Hiking: Third 10-mile report - Middlesex Fells (Skyline, Rock Circuit and Cross Fells trails)

Well, I did it! I finally completed my third 10-mile hike! I drove to the nearby Middlesex Fells Reservation today and hiked a 10-mile lopsided dumbbell loop (that’s two loops, one larger than the other, linked at the middle by an out-and-back connector trail).

I dropped off Khizer at work in Watertown at 9 a.m. and drove about 30 minutes to the Long Pond trail head on South Border Road in Winchester. I had set out on the trail in the western Fells by 9:35 a.m., starting off by heading north on the Skyline Trail. I was considering starting off on the more rugged south loop, but I got discombobulated at the Skyline crossroads and so I looped around the North Reservoir and passed through Sheepfold just after 11.

Then, I crossed over to the eastern Fells via the Cross Fells Trail at I-93 and reached the Rock Circuit Trail in under an hour. I started on the southern half of the Rock Circuit Trail and reached the other side (along East Border Road) by 12:30 p.m. It was then, somewhere near the halfway point of the day’s hike, in the eastern Fells, that I came across a geologist from a local university who was doing an experiment on felsitic rock in the area.

I asked for the geologist's card and told him I was interested in knowing more about basalt deposits in the Fells. He was then generous enough to take me on a short side hike to a spot on the Rock Circuit Trail that featured a basalt ridge formed by an ancient volcanic eruption. It was pretty cool to realize the rock I was standing on was from the Paleozoic Era.

I left the geologist around 1 p.m. and started my return to the western Fells, taking the Cross Fells Trail all the way back under the interstate. From here I completed the Skyline Trail loop doing the southern half.

I made it back to the Long Pond parking area just before sunset, just around 4:10 p.m. Overall, it was an amazing day - sunny, but cold, hovering somewhere above freezing, but not quite 40 degrees. By the end of the day I felt a bit chilled and chapped. Still, I ended up not needing the extra layers I'd packed. The long-sleeve cotton t-shirt and thermal moisture-wicking base I wore was plenty.

At the end of the trail I had such a sense of accomplishment. My first 10-mile hike in the Blue Hills a few weeks ago seemed like a fluke. Then, the second 10 miler was much less rugged than the first, mostly on roads, so it felt easier, though still an accomplishment. But after this third 10-miler, I realize that this is the kind of stuff I’m capable of on a regular basis. Ten miles is not as difficult as it seems when you first set off on the trail. And by the time you arrive at trail's end, you wish you still had more trail time before the sun fell to dusk.