Blue Hills Reservation: Natural Gem of the Boston Area (7) Indian Pass Path and Crags Foot Path

Preamble  On the way to my intended hike late in September, I stopped at Chickatawbut Overlook, where a patch of low ground is cut over at intervals to maintain a meadow that gives a view of Boston.  I like meadows, and wasted little time in getting down into it.

Chickatawbut Overlook, and the view from the wall at the top of the meadow on a hazy day.

The meadow, and a steeplebush (Spirea tomentosa) I collected seeds from: I want to grow some.

Back of the overlook is a fairly civilized and well-traveled walk up Chickatawbut Hill.

Views from the top of Chickatawbut Hill.

The main event   The northeastern end of Blue Hills Reservation stretches beyond the Blue Hill Reservoir and Chickatawbut Road into Quincy.  I parked in the small lot just west of the reservoir, and crossed the street and headed into the woods on Brook Path.

I planned to take a connecting path from Brook Path to Fox Hill Path

and thence to Indian Camp Path--until I saw how steep it was.

Going farther brought me to another connector without the need to scramble.

Higher and drier ground made for more open woodland.

Silverrod (Solidago bicolor) growing amongst grasses and chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) seedlings.

A little fall color in huckleberry (Gaylussacia) and a lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum).

Panicled hawkweed (Hieracium paniculatum).

A rare sign marks this as a green dot trail--a forest track.

I think these distinctive little dingles or hollows--perhaps six fee

deep at the deep end--are natural, but I have no idea how they form.

Perhaps the largest chestnut oak I've seen.

Yellow birch (Betula allegheniensis).

Sassafras.

The only water I saw on the walk.

I've seen a lot of fallen trees, but none with a root spread so big!  It still had some dead leaves,

but the stones unearthed by its fall were clean, so the tree probably fell months ago.

Red maple (Acer rubrum.)

The returning connector from Crags Foot Path joins a gas pipeline route for a distance.

The sunny pipeline route was perfumed by sweetfern (Comptonia peregrine)--a relative of bayberry.

Goldenrod and aster on the pipeline.

Yellow birch.

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a shrub I associate with rich woods.

Rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens), with its variegated leaves,

is an easy-to-recognize native orchid.

Gently up, then steeply down Fox Hill.

The slope looks a little less forbidding than it did from the bottom, at the start of the walk.

This brings to an end my forays into parts of Blue Hills Reservation new to me.  But I have already been back to several of them--for some things bear repeating.