Skyline trail Blue Hills

 

8/10Mommy Approved Smiling Faces

https://www.mass.gov/location-details/hiking-in-blue-hills

695 Hillside St.

Milton, MA 02186

This trail is part of the Blue Hills Reservation.  This hike is deemed one of the tougher ones at the reservation but it offers an incredible view at the top of Great Blue Hill.  Eliot Observation Tower was awesome in itself.  It had beautiful stone work.  If you and the kids are not new to hiking, I say dress warm, take some snacks, water and go for it!  You will not regret it.  We also hiked here in the warm weather too which offered plenty of shade and wild blueberries for eating!

The trek up to the top was a bit challenging (slippery) in the freshly fallen snow ( yesterday ).  But the view made it worth the schlep. Unanimously, the kids and I say our favorite part of the hike here was going down the snowy trails on our bums. The soft snow over the rocks formed a “slide” so we sat and scooted down the trail on our bums.  It was so much fun!  At times we had to give ourselves a boost with our feet and other times we had to dig our heels into the ground to slow down but all in all, this was the highlight of our hike here. It was extraordinarily fun!

 

We went on a Saturday around noon and I would imagine it’s more packed now due to COVID but we couldn’t find parking spots in the two lots close to where we initially wanted to hike ( the easier “Great Blue Hill via Coon Hallow Path” so we chose the Skyline loop hike instead with parking adjacent to the Blue Hills headquarters and the state police building.  There was plenty of parking there.

It was supposed to be a 3 mile loop hike according to AllTrails but for us, it didn’t go in a loop. We got up to the top no problem (Eliot Observation Tower ) and then from there we were on the skyline trail ( blue ) but it took us directly down the opposite side of the hill from where we parked.  Once at the base of the hill, we had to walk for quite a while to get back to our car. It was fine, but in retrospect, where we entered the hike said Skyline Trail North South and somewhere at the top we must have taken east west not realizing there was a difference? Although I really don’t recall this BIG detail!  I will be sure to keep an eye out for it upon our return and not let that happen again. I was not the only one who did this. There was another hiker that came down after us saying she parked near Headquarters and now has to also figure out how to get back to her car too.  Looking at the map and website when getting home, I found the mistake to be that, after crossing the stone bridge at Elliot Observation Tower, we should have taken an immediate left and gone back down the same side to where we parked which would be #1066 Skyline trail South.  Since I didn’t notice this, we instead continued following the blue trail blazes, thinking we were all set!  Now YOU TOO know not to do this!

Despite that, the hike was loads of fun with snowshoe-ers, skiers, uphill joggers, hikers, and dogs throughout. The kids and I had a great time. We can’t wait to return in the nicer weather and see what this area looks like in bloom. It was absolutely gorgeous in the snow. Another fun thing to add was that the snow made it easier to see where the paths were. All you had to do was follow the footsteps and it was a great way to tell if you were staying on a path (even if it isn’t the right one).  The kids like to compare their footprints to others that have previously passed and look at the dog prints.