i agree on cascades park..very peaceful in there, and gives you a very remote feeling being still close to worcester.

you might also want to check out Moore State Park, on route 31 in Paxton.

You can hike from RI to NH through Worcester County on the Midstate Trail. Nice if you want a full-day hike.

90miles over 24hours of constant walking would be 330ft/minute.

The average stride of a female is 2.2ft and a male is 2.5ft.

That would mean that a woman would need to take 150 strides/minute and a male would need to take 132.

I'm not sure 150strides/minute is realistic. Why not count time how long it takes you to take 150steps, steele?

I don't mean you should hike the whole thing in one day, just that 92 miles gives you enough mileage for multiple day hikes.

There's a website put up by Eastern Mountain Sports that has "user posted" links to hiking trails -type in "Worcester" and get 4 hits (one of which is actually in worcester...) -- http://www.mntnlife.com/

-Personally, I'm a sucker for Mt Wachusett, and there's trail maps at the visitor center (or @ http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/wach.htm)

http://www.recworcester.org/trails/index.html

I have to say, ifyou are into hiking and want a quick one...and like competition the disc golf courses off of Bailey Street are great places to escape after work and get a little hike in...not to mention cool people. Introduce your kids. It's right up the street and so convenient.

Also, do know that you don't have to drive to find a hike.
The East Side trail runs from East Park all the way down (almost) to Lake Quinsigamond. There are trails through and around Green Hill Park. There's the smaller trails on Newton Hill (the lesser known side of Elm Park). There's trails all over Broad Meadow Brook down on Massasoit Road (and it's free to get in for Worcester residents). There's the Tetasset Trail which runs from the Auburn line all the way up through Kettle Brook, up Airport Hill, and up towards Paxton.

We've got a remarkable amount of open space in Worcester!

I'm guessing that the old ski lift may have been over on the Paxton side of things? By the former AMC lands?

yes, thats correct..the old ski left was in a paxton neighborhood on your way into holden....it was called the Asnebumskit area....it's kinda near the WSRS radio towers.

mount watatic is nice. the trail head is off of rt 119 in ashby, maybe 15 minutes north of fitchburg. pretty views. takes about 2 hours round trip.

Wow, thanks for the great response. My weekends could be spent exploring for over a year! :)