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Great Blue Hill, Erosion in This Area? Maintaining Trails on Soil and Helping Control Insects and Disease

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Great Blue Hill, Erosion in This Area? Maintaining Trails on Soil and Helping Control Insects and Disease Welcome to the soil in place and minimizing erosion to healthy and productive by ridding the forest the trail. Can you see any signs of runoff and floor of dead wood, returning nutrients to the 5. PINING FOR M ORE Great Blue Hill, erosion in this area? Maintaining trails on soil and helping control insects and disease. Take a look at the trees around you. the highest point in the 7000 acre Blue Hills slopes is a challenge. Please help the DCR Sadly, most forest fires in the northeast are Here three pines mingle along the Reservation and the highest coastal elevation park rangers by staying on the marked trail caused by humans, from carelessly discarding rocky slope. Can you find them? along the Atlantic seaboard south of Maine. and not creating shortcuts. matches and cigarettes. Remember, please be White pine, the Blue Hills This large dome of granite measures 635 feet careful with fire in the forest. most common evergreen, at the summit. Hikers will be rewarded with has soft and pliable needles TAKEN FOR GRANITE a spectacular view of the surrounding 2. in bundles of five. Now look countryside. Feel the exposed rock underfoot and along CAUTION for a tree with needles in The summit road is ahead. the trail. You are now stepping on rocks bundles of two and thick Please use caution as you cross reddish bark. The red pine is named for its Before you begin… which once oozed from ancient volcanoes the paved road. Be aware of Your hike up and down Great Blue will take millions of years ago. As this molten rock chunky, reddish bark of puzzle-like plates. park vehicles and bicycle traffic. approximately 1 hour, covering 1 mile and an cooled underground, it became incredibly Pitch pine has a short, often contorted trunk (The paved road leads directly uphill elevation gain of 430 feet. Be aware the trail hard granite. Over time, wind, water and ice and three needles to a bundle. Pitch pine often to the Blue Hill Weather Observatory.) is steep and rocky in some sections. Rangers have worn away the upper layers of rock grows on windswept dry hilltops. These The red dot trail continues recommend wearing sturdy footgear, bringing revealing the granite beneath. Granite is often evergreens provide year round across the road. drinking water and purchasing a trail map at used for monuments due to its ability to take shelter for animals such as great-horned the Trailside Museum for a complete a fine polish. Note how thousands of owls and red squirrels. overview of the park and trail system. footsteps each year have helped to smooth and polish the stone along the trail. Seasonal restrooms and drinking fountains 4. WINGING I T 6. A TOWERING TRIBUTE are located at the brown building by the north Look, a flash of color The Civilian Conservation parking lot from May to October. 3. A BURNING I SSUE in the trees. Listen, there’s Corps (CCC) built the stone Observe the trees around you. Do you see a rustle among the leaves. Observe, tower and pavilion you see The trail begins at the bulletin board beside many trees with whitish bark? A forest fire a winged silhouette casting a shadow ahead. The CCC was a federal the Trailside Museum. Follow the red dots burned here in the 1980’s. The gray birch on the forest floor. The hills are alive with program created in the 1930’s by President and stop at numbered markers corresponding trees around you are called pioneer species birdlife. The reservation support over 160 Franklin Delano Roosevelt to provide jobs to the text, as you journey up the hill and because they sprout species of birds including the prairie warbler, during the Great Depression. Imagine deeper into the forest. quickly in burned areas eastern towhee, field sparrow and the black- collecting and hauling these large stones from and abandoned fields. capped chickadee. The hilltops provide throughout the reservation. That’s what the 1. HIT THE TRAIL! Burnt stumps and excellent vantage points for viewing hawks CCC boys did from 1933 to 1937 in the Blue Hills. Roosevelt’s “Tree Army” built two You are about to ascend the most popular dead trees are also and turkey vultures as they circle and pass observation towers, one here and one at climb in the Boston area. The forces of nature signs of a past fire. overhead, riding the warm breezes which Chickatawbut Overlook. They also have shaped this hill and this trail. Rain and Can you find any of these signs? rise off the slope. Close your eyes and listen. constructed miles of trails, planted thousands snow fall on the hillside washing soil and Uncontrolled fires can pose a threat to the How many birds can you hear? of trees, built ski runs on Great Blue Hill and debris down the slope. The stone blocks forest and its wildlife. However, naturally many other park improvements. before you help to stabilize the slope, holding occurring forest fires can help keep the forest 7. O N A CLEAR DAY To continue directly downhill on the red 9. A DAY AT THE BEECH Breathe deeply, relax and enjoy the view. The dot trail, exit the tower through the picnic Feel the smooth gray bark of the American Great Eliot Observation Tower is named for pavilion and go down the stairs to ground beech before you. Do you see names carved Charles Eliot, a visionary landscape architect level. The red dot trail continues in this tree? This graffiti cuts the protective and a major force behind the establishment of immediately across from the pavilion. bark, making the tree vulnerable to disease. the Blue Hills Reservation in 1893. At intersection 1082, follow the red dots Undisturbed, these forest giants can live Blue To the east, you see the Harbor Islands as the trail takes a sharp left turn. to a ripe age of 400 years old, dotting the coastline. To the north, while providing a wealth skyscrapers tower among the Boston skyline. of food for squirrels, deer, To the west, Mount Wachusett can be seen 44 wild turkeys and even humans. Hill miles away in Princeton, Massachusetts. 8. A REALLY BIG PUDDLE Have you ever tasted beech nut Look to the side of the trail. Is there standing gum? The beech nut is a bur that The Blue Hills Reservation stretches 8 miles water or is it dry? Would you call this area a contains 2-3 triangular, sweet tasting nuts. to Quincy in the east. The two large bodies of wetland? It is actually a vernal pool, Look for more beech trees as you stroll Blue Hills Reservation water to the east/southeast are also in the a special type of wetland through this cool, sheltered ravine. Follow reservation. Houghton’s Pond is the smaller which dries up in the red dot trail across a wooden bridge. pond and has a sandy swimming beach. the late summer. The seasonal stream below feeds the pond Self-guided trail brochure Ponkapoag, the larger pond to the south, Due to its temporary at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum. Be sure boasts a unique quaking bog and boardwalk. nature, fish cannot to include a visit to the Trailside Museum survive in this wetland to learn more about the Blue Hills. The red Southwest, above the tree line is the Blue Hill and so it is an ideal place dot trail descends from here to the south Weather Observatory and Science Center, a for frogs, toads and salamanders to lay their National Historic Landmark built in 1885. parking lot. eggs, protected from hungry, swimming For an interesting side trip, predators. In March, listen for the high- TRAIL’ S END follow Eliot Circle around pitched calls of the spring peeper, a small tree to the Weather Observatory frog. By late summer, when the fragrant We hope you have enjoyed your visit to and examine the sweet pepperbush shrub blooms, this pool Great Blue Hill. This trail is only a brief weather equipment will probably be dry and the frogs, toads and glimpse of the beauty of the Blue Hills. on display. young salamanders will have moved to their We encourage you to visit often and enjoy Afterwards, shaded woodland homes. the fascinating seasonal changes of this retrace your rich and varied parkland. steps to resume the red dot trail Ahead, you will once again cross BLUE HILLS RESERVATION downhill. the summit road. Please use caution. department of Conservation and Recreation 695 Hillside St. Milton, MA 02186 617.698.1802 extension 3 www.mass.gov/dcr MB 2006 .
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