Trip Report: Blue Hills Reservation

Today, I went hiking with Yuki, Alex Vandiver, and Laurel Bobrow at the Blue Hills Reservation in Canton, MA.  Rumor has it you can reach the location through public transportation somehow, but we took a zipcar.  As I have many photos, this will be largely a pictorial report of the trip.

The weather was off-and-on rain, with some sunny patches.  The weather was allegedly in the 40s.  Enticed, no doubt, by my promises of a last-minute, cold, rainy hike, these three fine people joined me for the trip!

In the background of that photo is the Great Blue Hill, with a weather station on the top.  We never made it up there, as we were hiking in the opposite direction.  We passed many trail joggers on the trip, and kept finding their stashes of water and gatorade.  Apparently there was a trail-running event going on.

For the first half of the trip, we followed the Skyline Trail up through the trees.  We got occasional vistas like the photo above, but plenty of time under tree cover. 

Alex tried out his rock climbing skills...

 

We arrived at the top of Buck Hill, which offered the best panoramic views of the trip.

Boston was visible on the skyline:

We also got a view of Chickatawbut Hill in the distance, our destination for lunch.  We classy people called it Bow-chick-a-taw-butt.

I found an antler by the side of the trail...

Alex made a full set of horns:

The climb up the flank of Chickatawbut Hill (the flank of the butt) was steep. 

At the top, Alex poked his nose into civilization, which was on the other side of the NO TRESPASSING fence.

When we made it out of sight of civilization again, we stopped for lunch.  After lunch, we worked our way down off Chickatawbut Hill and began our return trip to the car.  

Here, Laurel poses on Laurel Path:

We discovered the beginnings of a talus slope:

This tree was confused.

We found a Christmas tree!

Here I am, reclining on a beautiful mound of talus!

I like talus!

Our trip ended with a bang.  In fact, it ended with a screech, a crash, and a state trooper.  (Don't worry, we weren't in the accident.)

When we arrived back at the Blue Hills Reservation Headquarters, we waited at a crosswalk to cross the street.  A big pickup truck slowed down and stopped for us, and the people in the sedan behind the pickup weren't paying attention, because they slammed on the brakes at the last minute and went crashing into the pickup.  The pickup, of course, wasn't even dented.  The sedan got a knocked-out headlight and a dislodged hood.

The Blue Hills HQ is right next to a police department, so a state trooper was there within a couple minutes.  Here's the scene, viewed from a distance:

Overall, we had a great time.  The weather was much warmer and drier than expected, and we got to see some beautiful scenery.  The hike ended with a bit of vague guilt at having, technically, been the cause of the crash, but we stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home, and ended on a high note.