Fells Trail Project

[surrealestate]

Last week, I completed my silly goal to hike all of the colored trails on the Fells map, plus the bonus of a blazed, named trail I came across over the course of the project. Thanks to spwebdesign, c1 , treacle_well, psilocin, and DD for joining me along the way.

I am very glad I did this, since despite the many miles I've hiked in the Fells, there were plenty of areas I hadn't seen. Like most people, I tended to stick to a few particular areas and trails that I particularly liked, but now that I've done all of them, I have even more favorites. I also discovered all sorts of great spots along the way.

Following is a list of the trails and brief commentary on them. (Ask if you want to know more.) The names, blaze colors, and distances are from the map, though in some cases, they are wildly inaccurate. I've noted where I am aware of the discrepancy, but I can't speak for the accuracy of any of the others, either.

West of I93:

• Skyline Trail: White blazes. 6.9 miles
  This is the longest loop in the Fells and the more strenuous of the two on the West side. For the most part, it is just slightly outside the Reservoir, with the addition of a foray out to Wright's Tower. Some sections are poorly blazed. This trail didn't do much for me, though I've only done it once and feel I should give it another chance. But I think if I'm looking for a lot of up&down on rocks, I'd more likely opt for the Rock Circuit, which is easily rounded up if you want more miles.

• Reservoir Trail: Orange blazes. 5.2 miles
  This trail loops around the three reservoirs on this side of the Fells, offering lovely views of the water much of the way. It's mellower than either of the white loops, but at over 5 miles, is still a great way to get in a couple of hours in the woods. I enjoyed this trail immensely.

• Nature Trail: Pink blazes. 0.9 miles
  This loop is at least half again as long as that, as it's been extended to Hillcrest Parkway, but the map does not reflect it. It is a very easy trail, well-marked and dotted with about a dozen descriptive signs at points of interest. There is allegedly a companion guide for this trail, which would probably make a hike there with the kids (definitely recommended) even better. We also took a detour to loop around Long Pond via assorted unmarked trails.

• Dark Hollow Pond Trail: Yellow blazes. 1 mile
  We did not spot even ONE yellow blaze at any point along this trail. The path has also changed somewhat since the map was designed due to the pond's expansion. This trail parallels I93 for pretty much its entire run, making much of it so loud that you have to yell to be heard by your companion. All that said, the actual trail environment is beautiful and made me especially sad that the highway was plunked through the middle of the Fells like that. The big treat of this trail are the old railroad trestles, overgrown with greenery and looking like some remnant of a bygone civilization. So very cool, and very Lost Cities. :)

• Bear Hill Trail: Blue blazes. 0.2 miles
  We ended up on top of Bear Hill via fire road, and I was only able to guess where this trail was by dead reckoning. Again, there was nary a blue blaze to be seen, but we knew we'd chosen correctly because there was a text sign at the intersection with the Skyline. Bear Hill boasts a four-story concrete and steel tower with some great views.

East of I93:

• Crystal Spring Trail: Red blazes. 1.4 miles
  This trail is sadly short, as it's possibly over-all the most beautiful in the Fells. Well-marked and clean, it passes through lovely wooded areas as well as up onto rocks. Since the Virginia Wood starts at the same place (across the street), this is also easily combined into a longer hike.

• Virginia Wood Trail: Pink blazes. 0.8 miles
  Named for a woman who was said to have died there (but did not), this one-way trail passes through the woods of the same name and connects to the Rock Circuit. It has one short steep section at the end.

• Spot Pond Brook Archaeological District Self Guided Trail: Yellow blazes. 0.8 miles
  This not-very-long trail with the very long name is still blazed yellow but is now labeled the Historic Trail. This may be a nod toward the fact that it's apparently no longer maintained. There are numbered markers along the way at points of interest and a guide to go along with the trail is allegedly available. It was definitely worth doing for some of the points along the way, such as the outflow "waterfalls", but some sections were nearly unusable. We scrambled over the fallen trees and such, but the family with kids skipped those bits.

• Rock Circuit Trail: White blazes. 3.7 miles
  This (along with Virginia Wood) was the first trail I ever hiked in the Fells, shortly after moving to Boston, and in many ways it is still my favorite. It offers not only a great hike in terms of mixed terrain and a lot of up&down, but also some fabulous views and even bouldering opportunities. The blazes very explicitly guide the trail up and over any rock that might be available, but if one of your group gets tired, they can skirt around the edges of much of the hard stuff. The Pinnacle Rock detour is also well worth doing.

• Rock Circuit Connector: Orange blazes. 0.6 miles.
  Contrary to the map, this trail connects to the Rock Circuit *at* Boojum Rock, not north of it. This is useful information if you're aiming for it from the west. The Connector is a convenient cut-through if you're looking for a shorter hike, or just to mix things up a bit.

• Bonus: Cascade Trail: White blazes.
  At the east end of the Cross Fells, I spotted a sign (and blazes!) for the Cascade Trail. This trail is not on the map nor listed anywhere I can find. As we were only halfway through a very long hike, we decided not to explore it right then, but I did come back to it at a later date. It was after dark, but we set out nonetheless, since I wanted to do this one in the interest of completeness. First let me say that I don't recommend this trail at night. Among other things, it involved a long, steep climb up rock "stairs" and assorted scrambling, peaking at an excellent high point. The falls appeared to be dry (it was too dark to see anything, but we couldn't hear them), and eventually the trail connected in with the Rock Circuit. I will definitely explore this one again in daylight.

Cross:

• Cross Fells Trail: Blue blazes: 4.5 miles
  The only trail spanning both sides of the Fells, this one-way path (so plan for double miles) involves four road crossings, including Rt 28 under I93. I had a very good time doing it, but that was more due to the company I had than the trail itself, which I thought was only okay. I think I tend to resent one-way trails that don't involve a particular destination, like a peak or another loop, or something. I don't see myself doing this trail in its entirety again, although I'm sure I'll do pieces as part of other hikes.

The Fells is so criss-crossed with trails and fire roads that you can really set any path you'd like and move about any number of ways without a plan. It isn't too difficult to wander aimlessly and then figure out where you are based on what you can see and what's on the map. The excessive number of auto roads that chop the Fells have one "feature" which is to facilitate navigation, in that at worst, you can always get to the nearest one and figure out your way from there.

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've barely explored the Fells, obviously. Thanks for the reviews.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I'm can't think why this should be obvious, but I'll take your word for it. Let me know if you're ever interested in some exploration. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Obvious to me, anyway; I think I've been on perhaps two trails, and not their whole lengths, either.

I will... There's no weekend time available for far too long (and I refuse to start booking the by-then-scarce daylight time in late October already!).

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

I agree on finding where you are based on what you see, but it never worked for me well when I was doing some trail-running without a map.

I would just end up running to the nearest road, and hope they had a map at the trail head.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

*nod* The two together are key -- when I did have a map but couldn't see anything, I had some difficulty as well and we ended up just backtracking, whereas I'm sure during the day (or with a headlamp), I could have figured it out.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

The "old railroad trestles" are actually remnants of an old streetcar line that was replaced by the 100 bus. It ran up the Fellsway from Sullivan Sq., which is why the Fellsway is so wide from Wellington Circle to Elm St. in Medford where the 100 bus turns around. From there, it ran up the Fellsway, and then over private reservation through open country in what is now the Fells and terminated at Stoneham Center.

Eventually the route was cut back to Elm St., and then was bustituted.

I always wondered if one could hike the old ROW.

</transit_geek>

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ooh, neat! I never knew there were ever streetcars from Sullivan, and I wouldn't've guess Medford had any, either.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Er, 'guess' s/b 'guessed'.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Sullivan was a bigtime streetcar hub. A lot of the bus routes that originate at Sullivan and fan out through Somerville and Medford were originally streetcar routes.

This should make for some fascinating reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston-area_streetcar_lines/old
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston-area_streetcar_lines
http://members.aol.com/eddanamta/busfiles/contents.pdf (PDF document)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Cool! Fun transit trivia, though it'd be cool if it was still there (and 93 wasn't).

They are actually labeled as railroad trestles, btw, so no quotes needed. Amazing to see from the side and beneath, but when you're on top, you can't even tell it's anything, since they're covered with dirt and overgrown.

[starphire.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah we hiked that for the first time earlier this summer. It is neat.

[rosif3r.livejournal.com]

Dark Hollow Pond Trail: Yellow blazes. 1 mile

ok, that makes sense now. Carolyn and I tried to follow that trail in the dark and got horribly turned around. the lack of a single blaze makes me not feel so bad about this. i'll have to go again in the light. i remember a place where it seemed like what i thought was the trail just kept forking and forking - i'm curious if the right way to go was more obvious in the light at that point...


Dark Hollow Pond Trail: Yellow blazes. 1 mile

the blue blazes are there, not very well maintained, and not at all where the map seems to think they should be. i ran into the same issue, but i found the blazes about 50' further along the fire road than they should have been by the map.

Bonus: Cascade Trail: White blazes.

hmmm. don't think i've seen this one. where did you see the blazes for it? i know that if you start going uphill (to the left) just before the crossfells zigzags to a stop in someone's driveway, it goes up a long hill, hooks, and joins the Rock Circuit trail (already in progress). is it somewhere around there?

also, how old are your Fells maps? i've been meaing to get newer ones from them, as i think mine were printed 5-7 years ago. i wonder if the newer ones have more stuff or less. i was also in one area where it looked like someone had gone and blazzed a decent section of their own "gray" trail, but now i forget where that was or how long it extended.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Dark Hollow Pond: There were indeed many forks, but I think we we basically along the right lines. At times, we crossed laterally among the different paths just to see if there was a blaze *anywhere*, and while there were occasional very old and faded blue ones, we never saw yellow.

Blue Hill: There are old blue blazes around the Blue Hill area that aren't the Blue Hill Trail (as noted above), but I did find the trail exactly where I expected it to be (using the map to determine where it ought to be was the only reason I found it), and then it was labeled at the Skyline intersection. Didn't notice any relevant blazes on the trail itself

Cascade: That is the Cascade -- it starts at the eastern trailhead of the Cross Fells. I was there again today and found that it joins the RC sooner than we realized. The intersection wasn't obvious in the dark since the blazes are the same color.

Mine is MDC-era, but the ones posted at the Fells itself don't have any more info on them. Some have the Bike Loop colored in, but they aren't newly-designed. I want to join up with the FotF and see about getting the maps updated, putting up road signs indicating trail crossings, etc.

[starphire.livejournal.com]

We got one this summer which is dated 2002, appears to be a joint effort between Friends of the Fells and the MDC (which provided the map part). It is titled Middlesex Fells Reservation Trail Map, and is covered in the margins and back side with drawings and text describing the history, geography, flora and fauna of the Fells. Is yours like that?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I don't see a date, but yeah, that one.

The MDC doesn't run the Fells anymore, though the FotF are still a force. The DCR is in charge now and a number of trails have been re-blazed since they took over. (Such as the RC Connector, which used to be nearly invisible an dis now quite clear, including the new little DCR signs a tthe trailheads.)

[rosif3r.livejournal.com]

sounds like what i have , but i don't have it in front of me to check. where on the map did you see the date? i checked on mine, but the only place i see one makes it look like it might be from 1999.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Even though we went on very few hikes together, I really miss them.