A short hike with great views, this trail is lots of fun for children who like rock scrambling.

Thousands of hikers ascend Great Blue Hill each year to enjoy the fantastic view.

Visit the site of the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp, which housed workers as part of President Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression in the 1930s. For a 4 ½-mile, flat loop to the former camp location, park at Shea Rink, 651 Willard St, Quincy. You’ll find the trailhead at trail marker 4234 on the north side of the parking lot. Follow the green dots between St Moritz Ponds. After almost 2 miles, at marker 4091, take a right and then a left at 4083. Follow Sawcut Notch Path to 4042 and take a left to the former CCC Camp, where a sign near old concrete foundations highlights the history and significance of the camp and the men that worked there. Follow Sawcut Notch path back, taking a right at marker 4091 to follow the green dots back to Shea Rink.

For a short, eventful experience of hiking near Boston, follow the Green and Blue dots from Shea Rink.

This popular loop trail for hiking near Boston crosses several summits offering panoramic views.This mostly level forested loop trail takes you through oak-pine woodlands.

The Ponkapoag Trail is a scenic route with beautiful views of the pond.  A great trail if you’re looking for a long, peaceful, and scenic walk.  Be aware of your surroundings as hikers, bicyclers, and horses frequent the trail. The trail that loops around the entirety of the pond is just under four-miles long. This trail passes the Fisherman’s Beach, which is a great location for a day out with your family.

Though not as well-known, Ponkapoag Pond is larger than Houghton’s Pond and at 200 acres, it is an ideal spot for fishing and non-motorized boating.

A quarter of Ponkapoag Pond’s surface is underground since its entire northwest corner is covered by an uncommon wetland plant community known as a bog mat – a buoyant layer of vegetation that spreads out from the shoreline.  Eventually, it becomes thick enough to support an extensive cedar forest.  When the boardwalk is fully repaired, visitors can walk out to view the entire pond via a boardwalk, a string of anchored planks extending a fifth of a mile from dry land to open water

Parking

Ponkapoag Golf Course, 2167 Washington Street, Canton,

The stub off Exit 3 on Route 93 (trail marker 5322) Usually when you exit from Route 93, you would head north on Blue Hill River Road towards Houghton’s Pond.  But if you turn south, you’ll run into a gate.  There are a few parking spaces on the side of the road before the gate.  (You cannot block the gate itself.)  This is the parking that’s closest to Ponkapoag bog

Fisherman’s Beach on Randolph Street, Canton (just east of 1060 Randolph St, Canton)

In spring or early summer, look for the waterfall on Slide Notch Path.

This relatively level trail through large hardwood forests begins in the parking area, 500 feet north of Trailside Museum.

This mostly level forested loop trail takes you through oak-pine woodlands.

Little Blue Hill offers a much shorter climb than Great Blue for hiking near Boston.

A vigorous hike with views. This is about a two hour hike if you are walking at a moderate pace with a couple water breaks.