Wapack Trail - Middle section

Today we hiked the middle section of the Wapack Trail. 7.1 miles from the trailhead on rt 123/124 to rt. 101. - Miller State Park. The weather - gorgeous - Highs in the upper 60's, lower 70's, plenty of sun with not a cloud in the sky. There was a cool breeze at the top in some of the open sections, but not enough to warrant breaking out the fleece. The trail overall was pretty dry, a couple of moist spots here and there but not much more than that.

First off - here are photos from the trip. I am not going to link them inline with the blog at this time, though perhaps in the future I will.

Overall, the trip took us 5 hours which included many short scenic breaks and a 30 min break for lunch at the top of holt peak. Though this trip was longer, I do think that the northern section of the Wapack was a bit more strenuous.

The hike started off by no more than a gentle walk through the woods which eventually hooked up with an old road. (The third NH turnpike if I remember the guide book correctly.) We passed by a small private pond and a couple of buildings owned by the Wildcat Partnership (A quick web search yields nothing.) We figure it must be a camp of some sort. Also of note on this section was a wonderful stream crossing built into the stone wall which lined the side of the trail.

This path led us to cross Nashua Road and continue down Temple road where after a half a mile perhaps, there is another trailhead which begins the trek into the mountains (well, up and over Temple mountain that is.) It took us just about an hour to get to this point and, if we were to do this hike again, probably an hour I would suggest skipping.

Temple mountain is made up of several peaks and the Wapack from this point heads up and over the ridge-line connecting 6 of them together.

[Tangent] I don't actually know what makes a 'peak' a 'peak'. There are only 3 named peaks on Temple Mountain and this trail connects 2 of them. [End of Tangent]

The first 1/2 mile of this trail is the longest, steepest section that we encountered. it has many outlooks on either side of the trail, but none would ever overlook both sides of the mountain. Some crazy people long ago felt the need to build a good 'ol fashioned New England Rock Wall along a good portion of this trail (or probably more appropriately, the Wapack follows these boundary lines.)

The trail gently began to even out more and throughout the rest of the trip, we'd only encounter a couple of brief steeper sections. Before we knew it, we were at Burton Peak and we got our first great view of Monadnock. (It is calling to us.) In the photos you'll see that there is some clear cutting and according to www.wapack.org "The Berry Pasture Trail on Mountain Road in Sharon is temporarily closed for a timber harvest,' which would explain this.

A short while later we arrived at the very unimpressive 'Holt Peak' where we did stop and have some lunch and relaxed for a few. (The Pats incidentally were up 35 to 7 over the Dolphins, or something crazy like that at this point. I knew I wouldn't have to check again until we got done.)

On the next peak north from here, we found the first of some rather unique Cairns. Someone had also took the time to build two large ones side by side. We stopped for some more photos and trekked further north. At this point, neither of us were really impressed with the hike, though the few views and fantastic weather helped, I think we were doubting if we would return (Save for a thru hike of the entire Wapack Trail.)

Then we found the chairs. Situated atop an open stone face, 7 stone cairns in the form f 'chairs' are spread out amongst the peak. We needed, and took, another break. Some were comfortable, some were not. We thank those brave, and eccentric souls who put that much work into that project and have named that unnamed peak - Lazy Boy Peak.

The remainder of the trip opened up great views of Pack Monandnock as we descended down the ski area trails. The Wapack was a bit obscure to find in some places and the terrain in others was covered in small stones. We were glad when the trail diverged off of these and onto grassier terrain. We followed the trail back into Miller State Park (though our car was back across the street,) and a well timed hiker snapped the last photo of us, standing next to the sign which began our trip a couple of weeks back.

Would I do this trip again (aside from when we want to do a thru hike of the entire trail?) Probably at some point yes. I guess in the end reflecting back I did have a great time and the views at points were wonderful. I would defiantly avoid the first hour of the trip again if I could and choose to begin at the second tail head.

On another note, the new pack was great, I barely noticed all of the extra weight I was carrying on this trip. I had also folded the map up into a zip top bag and placed it on the front cargo pocket of the shorts I was wearing and we were constantly referencing it unlike the last time. I will no doubt make this my new common practice.