Turns out you can bike to a 2200 acre park from MIT in under 45 minutes!

We'll bike to the Middlesex Fells, then hike the Skyline Trail, which, as the name implies, has a beautiful view of the Boston skyline where you can play spot the Green Building. We'll also see some frozen ponds and reservoirs. Then we'll bike back. Plus, you get to sleep in by Winter School standards and get back in time for dinner.

This will be a mellow trip, with no experience required. If you can bike, you can go on the trip! In addition to the usual Winter School stuff, you'll need a working bike, a helmet, and a spare inner tube in case of flats. The same stuff that will keep you warm in cold and windy weather will keep you warm biking. We'll be biking 7 miles each way on nice roads, and, based on the current weather forecast, they should be in good condition. (If the weather forecast changes and the roads are expected to be slippery, we'll drive to the trailhead and change this to just a hiking trip.)

The hike itself is a 7 mile loop with lots of small ups and downs totaling about 1000 feet all together. We'll go at a mellow to medium pace, and we can practice using Microspikes if the ground is slippery.

If you don't own a bike, MITOC has pretty sweet mountain bikes that are available for rental. If you do own a bike, but aren't sure of its roadworthiness or otherwise need some minor tune-ups, David would be happy to lend a hand!

See you then!