Noon Hill, Noon Hill Reservation, Medfield, MA - 3/30/08

We decided to explore the Noon Hill Reservation in Medfield with some friends the other day. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Reservation (including the adjacent Shattuck Reservation) has about 400 acres of land and the area around it is pretty natural looking. The map also said that there was a view on top of Noon Hill.

So when we got there, we decided to try to do the largest loop around the Reservation that we could that included going over Noon Hill. We started at the small parking area on Noon Hill Road and then proceeded to make our way around the park.

The trail was fairly easy to follow and well maintained, though you really need to have the brochure with the map with you because of the number of trail intersections there are on the property. I suppose you could pretty easily get all turned around and end up in a completely different area than you expect.

There were a few wet areas but overall the trail was easy to walk on.

The climb up to the top of Noon Hill wasn’t that bad – a short steep section and then you were up on top of it. We followed the first side trail to what we thought was the vista marked on the map. We reached what is probably the summit, but the trees surrounding it had grown up and there was only a limited view. If you looked between the trees you could see the Blue Hills and Boston off in the distance.

We made our way back to the main trail and continued walking. After a bit we came to what was the official side trail to the viewpoint. We followed that out to a much better view. The hill ended in a cliff face to the southeast and offered a really good view of the surrounding area. The thing that struck me was that considering where we were (in the middle of Medfield and in the highly developed metrowest area, you saw very little in the way of development from the view. Sure there were some power lines in the distance and a few buildings here and there (you can see Gillette Stadium), but overall it was a really nice view.

In that last photo you can see Gillette Stadium if you look at the full-sized version.

The climb down the backside of the hill wasn’t as steep as the way we came up and then we ambled our way through the woods alongside a fairly large wetland area until we reached higher ground and finally came out by the parking lot.

All told it was maybe 2 miles of walking but it was really nice and considering how close it is to home, it’s the perfect place to go for a late afternoon or early evening walk, especially as the days get longer.