Peacham Bog Hike

Trip Reports

Sun Jul 13 2025 Peacham Bog Hike by Phyllis Rubenstein

On the morning of July 13, 2025, a warm and breezy Sunday, two humans and one dog hiked to Peacham Bog from Green Bay Loop Road. Most of the hike was along a rolling, old logging/woods road. Shortly after passing a pond previously dammed by beavers, lined with sweet gale, white meadowsweet, and tall meadow rue, the logging/woods road joins the Peacham Bog Loop Trail, which starts at the Nature Center in Groton State Park. After a few tenths of a mile, the Peacham Bog Loop Trail heads into the woods, where we saw forest flowers past bloom, including bunchberry, starflower, Clintonia (bluebead) lily, trillium, cucumber root, lady’s slippers, goldthread, and more. In another few tenths of a mile, the trail reaches the bog boardwalk. At the end of the boardwalk, there is a kiosk and a bench, where we sat and observed the flora of this unique, domed peatland bog, including black spruce, tamarack, Labrador tea, sheep laurel, bog laurel, three-leaved false Solomon’s seal, leather leaf, blueberry, creeping snowberry, sphagnum mosses, and sedges. We also saw purple pitcher plants and round-leaved sundew plants, both carnivorous, and heard white throated sparrows. On our return trip, we startled a roughed grouse and heard a hermit thrush. The round trip mileage was 4.85 miles.

Peacham Bog is a place I visit many times throughout the year to fully enjoy its beauty. Perhaps I will return in the fall to see the tamarack needles turn golden yellow or in the winter to snow shoe or ski on the bog.