AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Boston: Four-Season Guide to 60 of the Best Trails in Eastern Massachusetts

by John S. Burk, Michael Tougias, Alison O'Leary

Overview

Eastern Massachusetts is home to the large urban area of Boston and its suburbs, but it is also home to many pockets of wilderness where you can walk in solitude. This new edition of AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Boston brings you to 60 of the best day hikes in the area, along with enriching essays about the area's natural and social history.

Visitors and locals alike will find something to enjoy in this volume, with an at-a-glance trip planner that highlights the best hikes near public transportation, as well as those for kids, dogs, universal access, and winter snowshoeing and skiing. From the famed beaches of Cape Cod to the contemplative stillness of Walden Pond, to new hikes in Callahan State Park and the Sudbury Reservoir, this new edition provides an indispensable guide for exploring the eastern portion of Massachusetts in greater depth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628421484
Publisher:	Appalachian Mountain Club Books MA
Publication date:	11/15/2022
Series:	AMC's Best Day Hikes
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	585,776
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Michael Tougias is a New York Times best-selling author and co-author of 25 books, including The Finest Hours. John Burk is a photographer, historian, and author of multiple books, including AMC's Massachusetts Trail Guide.Alison O'Leary is a longtime journalist, public speaker, and the author of several books, including Inns and Adventures: A History and Explorer's Guide to New Hampshire, Vermont and the Berkshires.

Table of Contents

Locator Map/Key to Icons iv

At-a-Glance Trip Planner viii

Preface xvi

Acknowledgments xviii

Introduction xix

How to Use This Book xx

Trip Planning and Safety xxi

Leave No Trace xxiv

1 Boston/Inside Routes 95 and 128 1

1 Middlesex Fells: Skyline Trail 3

2 Middlesex Fells: Reservoir Trail 8

3 Middlesex Fells: Rock Circuit Trail 12

4 Middlesex Fells: Cross Fells Trail 16

5 Breakheart Reservation 21

6 Lynn Woods Reservation 25

7 Arnold Arboretum 29

8 Spectacle Island 34

9 Stony Brook Reservation 39

10 Blue Hills Reservation: Observation Tower Loop 44

11 Blue Hills Reservation: Great Blue Hill Green Loop 49

12 Blue Hills Reservation: Ponkapoag Pond 53

13 Blue Hills Reservation: Houghton's Pond Yellow Dot Loop 58

14 Blue Hills Reservation: Skyline Trail 62

2 North of Boston 69

15 Weir Hill Reservation 71

16 Charles W. Ward Reservation 75

17 Baker's Meadow 80

18 Bald Hill Reservation 84

19 Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary 88

20 Bradley Palmer State Park 93

21 Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (Plum Island) 97

22 Old Town Hill 102

23 Crane Beach 106

24 Ravenswood Park 111

25 Halibut Point State Park and Reservation 115

3 West of Boston 119

26 Wachusett Reservoir and Reservation 121

27 Mount Pisgah Conservation Area 126

28 Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge 130

29 Great Brook Farm State Park 134

30 Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge 138

31 Minute Man National Historical Park: Battle Road Trail 142

32 Walden Pond 146

33 Lincoln Conservation Land 151

34 Nobscot Hill and Tippling Rock 155

35 Callahan State Park 159

36 Sudbury Reservoir 164

37 Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary 169

38 Rocky Narrows Reservation and Sherborn Town Forest 173

39 Noanet Woodlands 178

40 Rocky Woods Reservation 182

4 South of Boston/Cape Cod 187

41 Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary 189

42 Borderland State Park 194

43 Ames Nowell State Park 198

44 Great Esker Park 202

45 World's End Reservation 207

46 Whitney and Thayer Woods 212

47 Massasoit State Park 217

48 Burrage Pond 221

49 North Hill Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary 225

50 Aliens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary 229

51 West Island 234

52 Myles Standish State Forest 238

53 Ellisville Harbor State Park 243

54 Lowell Holly Reservation 247

55 Sandy Neck Circuit 251

56 Nickerson State Park 256

57 Fort Hill 260

58 Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary 265

59 Great Island 270

60 Cape Cod National Seashore: Pilgrim Heights 275

Nature and History Essays

Introduced Pests: A Threat to Our Eastern Forests 38

An Urban Oasis 48

Endangered Predator: Eastern Timber Rattlesnake 67

The Life and Times of a Bog 79

Massachusetts^ Watershed Wilderness 125

Henry David Thoreau: Naturalist, Explorer, and Writer 150

King Philip's War: An Early American Conflict 177

Climate Change in New England 206

Cranberries in New England 216

Great White Sharks Return to Massachusetts 264

The Birth of Cape Cod National Seashore 279

Appendices

A Camping and State Parks 280

B The Bay Circuit Trail 286

Index 288

About the Authors 293

About AMC in Massachusetts 293

AMC Books Updates 293