Maps, Elevations & Summary
Distance: 4.2Maximum Elevation: 2,006 ft.
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.
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