M-M Trail Overnight Hike

Thursday, August 11, 2016
Start: 420 Farley Rd, Wendell, MA
End: Wendell State Forest Shelter
Mileage: ~5 miles (+0.5 miles in the wrong direction on the M-M)

I arrived at the trail head by 6:30pm. I quickly assembled my backpack and headed out by 6:45pm; unfortunately, there was no way to tell (and I hadn't thought to figure out beforehand) which way was north or south on the trail. I ended up going the wrong way until I was going to reenter the woods and saw a sign saying it was the M-M north. I turned around, hiked past my car around 7pm, and hoofed it up the road walk. The sun went down a bit before 8pm. It got dark fairly quickly, reaching the point where I needed a headlamp by 8:15pm. As it turns out, I hadn't checked the batteries on my headlamp and I hadn't used that particular one in a while. So my headlamp went out within a few minutes. For a while, I struggled on in the dark. Then I used my phone's flashlight function to see. There's nothing quite like necessity to encourage invention - I figured out that if I flip my ball cap backward, I could slide my phone through the adjustable strap and use it almost like a headlamp, though it didn't help cool me down to have a phone strapped to my forehead. I arrived at the shelter around 8:30pm, to find another person was sharing the shelter with me. I got water, set up my bedroll, made dinner, chatted with her, and then settled into bed around 10pm, having finally stopped dripping sweat everywhere. The mosquitoes were extremely active, even after sundown. The temperature got down to maybe 78 degrees; I slept fitfully on top of my sleeping bag.

Friday, August 12, 2016
Start: Wendell State Forest Shelter
End: M.N. Spear library, Shutesbury, MA
Mileage: ~14.2 miles (+1-2 miles of double backing and searching for the trail)

I woke up very early, at 5:30am, as I'd slept poorly and was eager to start hiking. After packing up, I went down the trail a few minutes to get to Ruggle's Pond. The park's signage said they had a comfort station, which amounted to four pit potties and no running water. I used their toilets and filtered water from the pond near the swimming area. I didn't see non-stagnant water by the trail until ~10 miles later and I ran out of water by the time I finished my hike. I headed out from the park at 6:30am. I hiked until 12 noon, when I arrived at the library 30 seconds before the taxi I'd arranged arrived to shuttle me back to my car. The day's hike didn't have any good views; it was full of forest road and trail walking and me swearing as the trail blazing left a LOT to be desired.  

I had numerous issues with poor blazing. I had issues nearby Lake Wyola State Park, right before the Lakeview Road walk portion. A local summer camp, Pine Brook, uses white blazes on their trails as well. And at a portion of the trail where there were no more M-M white blazes in view, there were camp white blazes, directing me into the woods. I followed and double backed and tromped around for around half an hour, becoming increasingly frantic as I could not find where the trail continued. Eventually, I went back to the main path were I'd turned originally. There were no blazes to direct me forward. At the recommendation of a local out for a walk, I headed down the path towards the road, with the hope that I'd encounter the trail somewhere on the road. I walked down the path and through a field towards the road; at the road, on the state park's sign, were white blazes. There were no blazes between the sign and a while down the path, with many side trails in between including those with white blazes from the local camp.

Also, once I hit N Macedonia Rd (an old woods road), there were very intermittent white blazes, enough that I began to worry I'd missed the trail turning. At that point, I happened to have cell service for the first time in a long while and managed to pull up the NET website's trail map, confirming that I stayed on the woods road for a long while.

I became the most frustrated towards the end of my hike, on Cooleyville Rd, near the intersection with New Boston Rd. The last white blaze that I found was on a tree at an angle that was mainly visible from the woods. There was what appeared to be a trail, though it was close to someone's property. There were markings indicating a state forest or park boundary. I tried going down the trail until it ended in the woods, clearly with no trail to follow. After walking back and forth for at 15 minutes, I finally decided that I was tired, hot, and didn't care anymore and walked up the road towards my final destination, content to say "forget it" to this portion of the M-M. And of course, a bit after I passed by the intersection with New Boston Rd, I found another white blaze. After this incident, I ignored all white blazes and simply continued up the road. The last two miles of this hike (all road walking) nearly did me in; it was extremely steep, all uphill, and often in the direct sun. I could barely lift my feet to keep walking.

This hike drove home to me that the M-M trail is not meant to be traveled by following the blazes, and in that light, is not really something that inexperienced or casual day hikers are meant to hike. I'm used to the AT, where you are almost always able to follow from one blaze to the next, and if you can't, it's a good bet that you should just follow the trail with the most foot traffic. In general, the opposite is true of the M-M; if it's well traveled, it's probably not the M-M trail that you're on. If you're not bushwhacking, it's probably not the M-M. It is immensely stressful and frustrating to try to hike a trail where it's a chore to stay on the trail in the first place; I just wanted to go for a relaxing walk in the woods. And given that the M-M isn't intended as a backpacking trail but as a day hiking trail, it should be even easier to follow than the AT.

There were heat advisories out for both Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, I sweat enough to make my shoes swampy and squelchy. When I took my shirt and shorts off at the shelter and hung them up, they dripped sweat for at least half an hour. My shoes still haven't fully dried out and it's been a few, albeit humid, days. The mosquitoes were enthusiastic from the beginning to the very end of my hike. This wasn't a great trail experience in pretty much every way possible.

New England Trail: Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, Part 1

New England Trail: Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

Part 1

I finished hiking the Connecticut Metacomet trail in 2014 and the Mattabesett trail in 2013. Since my move to western Massachusetts, I've been casually hiking portions of the M-M trail. Over the past year, I've hiked the M-M over Mt Tom and Mt Holyoke. This summer, I decided to become more active in my M-M trail hiking.

Over the past two months, I've done section hikes to fully connect between Harris Mountain Road in Granby and Rt 20 in Agawam for a total of 26.72 miles covered per the NET website. 

June 25, 2016

Start: Rt 141/Easthampton Rd, Holyoke, MA
End: Rt 20/Westfield St, Agawam, MA
Mileage: 12.28 miles per GPS; 11.23 miles per map (sections 3,4, & 5).

This portion was a bit hilly but overall, fairly easy. The mosquitoes were enthusiastic and there was no water sources for the entire hike. There were a few decent views but overall, it was a pretty nondescript hike.

July 22, 2016
Start: Harris Mountain Rd, Granby, MA
End: Rt 116/The Notch Visitor Center, Amherst, MA
Mileage: 5.02 miles per GPS; 4.4 miles per map.

This portion had some decent ups and downs but overall, wasn't too rough. The trail maintenance definitely left something to be desired, but I'm spoiled. There were some blazes missing close to the Notch, by the power lines but I figured it out. I'd originally planned to hike further to Taylor Notch but my ride cancelled on me last minute so I stopped at the Notch and managed to wrangle a ride back to my car from a fellow outdoor enthusiast.

July 29, 2016
Out-and-back to Taylor Notch to connect previous Mt Holyoke hike
Rt 116/The Notch Visitor Center, Amherst, MA
Mileage: 6.61 miles per GPS

This portion was a bit brutal; there were endless ups and downs. It wasn't too hot (high 70s) but it was extremely humid, having just stopped raining. The air was thick and hard to breathe. I was dripping sweat in no time; my clothes looked like I'd gone swimming. I had initially estimated this hike to be no more than 1.5 miles out and 1.5 miles back. Sadly, I was very mistaken. Therefore, I neglected to bring enough water with me and ran out part way through. A friendly day hiker shared some of his water and that helped me get back to my car.

ME weekend #2, day 2

Saturday, July 2, 2016
Start: Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to
End: ME 15/Monson
Miles: 17.9

After getting to sleep late (~9:45pm) due to SOBO noise, I woke up around 4:30am to the sun and drowsed on my sleeping pad until 5:30am. I broke camp and was on the trail by 6:15am.

I hiked by Bald Mountain Spring, Marble Brook, West branch of Piscataquis River, Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to, East branch of Piscataquis River, and Doughty Ponds.

Today, I saw 6 SOBOs, 2 weekend hikers, 3 day hikers, and 12 section hikers, including a crew of immensely polite Quebec teen boys out for a 17-day summer camp backpacking trip, from Moxie Bald to Katahdin. I let them borrow my phone to call back to base camp since their stove had died and their Verizon phone didn't get service.

I arrived at ME 15 (the south end of the 100-mile wilderness) by Monson at 2pm. I was able to get cell service 2 miles before the road and call my shuttle. The shuttle arrived by 2:15pm. Once I was back at the Sterling Inn, I showered and started my 5.5 hour drive back home. I decided to not stay the night since I had finished my hike much earlier than expected.

ME weekend #2, day 1

Friday, July 1, 2016
Start: Rt 201/Caratunk
End: Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to
Miles: 18.8 (+0.2 side trails)

I started out from Caratunk this morning after spending the night at the Sterling Inn. They had a lovely breakfast, with everything from OJ to coffee, bagels to English muffins, fruit to jam, cereal to boiled eggs. It was quite a spread. They provided me with a shuttle to the trailhead and I was on trail hiking by 6:45am. I made amazing time today, arriving at the lean-to 4.1 miles before my night's lean-to by 1:15pm. I took a half an hour break at that lean-to as well as at the peak of Moxie Bald Mountain. I arrived at my night's lean-to by 4:15pm. It's 6:15pm and I'm pretty much ready for bed.

Today, I hiked by Holly Brook (901'), Pleasant Pond Lean-to, up Pleasant Pond Mountain (2470'), past Moxie Pond and Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to (1312'), up Moxie Bald Mountain (2629'), and down to Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to (1224'). At the peak of Moxie Bald, I got my first glimpse of Katahdin far in the distance. It was pretty damn cool. 

Today, I saw 24 SOBOs, including the 12 at the lean-to so far. I've met Charlene, Cucumber, and Hummingbird, as well as Broadway and Jay. I hiked by another 4 section hikers, as well two day hikers  (one of whom was open carrying with the holster's safety unbuttoned).

Many of the hikers at the lean-to are partaking of a lot of weed... like all other pot smoking hikers I've met this year, they do it inside the shelter, even when asked not to. Currently, I'm out by the pond after the smell started giving me a severe headache and nausea. I'm hoping they stop soon or move so I can relax on my bed.

ME slackpack weekend #1, day #2

Saturday, June 18, 2016
Start: East Flagstaff Rd
End: Rt 201/Caratunk
Miles: 20.3

My shuttle left the motel at 6:45am; we picked up two other hikers and headed out to East Flagstaff Rd, arriving around 7:45am. I hit the trail and made good miles. The miles rolled by much easier today; the terrain was gentle, compared to most of the rest of Maine.

Before noon, I was hiking when I heard a LOT OF crashing through the underbrush up ahead as something large ran to the left, away from the trail. Given the rough size and amount of noise, I figured it was yet another moose (I saw two on my drive up to Maine and then two more during my shuttles yestersay). There were three SOBOs and one of them asks me "Did you see the bear?!" Apparently, the bear had bluff charged him and then run into the bushes. I'm glad the bear was as interested in us as we were in it.

Today involved a lot of water features - East Flagstaff Lake, Jerome Brook, West Carry Pond, Sandy Stream, East Carry Pond, Carrying Place Stream, Pierce Pond, Pierce Pond Stream, Otter Pond Stream, and the Kennebec River. I also passed by West Carry Pond Lean-to and Pierce Pond Lean-to. I stopped at Pierce Pond Lean-to for approximately half an hour to relax, eat snacks, and chat with other hikers.

Over the course of the day, I saw 25 SOBO thru-hikers, two trail maintainers, and two NOBO section hikers (one doing Bennington, VT to Katahdin; the other, Harpers Ferry to Katahdin to complete a flip flop thru hike started last year). Two of the SOBOS I chatted were from Western Mass; one of them looked familiar to me. I may have seen her around town before.

The last two-tenths of a mile of my hike were rather eventful. I arrived at the Kennebec River at 5pm, expecting to find a cowbell to ring, per the instructions of my ferry ride. I tried to find service all day to call to confirm my arrival time, without success (I found myself thinking i should have . Despite arranging it beforehand, the ferry wasn't present.

To those who do not know, fording is prohibited at the Kennebec River - partly because of its size and depth and partly there's a hydroelectric dam upstream that intermittently releases water. The river can rise 4-6 feet in a matter of minutes. The ATC provides a free ferry, but it's entirely dependant on the season; right now, it's set up for south bound hikers and only runs 9-11am.

No one was there or in view. I ranged up and down the river bank looking for service, without success. I tried yelling, banging rocks together, and whistling across the river, all to no avail. I waved my arms and hat... no one showed up. I waited until 6pm, getting more and more anxious. The official, free ferry wouldn't arrive until 9am the next day; my shuttle would be at the road (0.2 miles away from the river) at 6pm. No one was going to come looking for me. If I couldn't get across the river, I would have to spend the night there in all likelihood, with no overnight gear. Oh, and camping on the river bank isn't allowed, for what it's worth.

So I packed all my gear into my daypack's main pocket, putting my hat, water bottles, and hiking poles inside. I started and stopped a few times before going for it. I swam across the river. There was no fording to be had; it was far too deep for that. I'm glad I packed away my poles; they would have seriously hindered me. I managed to get across the river safely. It was a good thing it was a daypack. If it was an overnight pack, I don't know that I would have made it. I arrived on the other side, dripping wet, exhausted, and shaking. I squeezed as much water as I could out of my backpack and headed for the road. My ride arrived within 5 minutes of me getting to the road.

I'm glad I traversed the river successfully; I would not say I'm proud. I feel like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place and did the only thing I could think to do. I would strongly recommend hikers follow the postings at the river, especially if you have a full backpack. The Kennebec River is no joke.

ME slackpack weekend #1, day #1

Friday, June 17, 2016
Start: Stratton/Rt 27 (1396')
End: East Flagstaff Rd (1200')
Miles: 16.7 (+ ~0.6 for side trails to views and shelter; + ~1mi of pacing along the road)

This morning, I was up at 6am, with the shuttle leaving at 6:30am, and on trail by 6:45am.

I hiked up and over South Horn (3831'), Bigelow Mountain west peak (4145'), Avery Peak (4090'), and Little Bigelow Mountain (3010'). I passed by Horns Pond Lean-tos and Little Bigelow Lean-to.

I arrived at Little Bigelow shelter by 3:30pm, with only 0.6 miles left to hike to the road for my pick-up. So I sat down for a while, drank water, and chatted with the folks at the shelter. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, my shuttle didn't show up until 6:15pm. To sweeten the deal, Stacey from the Farm House Inn in Rangeley gave me an Arnold Palmer she had.

Over the course of the day, I saw 16 SOBOs, a section hiker, and 3 day hikers. I also saw four snakes, which is more than the number I've seen on the trail put together. On the drive back to the Stratton motel, we saw two moose as well; one was a yearling and the other was a full grown adult.

NH AT day hike - the Wildcats

Saturday, June 11, 2016
Start: Pinkham Notch
End: Carter Notch/19 Mile Brook trail - Rt 16
Miles: 5.9 on the AT, 9.9 total

Me and a friend, Little Engine, started our hike from Pinkham Notch around 7:45am after getting a shuttle from the White Mountains lodge and hostel. We left our car at the hostel, hoping to hike from Pinkham Notch to Imp campsite shelter, spend the night, and then hike down to Rt 2/White Mountains hostel where our car was the next day.

Unfortunately, due to the steepness of Wildcat E's assent and Little Engine's troubles with low blood pressure, leading to dizziness, and an ocular migraine, leading to partial loss of vision, the first three miles took a LOT longer than anticipated. It also began raining in the afternoon, slowing us down further.

We made it to our original halfway point of Carter Notch hut around 2pm. We then had a filling lunch of potato soup and bread, followed by some cookies. We decided that given the weather and Little Engine's health, we'd head down 19 Mile Brook trail, rather than push onward for Imp shelter.

We hiked down 19 Mile Brook trail to Rt 16. We were able to obtain two hitches to get back to our car. From there, we headed towards home. While not the original plan, the day's hike had many difficult climbs and beautiful views. It was an adventure. I'll return again later in the season this year to finish the remaining ~13 miles from Carter Notch hut to Rt 2, therefore completing the section from Stratton, ME to Pearisburg, VA.