Great Blue Hill via Elliot, Accord, Brookwood Paths (Blue Hills Reservation)
Hike Type: Figure-8-ish Loop
Distance: 4.62 miles
Elevation: 951 feet
Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Hiking Challenges: Blue Hills Winter Trace (2x); Great Blue Hill Summits
Hiking Challenges: Blue Hills Winter Trace (2x); Great Blue Hill Summits
The Hike
It was Monday night and Sarah, Gen, and I decided we'd finally go after the Blue Hills Ski Area's $20 "Monday Night Madness" deal! With a bit of daylight left after school, Sarah and I met up to do a quick hike up and around Great Blue Hill before meeting Gen for dinner. I hoped to get two laps in, but someone decided to crash their car on I-95, which delayed me ~20 minutes. Tragic!
We met in the already busy parking lot and started our journey up the Eliot Path. We barebooted the whole time, but spikes could have been helpful, especially with some of the hidden ice flows (thankfully I've hiked here enough so I generally know where to expect them). It was a beautiful, clear, breezy afternoon at a nice 40 degrees. That, paired with moving uphill, was great hiking weather! We chuckled, because we complained a ton about how cold it was in the parking lot (as per usual).
I showed Sarah the spur to the ski slopes, which was a fun preview, and then we continued up. We followed Eliot Circle to the summit and down the spur to the ski slope, where Sarah realized she forgot to cancel her piano lesson (which truly is the worst feeling, I felt bad). Thankfully, she had enough time to quickly remedy that. Gen was on her way at this point, so we turned around, hit the tower quickly, and started our descent, following the rest of the red-blazed trail. Footing was better on this stretch - no ice, just some slippery hard packed snow.
Soon enough we were back at the parking lot and heading over to the Hillside Pub for a lovely dinner! I had never been there before and kind of expected a nasty dive (respectfully, of course), but it was actually cute with good, simple pub food!
- Park at Trailside Museum.
- Hike up Eliot Path (red blazes).
- Before summit road, follow spur to ski slope view.
- Continue up Eliot Path (red blazes).
- At terminus, turn right onto Eliot Circle.
- At Summit Road, turn left and follow Summit Road to summit.
- Follow spur path to top of ski slope down.
- At ski slope, turn around.
- At jct., turn left onto Eliot Cirlce.
- Climb Eliot Tower.
- Continue onto Raccoon Hollow Path (red blazes).
- At jct., turn left onto Cliff Trail (red blazes).
- Cross Summit Road, continue onto Trailside Path (red blazes).
- Follow trail on right to Trailside Museum.
- Return to car.
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