rocksnrolls
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With some of the Xmas tip money I got from my clients, I picked up a copy of the Falcon Guide book "Hiking Massachusetts", mainly for it's section on the Mid-State Trail. For my first ever snowshoeing trip I decided on doing an out-n-back to Mt Watatic from Camp Winnekeag on Rt 101, a 6 mile trip.
I arrived at the empty parking lot/skating rink at 9am, strapped on the shoes and headed out. The Mid-State looks to be an easy to follow trail in winter, with the frequent yellow triangles nailed to trees at eye level. There was only one other set of foot prints in the section between Rt 101 and Rt 119, though there were some areas where there had been a snowmobile or two since the last snow. Looks like this section is more popular with the moose than hikers. I saw several moose tracks cross the trail and in a couple places the moose had followed the trail. Some of the tracks looked fairly fresh so I kept my eyes peeled, but my Denalis were so noisy...
As I was crossing Blueberry and Fisher Hills I started noticing what looked like pepper on the surface of the snow. Little black specks all over the place. After looking more closely I noticed they were moving
Yuck! Thousands of little bugs, too small for black flies, I'm guessing they were noseeums? I figure the recent warming spell had coaxed them out of hiding and I hoped they would all freeze to death. I was also a little worried if the day warmed up I would be eaten alive on the return trip. It was weird how they seemed most prevelant inside footprints, some of which were nearly filled with the little b*st*rds.
Anyway, I made it to Old Pierce Rd and was definately glad to have my Denalis because the road was more like a luge run. Half a foot of ice with two deep ruts. Didnt look like it was ever plowed. Gave me a good chance to see how well my shoes will handle the ice and I was extrememly pleased. I hadn't been able to afford both snowshoes and crampons for this, my first winter hiking season, so I picked the Denalis since they seemed to combine the features of both.
After the total solitude of the first section, I was surprised to find the parking lot on Rt 199 to be nearly full. I had a chat with a guy who was just returning to his car after summiting Watatic, and he said he had only seen one other hiker and we both wondered where everyone else was. I later only encountered a cross country skier, another hiker and a pair of hikers on the summit (who had come from the Bennet Rd direction).
The hike up Watatic was beautiful. There were alot of tracks in the snow, but there where a few small sections where the herd had gone off trail, so I was able to break trail by keeping near the blazes. The view from the summit was incredible, especially facing north toward Pack Monadnock.
On the return trip, I did a little jogging on the downhills and found that to be alot of fun in snowshoes, just gotta be careful you dont slide too far. I didn't see anyone at all on the trip back to my car. When I got back to the car, I decided to do a traverse of the huge snowbank that the plow had left for me
My first snowshoing trip was a rousing success and I'm totally looking forward to getting out as much as possible this season!
I arrived at the empty parking lot/skating rink at 9am, strapped on the shoes and headed out. The Mid-State looks to be an easy to follow trail in winter, with the frequent yellow triangles nailed to trees at eye level. There was only one other set of foot prints in the section between Rt 101 and Rt 119, though there were some areas where there had been a snowmobile or two since the last snow. Looks like this section is more popular with the moose than hikers. I saw several moose tracks cross the trail and in a couple places the moose had followed the trail. Some of the tracks looked fairly fresh so I kept my eyes peeled, but my Denalis were so noisy...
As I was crossing Blueberry and Fisher Hills I started noticing what looked like pepper on the surface of the snow. Little black specks all over the place. After looking more closely I noticed they were moving
Yuck! Thousands of little bugs, too small for black flies, I'm guessing they were noseeums? I figure the recent warming spell had coaxed them out of hiding and I hoped they would all freeze to death. I was also a little worried if the day warmed up I would be eaten alive on the return trip. It was weird how they seemed most prevelant inside footprints, some of which were nearly filled with the little b*st*rds.Anyway, I made it to Old Pierce Rd and was definately glad to have my Denalis because the road was more like a luge run. Half a foot of ice with two deep ruts. Didnt look like it was ever plowed. Gave me a good chance to see how well my shoes will handle the ice and I was extrememly pleased. I hadn't been able to afford both snowshoes and crampons for this, my first winter hiking season, so I picked the Denalis since they seemed to combine the features of both.
After the total solitude of the first section, I was surprised to find the parking lot on Rt 199 to be nearly full. I had a chat with a guy who was just returning to his car after summiting Watatic, and he said he had only seen one other hiker and we both wondered where everyone else was. I later only encountered a cross country skier, another hiker and a pair of hikers on the summit (who had come from the Bennet Rd direction).
The hike up Watatic was beautiful. There were alot of tracks in the snow, but there where a few small sections where the herd had gone off trail, so I was able to break trail by keeping near the blazes. The view from the summit was incredible, especially facing north toward Pack Monadnock.
On the return trip, I did a little jogging on the downhills and found that to be alot of fun in snowshoes, just gotta be careful you dont slide too far. I didn't see anyone at all on the trip back to my car. When I got back to the car, I decided to do a traverse of the huge snowbank that the plow had left for me
My first snowshoing trip was a rousing success and I'm totally looking forward to getting out as much as possible this season!
