Blue Hills Mountain Bike | Buck Hill | Coon Path Hollow | Milton Boston MA

I road the two best downhill trails at Blue Hills Reservation, Buck Hill and Coon Path Hollow.

695 Hillside Street
Milton Massachusetts 02186

NEMBA:
The Blue Hills Reservation includes 7000 acres of varied terrain. It ranges from woodlands to marsh to rocky hills. There is an extensive, well-marked and maintained trail system with miles of fire road, double and single track. There are great views of Boston and the south shore from several hill tops. Other activities available include hiking, swimming, canoeing and horseback riding. There is a designated swimming area at Houghton Pond as well as a refreshment stand. Great Blue Hill is the second highest "coastal mountain" on the Esat Coast. (A coastal mountain is any mountain from which you can see the ocean)


The terrain open to mountain bikers at Blue Hills consists of the Houghton Pond, Great Blue Hill and Ponkapoag areas. This represents about one-half of the total area of the reservation. Within this area, approximately 95% of the double-track and 50% of the single-track is open to cyclists. Although these trails represent perhaps 20% of the total trails at Blue Hills, the Blue Hills is big; there's a lot of stuff to ride here. Much of the double track is gravelly fire road but significant portions are rocky and quite challenging. The variety of single track is more limited than the double track but there are enough trails that even the experienced rider will not run out of challenging terrain.


The one lack at Blue Hills is that there is very limited novice terrain open to mountain bikers. The only really easy trails are the short loop around Houghton Pond and old 128 which is actually a paved road. Some of the double track is not difficult from a technical standpoint but it is still quite hilly. If you are not reasonably fit, you may want to build up your conditioning by riding someplace flatter for a while before trying the Blue Hills. See the map for an indication of the easier trails.