LocationsBoston & the Blue Hills
Milton, Massachusetts
Blue Hills Reservation
Photo: NewtonCourt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Climb 635-foot Great Blue Hill for a view over the whole Boston area, then cool off at Houghton's Pond. 7,000 acres and 125 miles of trails.
Written for ages 3–12.
Researched from this park's own sources. Nobody's walked it yet.
Read this bit out
There is a forest right next to the city: seven thousand acres of it, with a hundred and twenty-five miles of paths. Twenty-two hills stand up out of it, and the tallest, Great Blue Hill, has a rocky top where you can see the whole city spread out below you. Long ago, sailors passing along the coast saw these hills looking blue from far away, and that is how they got their name. The people who lived here first called themselves the Massachusett, the people of the great hills.
One of your three free places, or the Explorer Pass. What that costs
Before you go
- Time there
- Plan on about 2 hours at the park.
- Parking
- Free parking at Houghton's Pond, 840 Hillside Street, Milton; those lots close at 8pm unless posted. Park headquarters is ten-minute parking, with hiker parking across the street. Open dawn to dusk.
- Underfoot
- 125 miles of trails over 22 hills. Great Blue Hill is a 1-mile moderate climb from the Trailside Museum; the paved Summit Road is 0.9 miles but steep. The loop around Houghton's Pond is 0.75 miles.
- Stroller
- A stroller works on some of it.
- Bathrooms
- There are bathrooms.
- Food
- Houghton's Pond has a concession stand, a picnic area and grills. Bring a propane grill: no charcoal.
21 challenges written for this place
A game deals seven to fifteen of them, so no two visits are alike.
5 things to work out, 4 things to spot and 2 places to get to.
Every game includes this one
The Biggest Of Twenty-Two
Climb Great Blue Hill. There are twenty-two hills in this chain and it is the tallest one.
A few of the others
The Whole City
From the rocky top you can see the entire city. Find the tallest building in it.
Count The Other Hills
There are twenty-two hills here. Count how many of the others you can see from this one.
A Hundred And Twenty-Five Miles
There are 125 miles of trails in this park. Work out how many days it would take to walk every one.
A Forest Next To A City
All this is minutes from downtown. Decide whether it is strange that a forest this big is right there.
Down At The Pond
Find the pond and walk far enough around it that the parking lot is out of sight.
Can You Hear The City
Everyone stands still. Decide whether you can hear the city from in here, or not at all.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Also around Boston & the Blue Hills
Bunker Hill Monument
Charlestown, Boston
A 221-foot granite obelisk on Breed's Hill, where colonists dug a fort overnight in 1775. Climb 294 steps to the top; the monument and museum are free.
Neponset River Reservation
Boston
A tidal river running out to Boston Harbor past salt marsh, with a paved riverside trail, playgrounds, herons in the shallows and views of the city.
Play this at Blue Hills Reservation
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.