Mount Wachusett

Last post from my trip home to New England, then I plan to post some non-travel related things before getting into my fall trip. Perhaps to make up for the past 5 years of walking in circles in flatland Michigan and 20 months since my brother and I had been home, we did a fair amount of hiking and other outdoor activities in a relatively short time span. The last hike we took shortly before I flew back to Ann Arbor to finish up my degree was up Mount Wachusett.

This was a quick hike up the 2,006 ft. Mount Wachusett in central Massachusetts. In winter, people go to Mt. Wachusett to ski, but during the rest of the year the state reservation is open for hiking. There is a separate visitors center for hikers, but we parked at the ski area parking lot because it’s free in summer. From the parking lot, we took the Balance Rock Trail, connected to the Old Indian Trail to the summit, then came down the Loop Trail to the visitor center and used the Donbrowo Trail to get back to the ski area. This loop is about 3 miles long and can be hiked in under a couple hours pretty easily.

Balance Rock

Like most of the rest of our hikes this summer, it was rocky. The trail is wooded and relatively flat up to Balance Rock, which, as you may have guessed, is a rock balanced on another rock. From Balance Rock, the trail starts to ascend more steeply up rock fields, occasionally crossing the ski trails. Near the summit, you emerge from a wooded section at the top of one of the ski lifts, nonoperational during the summer. At the summit, there’s a fire tower with a lower platform accessible. Depending on the day’s visibility, you can see a number of the surrounding hills/mountains, including Mt. Monadnock and the Berkshires. If it’s a really clear day, it’s possible to see the Boston skyline sixty miles to the east.

Ski lift

Summit fire tower

On the way down, we took a different route, which involved crossing and walking along the summit road for a portion of the descent. This trail was steeper than our ascent, so had stone steps for most of the trail. We stopped in at the visitor center to look at some of the educational exhibits on the flora and fauna found on the mountain, then took the flat Donbrowo Trail back to the ski area. At the end of summer, the ski lodge and surrounding accessory buildings were locked and silent, the ski lifts unmoving. There did appear to be an event being set up, but we weren’t invited, so we returned to the car and picked up Chinese takeout for dinner, which we enjoyed with some Long Trail Ale, probably my favorite beer since I picked it up in a Wegmans pick your own 6 pack during college.

View from an overlook on the descent