Yay! The next installment of my annual geoparty!
Although I don’t live in Waltham anymore, I like to visit the area, and this spot is so nice and convenient.
As these days do, they come around again....My son Emthry's birthday is the 5th and mine is the 7th of August, so every year we celebrate our birthdays together. The dates fall during that boring time of the summer when 4th of July festivities are over, kids aren't ready to go back to school yet, and it is HOT! So a picnic in a woodsy park conveniently located in Waltham ought to make for a good event, I hope!
The M&M theme comes out of my caching name, MOMOFM3 and my son's name, which sounds like M3. It has become a tradition for there to be M&Ms here, but feel free to bring some real food!
Prospect Hill Park is part of Waltham Parks and Recreation, and also home to many very fine geocaches. There is also playground close to the entrance to the park, just off of Totten Pond Road. Follow the drive through the gate to proceed to the picnic areas up the mountain. A rudimentary trail map can be viewed in 2 parts below, or pick up a brochure at the kiosk at the bottom of the hill.
VALLEY SHELTER is reserved for us, from 11:00 to 3:00 pm. From there there are some nice hikes to Boston Rock where you can cache, I mean catch a nice view of Boston. Also up the hill some is a view of the Cambridge Reservoir, some old radio towers, water towers (of which I hear one is a benchmark) and one of my caches.
I've got my M&M series of caches located throughout the park and some others. Waltham is chock full of caching opportunities, and history...you'll learn a lot from reading a cache page, and you might get a work out if you're not paying attention!. Be prepared for some mountain terrain, ticks, mosquitos, and slippery and/or loose rocks. The road winds and climbs, so it really feels like you are leaving civilization. The southern entrance looks like it's open to cars, but is NOT. Seek out Totten Pond Road. On the plus side, if you end up at that side of the park, you can go shopping. Access to that mall is on Main Street / Route 117