Revisiting the Geology of the Fells– Self-Guided Hikes Now Available

Back in December of 2020, guest blogger and board member Steven Engel highlighted the work of Prof. Jack Ridge, a geologist in the Earth and Ocean Sciences Department at Tufts University.  Since 2007, Prof. Ridge has focused a large portion of his research on the geology of the Fells, and made much of his findings available for the public to view at his website, “The Geology of the Middlesex Fells.”

Prof. Ridge has recently updated his website to include a series of self-guided geology hikes throughout the Fells.  He explains:

The compilation of self-guided geologic hikes in the Fells is an outgrowth of my interest in informing the public about the exciting field of geology. The geologic hikes in the Fells introduce the fundamental geology of the Fells along with some of their details. They are an excellent way to introduce natural science. I am especially interested in informing middle through high school students and their teachers about local geology, but anyone can learn Fells geology. Really curious younger students may also find the geology of the Fells interesting. I have also been struck by the curiosity that many hikers in the Fells exhibited, when they saw me in the field.

There are currently five self-guided geology hikes available on the site, all in pdf format, and some in multiple parts:

  • The Skyline Trail (in a 7 part series) – west of Rt. 93

  • The Rock Circuit Trail (in 3 parts) – east of Woodland Road and across southeast Fells

  • The Crystal Spring Trail – north of Pond Street to Whip Hill

  • Virginia Wood – south of Pond Street in Virginia Wood

  • Lawrence Woods – loop from Medford High School

Per Prof. Ridge:

At the beginning of each download document (PDF format) is useful information about what to expect while hiking in the Fells and also some fundamental geology to get started. Each hike route is on DCR trails and they are marked on geologic maps in the guides. Take advantage of the special geologic explanations linked below.

To download these hikes, and to explore the additional geology resources and references produced by Prof. Ridge to expand on the topics discussed in the hike documents, visit the hikes homepage:

The Fells Self-Guided Geologic Hikes

Prof. Ridge welcomes questions on these hikes, or feedback on ways to make them more clear and accessible.  He can be reached at  jack.ridge@tufts.edu.

Image:  2004 (or later): Bob Weggel in front of his rock steps on the Skyline Trail, east of Dike Brook Road

A guest post by Anita Brewer-Siljeholm and Fells Staff

From 2004 until 2009, you may have spied on the Skyline or Reservoir Trail between Money Hill and Gerry Hill a friendly older fellow with a sturdy spade, rock-bar, and large Gardenway cart mining boulders, laying stepping stones, constructing stone staircases, or building causeways, some of which included crushed stone hauled from the Bear Hill parking area. You might have encountered him—and might still—with handsaw and lopping shears attacking invasive species such as bittersweet and rosa multiflora. He’s rarely without a bag for trash, or a pruning shears and folding saw for brushing trail. This is Bob Weggel, a 77-year-old resident of Reading.

Bob and his wife Diane were first introduced to the Middlesex Fells Reservation as volunteers for a Massachusetts Audubon scarlet tanager survey soon after their marriage in 1980. A few decades later, underemployed, Bob began trail work on weeklong Volunteer Vacations for the American Hiking Society. His early trail work in the Fells was as a Trail Adopter for the Appalachian Mountain Club. In March of 2009, Mike Ryan, former Friends director, came across Bob hard at work; soon thereafter, Bob accepted an invitation to join the Friends of the Fells Board, markedly increasing his financial commitment to the organization. In 2013, Bob established the R.J. Weggel Fund for the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, growing the fund year after year by matching gifts to the summer and winter fundraising appeals.

Bob’s passion for conservation grew from camping for a week or two each summer in Michigan. Michigan’s flatness—and the excitement of the Mt. Everest expeditions of 1952 and 1953—triggered a love of mountains, subsequently nurtured by visits to the Alps when living in eastern France and southwestern Germany as a young boy. Trained in applied mathematics at M.I.T. and Harvard, he worked for the MIT National Magnet Laboratory until 1996, for Brookhaven National laboratory for a half-dozen years, and designs magnets for numerous clients.

One of Bob’s many trail projects: causeway on the Skyline Trail

Bob effuses sheer delight, whether the subject is trail repair, climbing a mountain, designing magnets for electric power from nuclear fusion, or rockwork at his seasonal home on the shore of Casco Bay. “My world is magnet design, mountains and conservation,” he notes. “I’ve been very fortunate, that by diligent work, frugality, and forgoing children (the world is overpopulated already), I’ve been able to accumulate an estate large enough to make a difference to a budget as modest as that of the Friends. Donating to the Fells helps me to feel significant.”

To acclimatize for Volunteer Vacations in the Rockies, Bob has climbed all but a dozen of Colorado’s 53 distinct peaks more than 14,000 feet high. Ask him his favorite places in the Fells? “The Skyline and Rock Circuit Trails, of course:  Winthrop Hill, Nanepashemet Hill, Boojum Rock, Pinnacle Hill, White Rock,the Cascades.” For a recent college reunion he wrote, “Who would have imagined that I, such an egghead when at high school, would find such satisfaction in climbing mountains and wrestling boulders into position? It’s that I, once such a dud of an athlete, rejoice in the ability to do so!”

Thank you, Bob!

 

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