Great Blue Hill

"Semi birding semi hiking loop through Blue Hills Reservation. Went past the summits of Hemenway and Hancock, but didn’t really summit them. Very beautiful forest, and the extremely rocky, steep climbs were unexpected to me after hiking dirt/dust trails in the SF Bay Area!" — sergeypavlov • Jun 29, 2024

"Warmest day of the year so far, gorgeous weather. Set off from Houghton's Pond and hiked all the hills west of Route 28 as well as Hawk Hill to round out the loop. Spent some time at the observatory at the top of the Great Blue Hill and learned about its history (longest continuous weather record in the US). Great 360-degree views from the top of the observatory, including the Boston skyline to the north, Mt. Wachusett to the west, the Monadnock Range and Mt. Watatic to the northwest, and the rest of the Blue Hills to the east." — JCalautti • Apr 15, 2024

"Traversed the Blue Hills on the Skyline trail. warm day for (almost) winter, low 30's. Light rain for the first half of the hike, but cleared up by the end of it. Wet trail on and off, but most of the ascents ere rocky. No ice, but slippery from the rain at times. A lot of up and down, but worth it to knock out 12 summits. 6.9 miles in 3.5 hours, 2325 ft elevation gain." — gregoryskiba • Dec 17, 2022

"Molly and I explored something different today. My first outing to the Blue Hills. We took the Skyline Tr North up Hancock Hill and over to Great Blue Hill. We took Skyline Tr South over Houghton Hill back to the parking lot. I accidently missed a peak between Hancock Hill and Wolcott Hill, but I made an effort to touch the high points on all of the hills and had to briefly bushwack to reach most of them. It was really cool seeing the Boston skyline from Great Blue Hill. " — newenglandwarrior • Mar 27, 2022

"Summited during a 9 mile “hill bagging” day along the entirety of the Skyline Trail in Blue Hills Reservation. Used this as a prep hike for an upcoming trip and made the bad decision to carry full weight backpacks. I did not realize how technical this trail was, especially on a rainy day with so many steep and slippery sections. Totally underestimated these hills!" — SteveG • Apr 28, 2019

"A thin layer of snow made the hike difficult (I only had a pair of old sneakers on), but the challenge made it all the more rewarding. It was a beautiful, cold, clear day and the view from Eliot Tower at the top of Great Blue Hill was great. The south side of Skyline Trail was VERY icy - it looked like a waterfall froze midstream down the trail! This required some careful off-trail maneuvering, but scrambling down an icy hillside (in 3 separate locations) made for an unforgettable hike." — ErinLouise • Jan 10, 2015

"There were a lot of incline and descents that I wasn't prepared for on this trip. It really worked my legs, and a great intro into actually hiking something after being out of the game for several years. The view of Boston at the top of the tower made it worth it!" — KeepCalmClimbOn • Mar 24, 2013

"An early morning trip up to the summit of Blue Hill in order to look for running trails and to summit Hancock. Actually meant to hit Hancock Hill first and then summit Blue, but got turned around on the early unmarked trails. I did find some nice trails for running on my descent from Hancock." — oceanstateofmind • Apr 26, 2012

"Lindsey, my roommate Ryan, and Me tackled the Great Bull Hill on Saint Patrick's day. What a great way to celebrate being Irish and living in Boston then to hike around Blue Hills Reservation. We started near the ski area and took coon hallow path to the summit. You can get a great view of Boston from the top of Eliot tower on the summit. We didn't stop there as we traversed across the reservation to Hancock Hill. Lots of people were hiking that day because even know there was an over cask it was still warm out. On the way back we were able to check out some caged wild animals they had on display on the outside of the Trailside museum. This was a fairly easy hike, but i would still recommend this to anyone who want a good day hike close to Boston." — elbesto • Mar 17, 2012