Boston Hollow - Geography

Geography

The geography of Boston Hollow is characterized by the deep fault-cleft running almost perfectly straight in the northeast direction. The basement of the hollow is approximately 630 feet (190 m) above sea level at the southern head, and 600 feet (180 m) at the swamp at the northern exit. The height of land is about 700 feet (210 m) above sea level. The hollow defined by the distance the road passes through its bottom is nearly one mile (1.6 m) long. The elevation change through the bottom of the hollow is therefore quite gradual. The width of the base from wall to wall varies from 100 to 500 feet (30 to 150 m).

On the west side there are swampy and stagnant wetlands through much of the course of the hollow brook as the water flow is too little and the incline is too slight to adequately drain the area. On either side of the low land the walls of the hollow rise swiftly. On the west side they rise most steeply to a height of about 850 feet (260 m). The elevation gain is so rapid that a hike up the steep faces is in fact a climb. Towards the middle-northern end of the western hollow the wall is sheer rock for spaces of more than twenty feet (6 m) vertically and these overhangs are at such an incline that they form concave overhangs beneath which angular blocks of fallen stone lie. The top of the west ridge is undulating with there being several extant peaks or heights. This massif has no proper name.

On the east side the hollow wall rises directly from the road. This wall is steep but there is less exposed ledge than there is on the west side. After a relatively short distance of grave incline the hill rises less steeply. This hill is given the appellation Turkey Hill. However, Turkey Hill attains a greater height than the west ridge, reaching higher than 950 feet (290 m) above sea level. There are several pond-like swamps on the plateau of Turkey Hill.

The property that contains the hollow is part of the Yale-Myers Forest. This is a 7,800 acre (32 km²) forest owned by Yale University and used for teaching and scientific research as well as commercial timber production. There is also land owned by Hull Forest Products of Pomfret, CT in the area but this is not in the hollow proper. The Yale-Myers Forest is private land, but it is not posted as 'No Trespassing'. There is one marked trail that goes through the Boston Hollow. This is the Nipmuck Trail. It enters the hollow from the southeast after passing over the glacier scoured ridges and plateau of Turkey Hill. The Trail crosses Boston Hollow road at the middle northern end of the Hollow and swiftly ascends the west ridge.

On the west side of the trail for the first part of its passage on the west ridge there is a little valley or sump that is often filled with water during the winter and other wet periods. There has been ice that can be walked on in this sump as late as March, attesting to the coldness of this area. The trail ascend a series of ridges to a summit. This summit is shear bedrock and devoid of trees in the southeast direction (i.e. facing into the hollow). To the west there is a brief tree-covered plateau after which the topography slopes down to a large swamp. The trail continues after the summit in a southwest direction then turns in a serpentine arc and descends northwest of the hollow onto Barlow's Mill road.