Rambles on the Minuteman Bikeway

I recently moved out from Cambridge to Arlington right near the Minuteman Bikeway. I have been on the rail-to-trail bike path a couple times in the past for a fun. I've now used it a couple times on Sunday morning to get to church in Davis Square. It is surprisingly busy on Sundays before 10:00 a.m. and even more so on the way back. Multiple generations of families appeared to be traveling on the path. Some looked like they were just out for the bike equivalent of a stroll and some seemed like they had a purpose and destination in mind.

The Bikeway is one of the primary reasons my fiance and I chose this new apartment. Despite not being able to use it much yet, I must prematurely conclude that it is awesome.

Last weekend, we went on a little jaunt north. I've never been north on the path and expected pretty much more of the same. However, a short trip toward Lexington reveals vast views of the Arlington Great Meadows brimming with cattails.

It seems that at least for the time being cattails in these meadows are winning against invasive species phragmities and purple loosestrife. I wonder if they are waging this battle with the help of human weed pullers or on their own for now, because I was also struck by the amount of the buckthorn in the woods near the path. Having pulled enormous amounts of buckthorn trees out of the ground in college I can appreciate that tackling this project would be a daunting challenge, and I was delighted to see that at least the meadows themselves seem to be relatively intact!