Blog de Puree

Two friends and I circumnavigated the western sector (West of Interstate 93) of the Middlesex Fells Reservation this past Sunday morning. Roughly a seven to eight mile route, it took us about three and a half hours with light day packs.

Starting at the southernmost point of the Fells, we hiked the skyline trail that hugged the eastern end of the western portion of the reservation. The skyline trail has some great views of Boston and Cambridge and is mostly wooded. This is one of the most difficult trails in the reservation with many steep ascents and descents, and we stayed on that until we looped around the north end and came back south on the western side.

Once on the west side, we switched to the Reservoir Trail, which is a little less strenuous. This trail is a pleasant hike that meanders its way through gentle elevation changes and shady pine groves. There was also a pleasant breeze that moved through pines.

We took that trail to the southern end of the park, jumped on the Cross Fells Trail for about a half-mile, and then high-tailed it along Middle Road, a dirt road that parallels the main road south of the reservation, back to our starting point.

It was a great day for viewing wildlife as well. We sighted a crane, some red squirrels, gray squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays and an 8-inch eastern garter snake that I chased and caught just off the trail. I was tempted to try and eat it, like Bear Grylls, the host of the survival TV show Man vs. Wild, but the musky scent that the garter snake emits was too much for me and I was quite full from breakfast. It was the snakes lucky day.

Hiking in New England’s local parks and reservations is one of my favorite ways to start a weekend day and highly recommend it to anyone living in or visiting the area.