Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Blue Hills


I have been spending my time this week taking care of all the little last-minute details that need to be taken care of before I leave for Georgia. Things like laying in a supply of the foods I eat on the trail so that Jodi won't have to do all the shopping in order to send me my mail-drops, making sure all the things that use batteries have fresh batteries in them, and making sure all the things that need to be charged are fully charged.

I have also been getting out to hike in the Blue Hills reservation as often as I can. I have my backpack packed with all the gear I plan to start my hike with, so I am hiking with all of my equipment, and four days worth of food. It's a little silly hauling this backpack around on day hikes, but it's a good way to get my legs used to carrying the extra weight.

The weather has been what you might call "variable" this week. Last Saturday it was in the 60's, and the mid-50's on Sunday. Then on Sunday night a winter storm rolled in and it snowed all day on Monday. I skipped hiking on Monday and spent the day tweaking some of my gear.

On Tuesday I was back out in the Blue Hills. It was a beautiful morning with the trees coated in snow and ice. By late morning the sun had warmed everything enough that the snow in the trees was melting and it was like hiking in the rain.

I was out in the Blue Hills again today. It was in the high 20's when I started around 8::00Am, with a nice cool breeze blowing up to 30 mph. With all thw wind I decided to stay off the ridges and I explored parts of the park I haven't been in before. Did you know there was a CCC camp in the Blue Hills during the Depression? Well, I didn't. At least, not until today, when I stumbled upon the site pictured below.




They did some awfully nice rock work, which is now out in the middle of the woods and most people will never see it. It's kind of a shame.

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