Hiking: Cat Rock - A T-accessible wilderness in Boston's western suburbs

I lived in Boston for several months last year, staying with family in a western suburb replete with conservation lands. While I found hiking at the sprawling urban wilderness sanctuaries of the Middlesex Fells and the Blue Hills to be exceptional, there were also many smaller gems to be found throughout the city and surrounding suburbs. Cat Rock is one of my favorites, and the best part is that it's accessible by public transit from Boston's North Station and Porter Square in Cambridge.

Cat Rock in Weston, Massachusetts is a tiny slice of preserved wilderness in the midst of suburbia. This granite-topped hill scratches up to the sky from within the suburban landscape about half a mile's walk from the Kendall Green T station. This passive park, or reservation as it's called, has a loop trail that links it to the rest of 80 Acre woods that surround the western, southern and southeastern edges of Hobb's Pond. The pond is fed by the Cambridge Reservoir farther north and empties via Hobbs Brook to the south into the Stony Brook Reservoir and finally releases into the Charles River by the Waltham-Newton divide. The waterway dissects the hiking loop, so two shorter loops may be followed by sticking to the brook's east or west bank.

Cat Rock is on the west side loop. To get there I'd suggest taking the Fitchburg Line to Kendal Green, walking north on Church, taking a left onto Route 117, and then a quick right onto Drabbington Way. Trail spurs are at the end of Drabbington, on either side of the ball field. The quickest route to Cat Rock from here is taking the left trail spur. Take it into the woods and veer left in the clearing to ascend the old abandoned ski run, and then down the mushroom-clad hill that leads downhill to the west and north here and do the entire loop toward an open meadow, and Hobb's Pond.

The trail to the right of the ball field will take you away from Cat Rock, to a footbridge where you can cross to the east side loop and into the woods. Within, you will find street exits: 1) Lexington Street to the east, which runs north-south and forms much of the eastern edge of the woods, and 2) Page Road, to the south, which curves once exiting the park and also leads to Lexington Street.

To return to Kendal Green, take Lexington south to Route 117, where you will take a right, and then a left onto Church, which slopes down toward the station.

If you're living in the Boston area, I'd really recommend checking this place out. It's a lovely diversion from the fast pace of city life. And if you're close enough, it's a great spot to enjoy regular hikes without having to venture too far from home.