60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Boston. Lafe Low

State’s finest wilderness areas. This would be a far less attractive world without the woods and trails to which we all love to retreat.

      And while I hiked many of these fantastic journeys on my own, I was also joined by friends and family for several, most notably my intrepid son, Devin Low; his companion Ashley Squires; and my friends Peter Tamposi, Mark Grundstrom, Lisa Marshall, Scott Schultz, Brian Merritt, Jason Howell and son Liam, and Beth Phillips.

      Here’s a list of who hiked with me and where:

       Devin Low: Beaver Brook, Middlesex Fells Reservation: Skyline Trail, Weir Hill

       Devin Low and Ashley Squires: Halibut Point State Park, Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, Indian Ridge Reservation, Goldsmith Reservation

       Lisa Marshall: Dogtown Common, Ravenswood Park, Mount Watatic

       Scott Shultz: Parker River National Wildlife Refuge: Hellcat Trail and Sandy Point State Reservation

       Jason and Liam Howell: Noanet Woodlands

       Beth Phillips: Borderland State Park, Elm Bank Reservation, Rocky Narrows

       Peter Tamposi and Mark Grundstrom: Cedar Hill and Sawink Farm, Mount Pisgah Conservation Area

       Brian Merritt: Mount Wachusett

      FOREWORD

      Welcome to Menasha Ridge Press’s 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles, a series designed to provide hikers with the information they need to find and hike the very best trails surrounding metropolitan areas.

      Our strategy is simple: First, find a hiker who knows the area and loves to hike. Second, ask that person to spend a year researching the most popular and very best trails around. And third, have that person describe each trail in terms of difficulty, scenery, condition, elevation change, and other categories of information that are important to hikers. “Pretend you’ve just completed a hike and met up with other hikers at the trailhead,” we told each author. “Imagine their questions; be clear in your answers.”

      Experienced hikers and writers Lafe Low and Helen Weatherall have selected 60 of the best hikes in and around the Boston metropolitan area. This second edition includes new hikes, as well as additional sections and new routes for some of the existing hikes. Lafe and Helen provide hikers (and walkers) with a great variety of hikes, all within roughly 60 miles of Boston—from urban strolls on city sidewalks to aerobic outings throughout the area surrounding the city.

      You’ll get more out of this book if you take a moment to read the Introduction, which explains how to read the trail listings. The “Maps” section will help you understand how useful topos are on a hike and will also tell you where to get them. And though this is a where-to, not a how-to, guide, readers who have not hiked extensively will find the Introduction of particular value.

      As much for the opportunity to free the spirit as to free the body, let these hikes elevate you above the urban hurry.

      All the best,

      The Editors at Menasha Ridge Press

      PREFACE

      There is nothing so restorative, so calming, so fulfilling as a walk in the woods. Whether a peaceful stroll through the trees, an aggressive hours-long hike up and over rocky crags, or something in between, you can’t help but feel better after getting out into the woods. It is truly essential.

      Everyone has different reasons for wanting to get out in the forest and go for a hike—to get in better shape, relax, get back to nature, take the dog for a walk, take your kids for a walk—and they’re all good reasons. As long as you’re getting out.

      At the risk of sounding old, being out in the woods always takes me back to my childhood. I am reminded of the days when my friend Dan Quagliaroli and I would head out with overloaded backpacks, a huge sense of adventure, lofty ideals, and no idea where we wanted to go. Often we wouldn’t even tell our moms where we were going because we truly made it up as we went along. Those were the days.

      While this was not an original work for me, it still required that I retrace all the hikes in the original edition. I was chosen as the revising writer to update and expand on Helen Weatherall’s excellent Boston-area hiking guidebook. As part of the update process, I also researched and wrote about five new hikes.

      Boston is a remarkable area. You can truly get a sense of just how much green and wooded space is intermingled with the urban jungle when taking off from or landing at Logan International Airport during the day. It’s quite a sight. There’s the obvious density of the extended city but lots of green space as well. In fact, two of the largest reservations—the Blue Hills and Middlesex Fells Reservations—are so close you can still hear traffic on the highways when you first set out for a hike. Interestingly, those are also two of the more challenging hikes in this book. And both trails are called the Skyline Trail. Be prepared when you try them both. They will test your mettle.

      The best part of writing these guidebooks is the pure process of exploration. I have also done Best Tent Camping: New England and Best Hikes of the Appalachian Trail: New England for Menasha Ridge Press, and each project has been a spiritual and emotional windfall. I can be somewhat of a creature of habit. I’ll go to the same places over and over again. In writing this book and the others, my list of favorite places has grown by orders of magnitude. And for that I am grateful.

      —Lafe Low

      60 HIKES BY CATEGORY

      More Hikes by Category

      A 5.6-mile hike through Winnekenni Park, takes you on an old carriage trail through the woods, beside a lake, and to the grounds of a restored stone castle.

      INTRODUCTION

      Welcome to 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Boston! Whether you’re new to hiking or a seasoned hiker, take a few minutes to read the following introduction. We’ll explain how this book is organized and how to get the best use of it.

      About This Book

      From the air, if you’re coming into or leaving Logan International Airport, you can see the large amount of densely wooded green space around the Boston area—the Emerald Necklace, as envisioned by Fredrick Law Olmsted. So it was not a challenge to find 60 hikes within 60 miles of Boston Common. The challenge was narrowing down the list to the 60 best and striking a balance between the long, lung-pounding hikes, such as the two Skyline Trails (in Middlesex Fells and Blue Hills Reservation), and the shorter, more