Now that the leaves are turning color and the weather is mostly holding up, it’s a great time to get some exercise in the fresh air and enjoy the scents of fall in Boston. There are several beautiful walking trails in and around the city. One of our favorites is Allandale Woods.
Allandale Woods is 86 acres of natural beauty, a quiet place bordered by busy streets in West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
With mostly pine, maple and oak trees, Allandale Woods is among Boston’s largest woodlands. It’s also a rare secondary growth oak-hickory forest. Its trail system brings you to ponds, a cattail marsh, streams and stone boundary walls. There’s even a certified vernal pool (a small, seasonal body of water created each spring by rain and snow melt) at its famous Spring House. You can hike, bird watch, run, walk (or like Brenda, practice for an Olympic gold medal in bench sitting) along the trails.
Trailheads are marked by granite posts and an information board, but it’s a good idea to bring a map, which you can find and print from their website. And bring a backpack or tote – there are no trash cans.
Getting there: You can park in one of 6 dedicated Allandale Woods spaces at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church on the VFW Parkway, and you’ll see the entrance to the Woods to your immediate right behind the main church building. If you’re traveling by public transportation you can take MBTA buses #38 and #51 from the Orange Line Forrest Hills station. Both stop on Centre Street at the VFW Parkway.