At the foot of Great Blue Hill in Milton, Mass Audubon’s Blue Hills Trailside Museum is where Boston families start their mountain: outdoor exhibits home to river otters, owls, a bald eagle and other rescued native wildlife that can’t return to the wild, plus indoor galleries on the natural history of the Blue Hills Reservation.
From the museum door, trails climb to the Eliot Tower and the Blue Hill Observatory – Massachusetts’ highest coastal point – while the 6,000-acre reservation spreads ponds, marshes and forest in every direction. It’s the perfect first hike ecosystem: wildlife first, summit second, hot chocolate on the way home.
