Today’s hike happened in two parts. Part 1 started around 10am at the Trailside Museum with Patricia, Penny, and four Au Pairs from Patricia’s LCC group with Cultural Care Au Pair. The plan was to hike the most popular trail in the reservation, the Red Dot loop from the museum to the top of Great Blue Hill and then back down. It was the chilliest morning I had encountered so far in this challenge so I started out with my fleece zipped up and even wearing a knit beanie. Penny continues to insist on being a part of all my Trail Marker selfies and was hamming it up by giving a report on each floof (dog) we encountered directly into my makeshift bodycam. It took a while to get started as parking was crowded and we were waiting for a few latecomers. With all present and accounted for, we started up the Red Dot trail.
I warmed up really quick with the climb up the steeper incline and I had ditched my fleece and hat in about 15 minutes. I was also panting and wheezing like the overweight 48-year-old man that I am, but that’s part of the reason I’m on this whole adventure in the first place. When we got to the summit of Great Blue, you couldn’t ask for better conditions. It was cool but sunny and the sky was an amazing rich blue with patches of fluffy white clouds taken right form a pre-school drawing. Did the climb up the Eliot Tower and soaked in the views. It’s easy to see why this is the most popular trail in the reservation. I tried to get some fun panoramic shots, but none of them really came out that great.
I had been explaining the 125 Mile Club and the TTBH Challenge to the Au Pairs on the way up the hill so they were nice enough to oblige me with a few extra minutes of hiking around the Eliot Loop to take in the Weather Observatory. There we encountered our one major disappointment for the day. We knew the Weather Observatory was closed for some major renovations, but we were delighted to see they had setup a makeshift gift shop out of a storage shed and some tables near the tower. Penny excitedly cornered the matron of the gift shop to ask if they still had the Annie B’s caramel candies, and they were immediately devastated to learn that they no longer sold them and didn’t plan on carrying them again. We were told they were looking for a more local option to replace them (Annie B’s is based out of Minnesota). I tried to console the child with some lollisticks but they were clearly bummed. We soldiered on and got some nice pictures at a small overlook at the west side of Eliot Loop. The time was nearly 12pm (the scheduled end of the Au Pair outing) so we started to make our way to the Racoon Hollow Path and Abigail Adams Trail.
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