Houghton's Pond, Angle Path, Tucker Hill, Burnt Hill Path (Blue Hills Reservation)
Hike Type: oooo Loop
Distance: 4.85 miles
Elevation: 518 feet
Time: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Hiking Challenges: Blue Hills Winter Trace (2x); Blue Hills Grid
Hiking Challenges: Blue Hills Winter Trace (2x); Blue Hills Grid
The Hike
February break is officially over and I'm back at the Blue Hills! It was a 45 degree, sunny, and breezy afternoon. It felt kind of warm after the past week of skiing in comically cold temperatures! There was a lot of snowmelt happening and I forgot my spikes - going to be interesting! I also realized I forgot to take a photo of the map I'm tracking my progress on, so I'm guessing what trails I still need...
Hiking in from the B lot at Houghton's Pond, the exposed grass was SUPER soft and the leftover snow and ice was super slippery. I made it halfway to the loop around the pond before turning around to grab my spikes from the car to give myself a sliver of a chance to enjoy the hike. Take-two! I successfully made it over to the visitor center area and noticed some guys out on the ice which was... brave. I briefly took my spikes off at the bathhouse but they soon went back on. I was basically experiencing every trail condition imaginable besides dry. To make things more fun, my legs were super wiggly - probably in part due to the slushy conditions and also from skiing the past 9 out of 10 days.
I eventually made it along Andover, Angle, and Bugbee Paths unscathed and then onto the red blazes, which was steeper and slushier. I was taking very small steps and really digging my spikes into any base that was left. I was thankful to actually find some solid ice when I made my way up Tucker Hill (also proud of myself for actively working on my Blue Hills Grid for this very brief moment!
On top of Tucker Hill, I followed the mysterious yellow blaze to the true summit (or my best try at it) and an overgrown view before heading down Athol Path - where I saw people! I've never seen people on this side of Tucker, so that was jarring. After crossing Tucker Hill Path, I was only the second set of prints going down the steepest stretch of Athol, but I took it slow and only faced death once or twice. There were lots of deer tracks, though!
I then meandered my way around the Tucker Hill Path over to the Burnt Hill Path - delighted to find out that I had already summited Burnt Hill for February - yay! I followed more deer tracks as I descended on Burnt Hill Path, which had just brutal slushy trail conditions. I eventually found the family of deer right before Old Route 128, which was fun, but then the fun ended when I discovered Old Route 128 had equally, or even worse conditions than Burnt Hill Path. Hiking is a mental game!
I made my way over to the picnic area, which was a slushy ice rink, but the rest of the Houghton's Pond loop was fully frozen, which was nice I guess? Only downside was that it was frozen and covered in post-holes, so it was truly an ankle buster. Yikes! This was a surprisingly brutal hike, but as always, no regrets and I was just happy to have been outside!
Step-by-Step
- Park at Lot B at Houghton's Pond.
- Start hike by hiking entry trails.
- Turn left to follow yellow blazes.
- Follow footpath hugging the pond, then climb stairs.
- Resume following yellow blazes.
- At split, continue to follow red/green blazes.
- At 2053, continue to follow green blazes.
- At next jct., turn right/continue onto Andover Path.
- At 2092, turn left onto Angle Path.
- At 2075, turn left onto Bugbee Path.
- At 2071, turn right onto red blazes.
- At 2094, turn left onto Ayer Trail.
- At next jct., turn right onto Athol Path.
- At terminus, turn right onto Headquarters Path.
- At next jct., turn right onto Tucker Hill Path (green blazes).
- At 2072, turn left onto Ayer Trail.
- At next jct., turn right onto Athol Path.
- At terminus, turn left onto red blazes.
- At 2094, turn right onto Dark Hollow Path.
- At 2111, turn right onto Burnt Hill Path.
- At 2085, turn right onto Old Route 128.
- At gate, follow path to yellow loop around the pond.
- At the pond, turn left and follow yellow blazes back to car.
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