Mt. Wachusett - Old Indian & Senuhenna Trails

Maps, Elevations & Summary

Distance:  4.2
Maximum Elevation: 2,006 ft.

Cumulative elevation gain: 1,148 ft.

Total Time: 3.8 hrs.

TRAIL REPORT

The Wachusett Ski Center is just 30 minuted from my door so it seemed an easy destination for a hike today.  Leaving the parking lot at the base of the mountain, it was a chilly 44 F with a stiff wind blowing.  

I donned a fleece and started up the mountain via the Balance Rock Trail.  Once climbing, I warmed up immediately and the wind was at treetop level only.  I got rid of the fleece and shirt and proceeded with only a base layer.

After only 10-15 minutes, I cam upon Balance Rock.  These are actually two boulders, or glacial erratics to be more succinct, that were deposited at the time of the last glaciation.  They do seem precariously perched, one on top of the other, and it seemed fitting to snap a couple of pictures.

The trail crossed Balance Rock Road and immediately across the street was the entrance of the Old Indian Trail to the summit.

The leaves in the first were starting to change to a golden color and it was very pretty as I headed off into the woods.  The Old Indian Trail was not particularly steep and the rocks were definitely more of an issue on Mt. Major.  Although the trail was very easy to follow, it was additionally m,raker with yellow triangles as part of the Midsatte Trail.

  This trail crosses the state of Massachusetts from Douglas, on the CT border, all the way up to Mt Watatic in Ashburnham on the NH frontier.

It was warm enough as I climbed until the ski trail crossings.  The trail crossed over 3 open ski trails, one with chair life overhead.  The wind whipping down the mountain was quite cold so all of these crossings were made very quickly.  After a bit, the trail crosses the West side Trail after which it becomes very steep indeed with a grade of 25%.  Although it was very steep, hthe numerous granite rocks made for the perfect steps and it was not too difficult to find good footing.  Also, this last bit of steep ascent covered only about 0.25 miles so after a short time, I was at the top of the gondola lift.

The lift station is just below the summit and affords some nice views of Wachusett reservoir and in the distance, Mt. Monadnock and the Wapack Range.  I took a brief breather and some photos, and set out for the short ascent to the true summit.

The summit had a number of people on it, most of whom seemed to have arrived via the auto road.

There was a nice observation platform, beneath the cluster of cell towers.  The view to the north afforded Mt. Monadnock, about 30 miles away.  You could also clearly see the Wapacks:  Mt Watatic, Mt. New Ipswich, Pack and North Pack Monadnock and Pratt Mountain.

To the west, there  was a small pond just below the summit and in the far distance, you could make out a rather large mountain on the horizon.  It was the right bearing for Mt. Greylock, which is over 65 miles away.  Could it have been?

To the east, you could make out the Boston Skyline from 35 miles away.

Although the summit temperature had climbed to 55 F in the sunshine, the wind was wiping so I put on my Patagonia hard shell and cut my summit stay short.   for the return trip, I decided to start down the Harrington Tail at the south side of the summit.  After a very short descent, there was a sign marking an overlook which had a nice picnic bench overlooking a pair of wind turbines to the west.

The trail itself became very steep with two outright scrambles that required me to get on by butt and slide down the rock face.  This continued until a junction with the Link trail.  This was a very confusing junction.  Make sure you take the rightmost trail which will lead down to the Semuhenna trail in short order.

The Semuhenna trail vwas much lass rock and offered a very gentle descent through a lovely, level grove of hemlocks.  It bypasses the ski trails so in the trees it became quite warm again.....thank god for layers!  after a steady descent down past the West side trail and crossing two major roads, it once again merged with the Old Indian Trail, close to the base.  There was a glacial erratic that looked as if it were cleaved in two only yesterday.

After this, it was back again to Balance Rock and the parking area, which was quite crowded with folks going to a "ski equipment swap" at the lodge.  Quite a nice hike.

Mt. Major - Boulder and Brook Trails

Maps, Elevations & Summary

Distance:  4.3
Maximum Elevation: 1,786 ft.

Cumulative elevation gain: 1,247 ft.

Total Time: 4.0 hrs.

TRAIL REPORT

Beautiful day for a hike......40 degrees and sunny when I hit the trailhead at 8 a.m.  I'm glad I started early; although there was plenty of parking at that hour, when I arrived back at noon, cars were parked 1/4 of a mille up and down route 111.

The map said that the direct ascent of the summit via the main Blue trail was very steep and much travelled so I decided to take the orange blazed Boulder trail which leaves the back left corner of the parking lot over a wooden bride.

The trail is wide and not particularly rocky as it gently climbs into the forest.  Very quickly, a road heads off to the left which is part of a skimobile trail in the winter but both signs and blazes make following the trail easy.

As the trail turns due south, it increases in steepness and passes through very nice hemlock groves.

As the trail name suggests, there were ever increasing large boulders on the trail, only at one pint did it actually require a crumble to get up.

The shapes were quite interesting.  At one point, there was a split boulder, that the trail went through. I had my doubts as to whether I'd fit, but managed, pack and all.

After a good 1/2 mile of relentless and fairly steep climbing, the trail turned due west and looking up, I saw that the final 200 feet to the summit was up a rock slide that was very steep indeed.  

I did consider turning back, but decided to try anyway.  I found that there were a number of good foothold if I kept to the extreme left side of the slide.  I just took my time, step by step and before I knew it, was standing in the sunshine on a granite slab with a wonderful view of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Although the hardest part of the climb was over, the trail still continued on solid rock ledges for another 0.3 miles.  There were a number of fine overlooks of the lake to the east, through stunted pine trees.

As the trail climbed, it passed by a water filled marsh, which was the first I had seen on the top of suck a rocky summit.  Finally, the summit was reached with beautiful panoramic views to every direction.  Looking northeast up the lake, you could make out the white buildings of Wolfeboro on the far shore.

To the east, you could make out Mt. Bet and Moose Mountain in the distance.

Of course, the best views were toward the north where the White mountains could be seen on this clear day,  The Tripyramids were in view and even the peak of Mt. Washington could be seen, peaking over the ridge line of Mt. Shaw, about 50 miles to the north.

There were about 6 or 7 people at the summit, some huddled in the ruins of an old stone house, keeping out of the cold wind which made the top quite blustery.  I donned a fleece and hat and asked for someone to snap a picture of me at the summit.  You can just barely see Mt. Washington over my right shoulder.

Finally, after some nuts and a pear and a good bit of water, it was time to head back down.  I chose to take the Brook Trail which left the summit to the west, toward a nice view of Straigtback Mtn.  It was blazed in both blue and yellow and slowly but steadily made its way down, below the tree line.  Once there and out of the wind, I started sweating again and stripped back down to my base layer shirt for the rest of the descent.

The trail was not nearly as steep nor as boulder strewn as the way up and I passed a number of folks making their way up the mountain after a later start.  After about 0.25 miles, the blue blazed trail heads off to the left and I followed the yellow blazed trail down the mountain.  Eventually, the trail parallels a brooks which it crosses twice.  It was running quite well with the recent rains.

About 1/2 mile before the parking area, the trail intersects the blue main trail.  At this point, the trail is very footwork and heavily eroded wo watch your footing as you hike down very rounded, softball size rocks that make for uneven footing.  Finally, the parking area and time to start back home.  With numerous stops for pictures and summit views, the whole excursion too 4 hours.

Jeff Smith Trail - Pepperell, MA to Hollis, NH

Maps, Elevations & Summary

Distance:  7.6 miles
Maximum Elevation: 512 ft.

Elevation gain: 587 ft.

Total Time: 4.5 hrs.

TRAIL REPORT

We decided to talk a long but pretty level excursion today on the Jeff Smith trail which starts on Jewett St. in Pepperell, and heads north to the Beaver Brook Farm Reservation in Brookline, NH.  The hike was really nice, with a mix of all kings of terrain and sights and the weather was in the upper 60's.....just perfect.

We were dropped off at the trailhead which has absolutely no parking space.  After consulting the kiosk, we headed north into some brush and apralleded a muddy brook which was has almost no standing water in our current dry spell.  After a fews hundred feet, the trail crossed over the brook and climbed up a slope below some large granite boulders.  Abby, of course, had to climb up one for a pose.

 

The trail slowly began a modet increase in elevation to the southern edge of Heald Pond.  The ledges over the pond were narrow and wehad to be careful of our footing as the trail descended again to pond level and weaved in and our of rhododendron bushes.  Finally, the trail crossed HEald street and gave us a nice view south at the pond.  A number of mallard ducks were making a racket and finally took off from the surface of the water.

The trail continued north from Heald St.  along Gulf Brook.  Abby discovered some small caves at the base of the granite cliffs that define Blood ravine.  These mark the entrance to some old mines that were worked by Joseph Heald in the 1780's.  Apparently, there was some reason to think that these hills were a potential source of silver, but all that was found was pyrite, "fool's gold", as the story goes.

Much like the celebrated "Don't Tread on ME" flag of NH, Abby managed to tread on a large, and rather annoyed garter snake, Who slithered off into the undergrowth.  We crossed Gulf Brook over the top of a beaver dam, which was the former site of a mill, of which only the remnants of a foundation could be seen.  The trail climbed very steeply to the top of Blood Ravine in a dark, but pretty, hemlock forest and fundulated alone g the top of the ravine.  After a bit, we reached the site of Pepperell Springs.  A small pipe protruded from the hillside, where the spring water cascas=ded down the ravine and into the brook.

We found one of the inspection hatches that accessed the flow of water from the spring.  It supplied the Pepperell Springs Co., founded in 1893 by members of the Blood family as well as Charles Lawrence, founder of the Lawrence Library in Pepperell.  At some point, the company became Belmont Springs, which closed shop in the late 1960's.

Just beyond the springs, the trail crosses Oak Hill St. and we decided it was a good place to take a rest and have some water and a snack.  From Oak Hill St., the trail headed due north, crossing Gulf brook twice moreover about a mile.  One of the crossings was pretty swampy and the only way across was over a fallen tree.

The trail crossed Lawrence street and after about another half a mile, reached a swamp.  Just as I said how it would be nice to stop and watch the birds over the swamp, we found a very nice wood and granite bench by the side of the trail.  It was engraved with the name of Alexander Jeffrey who made and installed the bench as part of a 2015 Eagle Scout Project.  Thanks Jeff!

The trail continued, finally crossing an old rail trail near a sand quarry.  The trail markings end abruptly here, and we spend 15 or 20 minutes trying to find our way.  When the trail reached the rail trail, turn RIGHT, away from the quarry.  In a very short distance , the trail will make a very sharp left and cross a old stone railroad bridge as it parallels the Massacusetts/New Hampshire border.  In about a quarter of a mile, the trail makes a right angles right turn and we found ourselves at the banks of the Nissitissit River.  thankfully, with so little rain, the river was only knee high so after exchanging our socks and boots for water shoes, we crossed over.  The water was ice cold, and it was two happy hikers who sat on the northern bank drying their feet and munching on some cheese and crackers.

The trail continues on a residential street and along Pepperell Rd. in Brookine.  Beware, there is no sidewalk and the car and truck traffic is heavy so be prepared to walk far over the shoulder.  After about 1/4 mile, we came across the southern trailhead of the Beaver Brook reservation.  The trail was very well kept, wide and the grass was cut.  We climbed down an embankment and crossed Rocky Pond swap over a short stretch of boards.  continuing up to Route 130, where our pickup ride was waiting.