwaters and continuing in a patchwork of SVT-owned parcels and conservation restrictions as the brook flows toward the Sudbury River.

Directions

With mapping software, search for this address: 22 Hazelbrook Lane, Wayland, MA

From the intersection of Route 20 and Routes 27/126 in Wayland, go north on Route 126 for 1.2 miles. Turn right on Glezen Road. Go 0.7 mile to Hazelbrook Lane (unpaved). Turn left onto Hazelbrook and go 0.1 mile. There is space for two cars to parallel park along the right side of road. (If you reach the Lincoln Road intersection, go back 0.1 mile.)

Click here to visit Google Maps for specific directions from your home.

Nearby Nature Sightings

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Canada geese in the fields adjacent to Hazel Brook Conservation Area in Wayland, photographed by Gail Sartori.
Gail Sartori photographed Canada geese in the fields next to SVT's Hazel Brook Conservation Area in Wayland.
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A green frog at Hazel Brook Conservation Area in Wayland, photographed by William Watt.
William Watt photographed a green frog at SVT's Hazel Brook Conservation Area in Wayland.