Skyline Loop via Trailside Museum (Blue Hills Reservation)
Hike Type: Lollipop Loop
Distance: 4.55 miles
Elevation: 1,201 feet
Time: 1 hours, 50 minutes
Hiking Challenges: Great Blue Hills Summits
Hiking Challenges: Great Blue Hills Summits
The Hike
Last hike of April 2024! I headed down after work while finishing the Wicked audiobook (a wild tale - not as happy as the musical!) and enjoyed the really cool wavy-looking clouds (apparently called "asperitas clouds". It was 64 degrees, cloudy, and a little breezy at the trailhead with a few bugs buzzing about. I had my big pack because 1) I was too lazy to transer the contents and 2) I know carrying some extra weight will only help me once the Whites are done with their spring defrost.
I decided to hike my usual loop - I've found that since completing both the Winter Trace and 125-Mile Club 2nd Round I've been less/un-interested in redlining, and that's okay! I'm informally working on my own challenges - hiking 1,000 miles in the Blue Hills and summiting Great Blue Hill 50+ times. My favorite takeaway from this hike is that spring is springing! MANY of the trees are beginning to bud, which is changing the vistas from a sea of dead brown to a sea of sniffly-yellow, which I guess is nice? I was going to check out the ski hill view right before the summit road, but there was a couple deeply embracing in the woods, so I left them alone. I checked out the top of the ski lift from the Eliot Circle spur, was followed (inadvertendly) by a couple sharing past traumas and found a guy smoking a joint at the top of the chair lift - many people out this day!
"Asperitas (cloud)" from Wikipedia
"Asperitas (formerly known as Undulatus asperatus) is a cloud formation first popularized and proposed as a type of cloud in 2009 by Gavin Pretor-Pinney of the Cloud Appreciation Society. Added to the International Cloud Atlas as a supplementary feature in March 2017, it is the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951. The name translates approximately as "roughness". The clouds are closely related to undulatus clouds. Although they appear dark and storm-like, they almost always dissipate without a storm forming. The ominous-looking clouds have been particularly common in the Plains states of the United States, often during the morning or midday hours following convective thunderstorm activity."
"According to International Cloud Atlas, Asperitas are defined as Well-defined, wave-like structures in the underside of the cloud; more chaotic and with less horizontal organisation than the variety undulatus. Asperitas is characterised by localised waves in the cloud base, either smooth or dappled with smaller features, sometimes descending into sharp points, as if viewing a roughened sea surface from below. Varying levels of illumination and thickness of the cloud can lead to dramatic visual effects. Occurs mostly with Stratocumulus and Altocumulus."
I hit the summit and then ventured toward Skyline North. I noticed that the Eliot Tower was expected to reopen at the end of 2023, but it's April 30th 2024 and its still closed! Friends of Blue Hills released a statement: "Hi, everybody! We've been receiving questions from many of you as to the status of the Eliot Tower Restoration Project. At this time, Eliot Tower and Pavilion remains closed to protect it from water infiltration and improve accessibility. The project was slated to be finished by the end of 2023, but work still continues into this year. We cannot give an exact timeline, but those looking for more specific information may contact DCR Dispatch at 508-820-1427 or email Mass.Parks@mass.gov. We appreciate your patience as the restoration continues."
I wasn't able to get many good photos of the cool clouds from Great Blue Hill, but I was hopeful for Hemenway. There were more catepillar tents popping up on the sunnier stretches of trail, and the air was humid and still up on Wolcott. I did in fact get the view I wanted from Hemenway, even if it was slightly buggy (I am NOT emotionally ready for bug spray szn). There was a neat yellow color to the tops of trees that ALMOST resembled autumn.
The views and spring colors were even better from Hancock Hill (and the view of the clouds). I passed a beautiful flowering bush/tree that the Seek app was not helpful in identifying. The flowers resembled mountain laurel, but the wood did not... a mystery! There were some more catepillar tents on there, too.
Down on Hillside Street I hiked past the long like of cars waiting for the stop sign and observed the siding-less barn. The purple flowers at the base of Skyline Trail South are "lesser periwinkles," which were still blooming in abundance (although, lesser abundance, ha ha ha).
An identical pink flowering bush was just off-trail near the top of the climb up Houghton, and I cursed at my watch for not accurately taking my heart rate when I'm sweaty! I work hard for my watch to tell me how out of shape I am! I continued my schlep back up to Great Blue Hill, noticed a smoky smell near the Eliot Tower (didn't find anything), and enjoyed a VERY red squirrel noshing on a pine cone off of Eliot Path. It was getting quite buggy, but soon enough I was back at the car and ready for some Costco rotisserie chicken!
Step-By-Step
- Start hike from Trailside Museum parking on Eliot Path (red dots).
- At terminus, turn right onto Eliot Circle.
- At next jct., turn left onto Summit Road.
- At next jct., turn right onto spur trail to Summit.
- Descend summit towards Skyline Trail South.
- Turn left onto Skyline Trail, and then right onto Skyline Trail South.
- Follow Skyline Trail South to Hillside St.
- At Hillside St., turn left onto Hillside St.
- After stables, turn left onto Skyline Trail North.
- Follow Skyline Trail North to Eliot Tower.
- At Eliot Tower, turn left onto Eliot Circle.
- At second jct., turn right to summit Great Blue Hill.
- Retract steps back to parking lot.
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