Hiking: First 10-mile report - Blue Hills, Skyline Trail

I have to admit, I was prepared for failure. But with each step I took, the feeling grew inside me that giving up was not an option. There was too much riding on this after all. Alone in the woods it was just me. Well, there was me and the occasional squirrel or chipmunk, and a random white-tailed deer. But in my head, there were all the people along the way who have watched me progress to the point I’m at now; For me, and for them, I was not going to stop until I’d hiked that final 10^th mile.

Here I go!

I set out from the trailhead at the Shea Rink parking lot on Willard Street in Quincy at 8:20 this morning. I was semi-well rested and had a backpack full of tasty and nutritious trail food, which I’d packed the night before with some of Khizer’s leftovers and a bunch of nuts, seeds, dried fruits, raw carrots and celery, and a few fresh fruits as well. And I took along a change of socks, some dry clothes for the end of the trail, my map of the Blue Hills Reservation and a positive state of mind.

The initial part of the walk was serene, with very little elevation gain. And my mind was still full of a thousand things that should’ve been left behind, beyond woods’ edge. My thoughts carried me half a mile out of my way before I realized I was still on a fire road that shared the Skyline Trail temporarily after crossing Wampatuck Road. I back-tracked, found the turn off, and I quickly began my ascent to the sweeping views of Boston and the greater Massachusetts Bay area that give the trail its name.

The first hill was called Rattlesnake. The trail here wound up and around a placid vernal pool, its still waters perhaps belying a storied past as a romantic water hole dating back to the days when the native, pre-colonial Massachusett people would come at the end of summer to prepare for winters there. The rocky, precarious descent from Rattlesnake Hill and the subsequent climb and descent of Wampatuck gave me just a taste of the scrambling I would have to do on a number of the more than 10 hills I would traverse today.

After crossing Chickatawbut Road the trail steadily rose past the Blue Hills Reservoir and I was treated to some amazing changes in scenery. I climbed steadily to a young grove of aspens, before descending again to pass through some older growth oaks and maples, and up again to a grove of stumpy conifers, where I sat on a flat rock and had a mid-morning snack.

The nourishment was a good idea, as I had three successive hills to climb – Nahanton, Kitchamakin, and Chickatawbut, which was topped by a fenced-in learning center with an inaccessible lookout tower, a solar panel array, and several bird houses – before making a steep descent to Randolph Road.

Knowing I had easily hiked the 3.6 miles (plus about another mile due to my unanticipated detour) as listed for this checkpoint in the AMC* Massachusetts Trail Guide, I was confused when I calculated the distances of some of the signs that were posted between where I found myself now and the beginning of the trail. From the trailhead, the distance to Great Blue Hill is listed as nine miles. But the signs posted along the trail implied that the distance linking these two locations was only six. I can tell you after completing this hike, and comparing it to my experience hiking Massachusetts hills these recent months, that the distance is likely closer to nine.

Looking northwest from Buck Hill

In any case, I set off from Randolph Road and began a rapid ascent of Buck Hill, which it would turn out provided my favorite views of the day – a full 360 degrees from a large flat and circular top. From here I could see Wachusett and Monadnock mountains to the northwest, Boston and the harbor to my north and east, and a large extent of the South Shore.

Moving on, I descended Buck, which was in turn followed by another steep ascent to Tucker Hill. Once I'd summited Tucker, I made my way down its western slope to arrive at Hillside Street, at just past 6.5 miles, where I would lunch at a picnic table in front of the ranger’s headquarters for about 20 minutes or so before pressing on.

At the ranger’s station I met Maggi, supervising ranger at the Blue Hills, with whom I shared my thoughts on the errant signage. She gave me her email address and I promised to send photographs so they could verify the mileage and correct any signage problems once recently collected official GPS data is available and reported.

From the headquarters I took the northern branch of the trail across the scenic and quite challenging Hancock, Hemenway and Wolcott hills en route to Great Blue, and the nine-mile mark. Once there, I climbed the stone tower at Blue's summit and snapped one last shot of Boston's skyline to share here on my blog and then continued on to the south branch trail some meters to the south.

View of Boston from Great Blue Hill

Before setting off on this final spur, I texted Khizer, who, after class, where he had dissected a sheep’s brain and cow eyeball, was patiently waiting for me at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts shop, to tell him I was about an hour from our rendez-vous point back at the reservation headquarters on Hillside Street.

I thought this final spur would be an easy one, since just one more hill – Houghton – is listed on the AMC map for the southern route. To my surprise, though, before reaching Houghton's summit I would have me climb two other smaller hills, each increasing some in elevation before dropping back down into notches. (As a side note, I now refer to the hills leading up to and including Houghton as the Three Brothers. And Houghton is definitely the meanest of the three, with a final descent from his summit that's a steep and rocky pain!)

Making it safely to the road below, I was both elated and exhausted, happy to find Khizer waiting in a warm car with a hot cup of coffee for me. Honestly, I couldn’t believe I had done it, but Khizer said he expected nothing less. All said and done, I'd hiked more than 10 miles with an elevation gain of around 2,500 feet, and I'd done it in less than seven hours! Today was an experience I will surely never forget.

*AMC is Appalachian Mountain Club