Hodges Village Dam Mountain Bike Trails

Hodges Village Dam, located less than a mile west of the Sutton Avenue exit (4W) of Route 395, on Howarth Road off Charlton Street, Oxford, MA, has some of the most diverse and interesting trails in central MA. There is no permanent lake behind the dam which was built by the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control. It is filled only temporarily with runoff from rainwater which would otherwise cause flooding problems downstream. The lands upstream of the dam are open to the public providing hundreds of acres of forest, shrub meadows, glacial topography and wetlands, all interlaced with outstanding trails.

There are some blazes painted on the trees that will let you know which side of the dam you are on and which direction you are headed, but they don't mark specific trails. Blue blazes mark the east side trails. Orange blazes mark the west side trails. In both cases, a plain blaze means that you are headed away from the dam (mostly north) and a black dot in the middle of the blaze means you are headed toward the dam (generally south). Yellow triangles mark the Midstate Trail which runs across the project, mostly east to west. Red and white stripes painted on the trees are Corps of Engineers boundary markers, not trails.