Today Wilma and I Adventured to Deer Island in Boston, Massachusetts. Deer Island is a Peninsula in Boston that is part of the Boston Harbor Islands. You can drive to the Island after crossing the town of Winthrop. The Island has a long history, including: serving as a prison camp for Native Americans during King Philip’s War, and a home to immigrants and refuges during the Irish Potato famine. The Island has five miles of trails including an almost three mile loop. It currently is the location for the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, which both treats and recycles waste. The Island is popular for walking, jogging, biking, and fishing.
We had a misty Adventure to Deer Island. We arrived at about 8am and I was quite thrilled to find a parking spot as the Island reviews indicated they are often limited. We began our walk around the main loop an almost three mile paved path. It was sprinkling, and somewhat misty as we began. I was surprised to find myself quite impressed with the beauty of the “trail”. There were many colorful wildflowers, and the waves were quite grand, loud and raging. Wilma often preferred to walk along the stone/cement wall, my rock loving girl. There were parts of the path where the waves actually crashed so high they spurted water over us and the path. I found this little natural feature so fun, although Wilma was not a huge fan of these unexpected showers.
I would guess we were about halfway around the Island when we found a little beach, centered by a breakwater, featuring purple tinted rocks. We normally would have wandered down the breakwater but there was a fisherman at the end so we decided to give him his space and explore the beach. I was disappointed to find a lot of litter on the shore, but sadly to be expected on a city beach. However we did our best to ignore this and appreciate the sand, shells, seaweed, lobster traps, and the water. Wilma loved sniffing around, and digging and running chaotically. She sometimes waded into the water, but dramatically bounded back when any type of wave appeared. A fun little diversion from the “trail”.
We then continued on the path along Boston Harbor. We soon found a spectacular view of Boston, so impressive. As we walked further the sky began to slightly clear, with dashes of blue between the clouds. I could not get enough of this view, and guess it must be one of the best skyline view of Boston. I took numerous photos of this scene, and dreamed about the zoom lens I wish I owned. Definitely one of my favorite parts of this walk as I love seeing the Boston skyline.
Throughout our walk the “trail” varied from a small path to opening up, to providing opportunities to walk on the rocks, to scenic vistas – paths off the trail. There were benches along the way to sit, relax, and enjoy the ocean views. An interesting aspect to Deer Island was the Treatment Plant which added various structures parallel to the “trail”. There was only one small part of the path where I noticed an odor, but thankfully that was a short part of our journey. We were able to view kiosks throughout to learn more about the location and history. Near the end of our walk we found several memorials, including the Irish Memorial, and the Judge A. David Mazzone Memorial.
I was very happy to be surprisingly impressed with Deer Island. The large waves made my mind think of movies where there is an ocean storm – just something I cannot describe in words but the sounds and the scene were majestic. The colorful wildflowers, combined with the unique structures of the Plant made for a distinctive experience. I loved the path too, quite pristine and quiet, I guess a perk of minimal parking. Although several things made me debate the rating I overall was very pleased with Deer Island, and look forward to returning in the future (Rating: 4).
The Adventures of Shadow and Wilma 