• North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery
• Bungay Road, North Attleborough, MA
• Trailhead: 41°59’34.72″N, 71°17’2.27″W
• Last Time Hiked: July 8, 2017
• Approximate distance hiked: 1.0 miles
• Easy with some slight elevation.

The North Attleboro Fish Hatchery, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility, helps restore the native fish populations in New England. Opened in 1950, this facility has produced warm, cool, and cold water fish for re-population. Today, the facility is focusing on American Shad for local rivers such as the Charles and Pawtuxet. The facility has several buildings, a viewing pool, and perennial pollinator gardens. The back end of the property offers a nature trail that is just shy of one mile long and follows the shores of the Bungay River. The loop trail is marked with orange blazed trail markers that guides you along a path that weaves under a canopy of tall pines, beech and maple trees. The trail steadily climbs a hill for a bit before coming to a set of approximately 40 steps downhill. Soon the trail turns right crossing over a bridge over the Bungay River. This trail soon bends to the right and crosses over a dirt access road. Continuing straight the trail comes to a second set of stairs, this time approximately 30 uphill. The trail then continues slightly downhill to another bridge that crosses the river to the main entrance of the nature trail. At both bridges there are noteworthy features. The northern bridge crosses over a small area of rapids and the southern bridge crosses at a small dam and overflow. Along the trail there are a couple spots to view the Bungay River where it widens to a small pond. There are a few spur trails but for this hike follow the main loop trail that is marked. Wildlife is abundant here as frogs, salamanders, and turtles, as well as various birds such as blackbirds, woodpeckers, great blue heron, and mallards have been observed here. There are a handful of informative kiosks along trail. The facility is open Monday through Saturday from 8 AM to 4 PM except for holidays. The gate to the nature trail is locked at 3:45 PM.

Bungay River