Weeknight Escapes from the City; Prospect Hill Park, Waltham MA

[Amicus]

Sligo Hill it is - over 500 ft even w/out Water Tower and must be a better line from Prospect in Waltham than Nobscot. (I missed that tiny "Res." on the topo map.)

Back on track: Thanks to Sabrina for shining a light on an area many Metro Boston hikers might enjoy.

 

[una_dogger]

Very cool discussion, Papa Bear and Amicus! I'm often amazed at the knowledge base here. I will have to look for the marker next time I'm near the radar tower.

Jazzbo, I like your idea of trailwork...errr...I mean cold beers at Boston Rock.

While we are on the subject of "lost" ski areas, I'll just have to post a follow up of one of my other favorite local jaunts, Cat Rock Park in Weston. Its where I take Terra for unleashed-unbridled-openspace-doggy fun. Another great place to take in the woods, fields and sounds of nature, and its got a little bit of elly, too.

 

[Jazzbo]

Wierd Tower in Waltham

In response to Papabear's question on the mysterous tower...... We've lived in our house near Prospect Hill Park in Waltham since 1990. I started exploring the park early on. When we first moved here tower had a pretty big dish 15-20' diameter??? Everyone refers to it as the radar dish, but I have no idea whether it was used for radar or what wavelength it was used for. There used to be some small buildings and the area was fenced in. I happen to know the US air force rented the property from the city. The dish was always pointed towards Hanscom Field in Bedford MA which is US air force base. It may have pointed elsewhere when it was actually in use or swept skies in some way, but I suspect it was no longer in use by 1990. I suspect the air force decided to close it down for good and removed the dish, fence, and buildings.

Trees around the tower have grown in and no longer any views from the area of the tower. The summit is broad and flat so it would take lot of cutting to bring back the views. There's small cleared area not far from tower where you get the views to north and west. Park is much like Blue Hills in that when the parks were developed by public acquisition of formerly open farmland with scattered woodlots. So these parks had much more views everywhere than from few spots as they are now.

Enough pontification for one night!

 

[Quietman]

Found the following here

Circa 1963, the Air Force added a large antenna to their facilities. This antenna included
a 30 foot wide parabolic reflector dish that sat atop a 40 foot high tower. It was used to monitor
radio emissions from the sun. This would allow the Air Force to study sunspot activity and solar
storms which can be dangerous both to aircraft and space vehicles........

In 1997, as the city was beginning to make a commitment to the revitalization of Prospect
Hill Park (see the master plan discussion below), the Air Force vacated the site. By this time, the
site had been contaminated by lead, asbestos, semivolatile organic compounds and various
hydrocarbons. From 2000 to 2001, a contractor for the Air Force removed most of the structures
and replaced the contaminated soil. The one structure that remained was the 40 foot tower that
had supported the 30 foot parabolic antenna. Although the 1997 master plan for the park
(discussed below) had included the removal of all radio sites in the park, individuals with an
interest in continued use of radio in the park had acted to maintain the radio tower.

 

[walker]

Dish on the dish

Found the following here

Circa 1963, the Air Force added a large antenna to their facilities. This antenna included
a 30 foot wide parabolic reflector dish that sat atop a 40 foot high tower. It was used to monitor
radio emissions from the sun. This would allow the Air Force to study sunspot activity and solar
storms which can be dangerous both to aircraft and space vehicles........

The Air Force was not using this to monitor the sun. Most of the time (when it was in use in the 60's - early 70's) in was pointed almost due east. Now what would be to the east of Boston the US Government would be interested in? Why cable activity from Europe of coarse. The main down link for government easedropping (on legit cable/telegram/voice) was in Maine not far from the Bell Telephone / ATT downlink station. Since the footprint from the satellite was somewhat small (by todays standards) it had to be close.

This antenna was part of the US Government early satellite comm. network. It had nothing but flat surface looking almost due north to due south.

I can still remember the first time I "found" the site back in the early 70's. This got me interested in satellite communications and finding out how much I didn't know about the world. (I still don't know that much more...The world keeps changing .

See you on the Trails.....Walker

 

[Gillian]

Nice report on the woods in the 'hood Sabrina

Jazzbo, I like your idea of trailwork...errr...I mean cold beers at Boston Rock.

I'm in!

 

[Amicus]

I didn't know about Prospect Hill in Waltham, the high-point after Great Blue Hill (not by much) in Metro Boston, until this thread, and a TR on rocket21's Franklin.sites.com. It was a ski area from the '40s until '90, and the parking area for what is now a Town Park starts at the old ski lodge, just off Totten Pond Road at the north end. More here on the old ski area.

While the old ski slope, which is short but steep, isn't part of the Prospect Hill Park trail system, there is a trail, and by charging up it to the water towers at its top, you join that system. There is a road from Totten Pond Rd. that goes nearly to the south end, providing access to a dozen picnic areas, and the trails are on either side of it. The view from the northern and higher summit - Big Prospect - is north, over Cambridge Reservoir. There are four different vistas looking east, which would afford a fine view of the Boston skyline on a reasonably clear day, but not today.

I hiked most of the trails, which amounted to a little more than 7 miles. There is a fine Trail Map at the two kiosks at the north and south ends, but I can't find it on-line. Here is my poor photo of it:

And here is my GPS track:

Here are a few photos.

 

[jniehof]

There is a fine Trail Map at the two kiosks at the north and south ends, but I can't find it on-line.

There should be paper copies at the kiosks, at least at the north end. I'll see if I can't dig up a couple.