By: Jeff Dickey-Chasins
I recently enjoyed yet another hike in the Middlesex Land Trust 2025 Hike Series – this one to Collins and Temkin Preserves in Portland.
Upon entering the Roy Huse Collins preserve – a haven of wildness nestled up against a suburban subdivision – we encountered an unusual tree trunk. It seemed to be imitating ginseng! (Photo: Curious trunk)
We also saw numerous trees with multiple trunks – two, three, or even four rising from a single origin (Photo: Two trunks). The twelve acre preserve is criss-crossed with numerous stone walls (Photo: Stone wall). Using the same ever-present stone, you can also see very old foundation walls – the one below is for a barn (Photo: Stone foundation).
There were also several places where flat stones had been place across the stream as part of an old road (Photo: Old road). John, our hike leader, pointed out examples of tupelo trees, alive and dead (Photo: Tupelo trees). The preserve is also home to several very large – and very old – tulip trees, notable for their interesting bark and very straight trunks (Photo: Tulip tree). We also took a quick foray into the Abe Temkin Preserve (Photo: Temkin preserve), which had several enormous sycamores as well as a deep ravine.
All in all, a great hike!
