Sassaman Notch, Braintree Pass Path, Chickatawbut Hill (Blue Hills Reservation)

Sassaman Notch, Braintree Pass Path, Chickatawbut Hill (Blue Hills Reservation)

Hike Type: Figure-8 Loop

Distance: 3.09 miles

Elevation: 402feet

Time: 1 hour, 9 minutes
Hiking Challenges: 52 Hike Challenge; Trail Trace the Blue Hills

The Hike 

'Twas the day after Black Mountain's closing day and... I wanted to sleep. My heart wanted big mountain, but my body (and also kind of my brain) wanted sleep. Sleep is what I received! Kind of, I was up at 6:30am naturally. ANYWAY. Plan was to hopefully wrap up, or come close to wrapping up the Chickatawbut area, but this hike would turn out to be cursed...

It was a LOVELY morning. I was at the trailhead just before 8:30am. It was in the mid-60s with a gentle breeze and some sun. There were SO MANY LEAVES. My body was tired from my six grueling runs at Black Mountain (actually was tired...). I had my map planned out, and off I went! I started without bug spray and followed Tower Path over to Slide Notch. The plan was to follow Slide Notch all the way down, but I apparently accidentally followed Sassman Notch instead... Whoops! It was a lovely walk, though. I passed a girl in nice tennis sneakers coming down Nahanton holding an iced coffee and I did get a bug up the nose at the height of land before descending.

It didn't realize my mistake until all the way down on Curve Path, but I figured I'd salvage the plan as best I could - heading over to the Hawk area to hit those trails. Only issue was that I started to have this random achilles pain that kept increasing until I was a little worried. I didn't do anything, and it seemed to come out of nowhere, which was surprising. I noticed that it went away on descents and flats but flared up on ascents.

I further modified my plan, and my new goal was to hit the section of Braintree Pass Path near Skyline that I needed and then head back via Skyline (for better or for worse...). The flat stretch of Lee felt completely fine, but the final uphill had the heel flare up again. The descent to Skyline was fine again, and I took it very slow going up Chickatawbut, which didn't feel great, but I managed without doing further damage.

Once on top of Chickatawbut I realized the third and final curse of the hike - my keys were IN MY CAR. I missed the AirTag notification that my keys weren't with me... ugh. At least the leaves were pretty! I went over Kitchamakin Hill to Slide Notch, which I followed down to Chickatawbut Road, hitting a spur I needed, and did the very short road walk back. I was bummed to have cut the hike short, but I definitely need my tendons working correctly, so time to rest!

Step-by-Step

- Park at Chickatawbut Tower.

- Start hike on Tower Path,

- At tower, turn left to continue on Tower Path.

- At terminus, turn right onto Slide Notch Path.

- At next jct., accidentally veer left onto Sassaman Notch Path.

- At 3135, turn right onto Curve Path.

- At 3130, turn right onto Bouncing Brook Path.

- After 3073, turn left onto Lee Path.

- At 3155, turn right onto Braintree Pass Path.

- At 3042, turn right onto Skyline Trail.

- At Slide Notch Path junction, turn left onto Slide Notch Path.

- Before Chickatawbut Road, turn left onto path.

- At Chickatawbut Road, turn left and return to car.

Blue Hills Reservation Map

Photo Album