Lone Tree Hill Mountain Biking Trails

Lone Tree Hill is a parcel of property owned by the Town of Belmont and roughly bounded by Pleasant Street to the South and East, Mill Street to the West and Concord Avenue to the North. The property was formerly part of the McLean Hospital campus which it is adjacent to and it largely surrounds.

This relatively small parcel of land links to other public open spaces to form a much larger trail network. The trails at Lone Tree Hill vary from singletrack in open meadows and wooded areas to fireroads that were once part of the McLean Hospital infrastructure and are still maintained for emergency access. The trails are not overly challenging for hikers, trail runners or mountain bikers but the variety of ecosystems makes these trails enjoyable. There is limited parking. A small parking lot on Mill Street serves the property and the Rock Meadow Parking lot is adjacent on the other side of Mill Street. Both are marked with signs. There are businesses with parking adjacent to the trail head on Pleasant Street but parking is not encouraged there since no formal agreement has been brokered with the businesses.

The land is managed by the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill and is under conservation restriction which is held by the Trustees of Reservation. The Land Management Committee meets monthly with meeting dates and times listed on the town website. Members of the public are encouraged to attend and reach out in advance if they have items for the agenda.

The south east hillside adjacent to Pleasant Street has unfortunately been the target of a lot of illegal trail building activity presumably by mountain bikers. This has caused stress in the community with some calling for bans on mountain biking in the past. The building or alteration of any trail is strictly prohibited. Anybody who has ideas for trails should bring these ideas to the attention of the Land Management Committee (mountain bikers may also approach the Greater Boston chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association).