A TOASTY RAMBLE, AND WHAT LIES AHEAD

It's....well....I can't even remember what day this is for Boston's latest heat wave. But I'm pleased to report that despite the swelter, the first Walking City Trail guided section hike was a blast. We met early in the morning at Adams Park and hiked Section 2 to Jamaica Pond, passing through the abundant shade trees at Arnold Arboretum, Bussey Brook Meadow, the Southwest Corridor, Franklin Park, and the Parley Vale before the heat became inferno-esque. (Sunscreen and LOTS of water helped as well.)

It was such a relief to finally be able to  lead one of these guided hikes. The first hike along Section 1 of the Walking City Trail was scheduled for early July but it had to be canceled twice. The first cancellation was due to thunderstorms and the second one was instigated by a Covid exposure that I learned about the day before the rescheduled hike. (However, this didn't stop several folks who signed up for the Section 1 hike from doing it themselves, sans guide, and it sounds like they had a lot of fun out there.)  Rather than try and shoehorn the Section 1 hike into the remainder of July or August, I decided to progress with the other scheduled section hikes. 

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that the next Walking City Trail guided section hike is going down on Saturday August 13th! We'll be hiking Section 3 of the trail from Jamaica Pond to the Esplanade, tracing the path of Olmsted's Emerald Necklace but also taking a detour up and over Parker Hill, where some of Boston's most beautiful urban wilds await.  Click here to visit the signup page for the hike. Admission is free, but donations are welcome and greatly appreciated.

Oh, and speaking of escalation, the Walking City Trail recently got some air-time on NPR's Here & Now! The lovely radio segment about the trail produced by WBUR's Cloe Axelson was recently re-aired on the national program. You can listen to it here.