Great Blue Hill; Wolcott, Unquity, & Chestnut Run Paths (Blue Hills Reservation)

Great Blue Hill; Wolcott, Unquity, & Chestnut Run Paths (Blue Hills Reservation)

Hike Type: Figure-8 Loopty Loops

Distance: 6.64 miles

Elevation: 928 feet

Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Hiking Challenges: Great Blue Hill Summits; Trail Trace the Blue Hills

The Hike 

Day 3 in a row! I had a midly painful drive after school (Wednesdays are my later days, which is stinks). I was eventually hiking at 4:15pm on another hot day with a breeze and POLLEN. The goal today was to hit the summit and then trace around some trails in the Great Blue Hill area that I needed, hoping to hit all of the ones I needed!

I hiked the random paths near the north parking area at the Trailside Museum and then went up Eliot Path, which was again filled with more leaves than before! Bugs and families were out, but all were bearable to hike past. A morning dove cheered me on as I reached the summit, and I was surprised to see more cars than usual up top. 

On the initial descent, I used the Seek app to observe a Bear Oak, which was a scrubby oak with red leaves and danging pollen, which was really cool! I hiked past the Eliot Tower, where a child was having a meltdown, and then continued down Skyline North, which had some flowering trees that the app couldn't fully pinpoint. There were also tons of singing birds out and one screaming red squirrel.

The swamp near 1103 was at least two feet lower than last time I was over here, but still offering wonderful reflections. My Nalgene was warm, but bearable, and I continued to hike at a heightened pace to escape the bugs. This time of year I always catch myself daydreaming of hiking bigger mountains up north, but then I'm reminded about the miserable conditions up there right now with rotting monorails, and I'm brought back to reality.

I spun around the triangle at 1121, completing the Rotch Path, and headed up Wolcott Path towards Downtown Crossing. I continued to now descend on Wolcott Path, admiring the aggressively blue skies, and made an easy crossing of Hillside Street before turning left onto Headquarters Path on the Houghton side. This stretch of trail kind of stinks - following a busy road with loose gravel, but what must be done must be done!

Once back in the woods, I hiked past some lesser periwinkle and worked my way to Unquity Path, which is a hidden gem surrounded by loud, busy roads. I had to cross Unquity Road, which took a minute, and then turned right to find my next trail. The road walk was short, but stinky. The woods immediately after were cool and lovely. I did a loop around the trail ends in this area and then worked my way to Chestnut Run Path, which had a wonderful golden glow from the sun.

I made my way over to Border Path, which was the end of the thinking portion of the hike! I did stick out my tongue to habitually lick my lips at one point, and a gnat landed right on the tip, and then I unknowingly brought it into my mouth like a frog, which was a solid bummer, but other than that, it was a nice return! I played some Pokemon Go and did another test of the messed up trail distance signs:

1. "Trailside Museum 0.25 Miles" when my watch was at 5.78 miles.

2. "Trailside Museum 0.5 Miles" when my wach was at 6.26 miles.

3. Arrived at Trailside Museum when my watch was at 6.61 miles.

Findings: 0.25 sign is 0.83 miles away; 0.5 sign is 0.35 miles away.

I loved hiking past the old trees near the end of Wolcott Path, and soon enough I was back at the car and headed home for a shower, food, and some sleep!

Step-by-Step

- Start hike from Trailside Museum north parking on Wolcott Path (green dots).

- At jct., veer right.

- At jct., turn left and follow unnamed path to Summit Road.

- At Summit Road, turn right.

- At jct., turn left onto Canton Ave. spur path.

- At Canton Ave., turn around.

- At Summit Road, turn right.

- At spur to parking lot, turn left.

- At parking lot, hike back to Wolcott Path.

- A few feet into woods, follow herd path to trail around Trailside Musuem.

- At Eliot Path, turn left onto Eliot Path.

- At 1055, turn right onto Eliot Circle.

- At Summit Road, turn left onto Summit Road.

- At next jct., turn right and summit Great Blue Hill.

- From summit, follow path east toward 1066.

- At terminus, turn left onto Eliot Circle/Skyline Trail.

- At 1063, turn right onto Skyline Trail North.

- At 1092, turn left onto Wildcat Notch Path.

- At 1103, turn left onto Puddle Path.

- At 1105, turn right onto Samoset Path.

- At 1100, turn righ tonto Wolcott Path.

- At next jct., veer right.

- At next jct., turn left onto Wildcat Notch Path.

- At 1115, turn right onot Wolcott Path.

- At 1122, turn left onto Rotch Path.

- At 1121, turn around.

- At 1122, turn left onto Wolcott Path.

- At terminus, cross Hillside St.

- After crossing, turn left onto Headquarters Path.

- Hike spurs to road, then turn right onto White Pine Path.

- At next jct., turn right onto Tucker Hill Path.

- At terminus, turn left onto Headquarters Path.

- At next jct., turn right to cross road.

- Continue onto Unquity Path.

- Cross Unquity Road, turn left.

- Reenter woods on Pipsissewa Path.

- Hike past 1204, turn turn left onto Base Path.

- At 1203, continue onto spur to parking lot.

- Turn right onto Unquity Road.

- Turn right onto Hancock Trail.

- At 1217, turn left onto Chestnut Run Path.

- At terminus, turn right onto Unquity Road.

- At jct., turn right onto Pipsissewa Path.

- At second jct., turn right onto Hemenway Hill Path.

- At 1203, turn left onto Chestnut Run Path.

- At 1191, turn left onto Base Path Connector.

- At 1183, turn right onto Base Path.

- At terminus, turn left onto Chestnut Run Path.

- At 1175, turn left onto Border Path.

- At 1100, turn right onto Wolcott Path.

- Follow Wolcott Path back to car.

Blue Hills Reservation Map

Photo Album