Dugan
New member
Route 32 to Route 2 - 23.2 miles
Participants: Cantdog, Jade, NH_Mtn_Hiker, pbernard, and me
We met at 7:30 just south of route 2, off Farley Rd. Jade started off the day by presenting me with an orange coolmax mesh tank top. I instantly switched tops. I returned Cantdog's rain coat and shirt (laundered no less) from last weekend. We piled into Cantdog's car and headed north to Newton Cemetery on Route 32, which is beginning to look very familiar.
We Deet-ed up, donned our packs, and headed south (wasn't that west?) on the M-M. Bob showed us his frozen water bottles, which I offered to carry (in my pack next to my back), but alas, he did not want the help. The first mile or so to Bliss Hill road is more or less flat, and runs concurrently with the Tully Trail. After crossing Bliss Hill we lost the trail for a bit. We saw a painted over blaze and decided to back track to find a white blaze. PBernard quickly got us back on true trail. we began ascending White Hill, our first real hill of the day. It wasn't big, but it sure was steep.
The next memorable feature was what the guidebook called a "pothole" swamp. It was pretty, white flowers blooming on the lily pads. The trail followed the surrounding hill around it. We saw beaver chewed trees in this area. Pbernard, who is from the area, supplied a wealth of local information throughout the hike. Here, he told of us Warwick Prison, closed in the 1980's. Somewhere in this stretch NH_Mtn_Hiker proved that he responded not only to damsels in distress, but snakes in distress too. He herded a small snake (species unidentified) from a paved road shortly before a car passed.
We got to route 78. The embankment was loose sand and a little steep. I skidded to a stop behind NH, and narrowly avoided pushing him into traffic (sorry!). With all of us safely across, we began the biggest climb of the day, Mt Grace. We stopped at the shelter to resupply water. My not-quite-brand-new-anymore MSR Miniworks worked beautifully. It was interesting to see the water moving around through the translucent casing. I thought I'd firmly reattached the bite valve to my camelback hose, then noticed it was missing. After three of us looked around for a couple of minutes, I saw that it had luckily fallen into the stuff sack in which I was carrying the camelbak. We broke here also for food, sunblock, and yet more DEET-ing.
We continued on up Grace which is the end point between sections 18 and 17. It's bigger than White Hill, but not as steep. Along the way, we took a pause to contemplate frog legs. We passed on the idea and allowed a beautiful light green frog to jump away to freedom. We got to the top of Grace. The placque is missing from the rock. Cantdog, NH_Mtn_Hiker, and I climbed to almost the top of the fire tower. We could see Northfield Reservoir but it was too hazy for peaks. The breeze was wonderful. We climbed back down to rejoin Jade and pbernard, and continued on our way.
We reached a campsite on the ridge before the next road crossing and stopped to admire the view. We heard some rolling thunder and decided we should move along. The thunder kept getting louder, we eventually saw lightning. And then it came... the deluge. Though not all were pleased, I
loved it. It knocked away the pesky fighter-jet deerflies and cooled the air. We walked on and on, thunder and lightning crashing close by, getting wetter and wetter and wetter. NH_Mtn_Hiker removed his hat. He'd thoroughly DEET-ed it the night before. The rain dripped from the bill into his mouth, DEET cocktail. The rain eventually stopped. I stopped to dry my glasses, and we took the opportunity to eat lunch. Jade revealed her new gear, a raincoat, which she used as bug protection during the stop. The rain brought out the orange newts, which we were to see the rest of the day.
We reapplied DEET (did I mention it was buggy?), and off we went, wondering where Cantdog had gone. NH spotted her tracks in front of us. We eventually caught up to her taking her lunch break. We continued along, our next major landmark Gulf Road, which is the point between section 16 and 17. Of course, Gulf Road to Crag Mountain was flat (um, well, sort of). We got to the sun-warmed exposed summit of Crag and instantly dropped everything to spread out and dry out. NH came perilously close to losing his dry spare socks by placing them too close to me. Jade also dried her pickled feet and donned dry socks. Unlike the morning, the sun actually felt nice as
it dried us. There were tree swallows dipping and zooming overhead. We reluctantly arose, packed up, and went on. The first bit off the summit is steep. NH demonstrated just how steep with a particularly acrobatic sliding-falling-recovery.
In this typical New England woods walk, it was noticed that pbernard's shorts, when wet, "revealed" that they were cut from the same cloth as the emperor's new clothes. Let's just say we were grateful that he was wearing plaid boxers too. We found an overlook with views to the east and south, and took another sit down break. We could see the cemetery on Moutain Road, Millers River, Erving Paper Mill, and a few other landmarks. The trees in this area had char on the trunks. Pbernard said it's from a large forest fire that happened about three years ago.
We eventually came to a jumble of rocks with a tall waterfall. Not much water was visible. We stepped up the pace as the mosquitoes grew more voracious. We emerged on a paved road, and with a couple of twists and turns found ourselves across the low clearance bridge back to our cars.
We changed out of wet shoes and wet clothes. Cantdog admired NH's anti-yankees t-shirt. I ferried Cantdog back to her car, which gave her a chance to review my photos of our Mid-state section hikes.
Trail conditions were good throughout, though wet while it rained. The heavy rains cleared the leaf litter from the trail up Crag nicely. Blazes were plentiful and in some places very fresh.
Even with the rain, this was a good hike. I felt surprisingly good at the end. But it was an easy hike - flat, snowy, cool...
Looking ahead, section 15 (9.8 miles south of Farley Rd) terminates at the Leverett Coop, a general store with a little deli and indoor seating (bug free and air conditioning). That'll be a good lunch stop.
Participants: Cantdog, Jade, NH_Mtn_Hiker, pbernard, and me
We met at 7:30 just south of route 2, off Farley Rd. Jade started off the day by presenting me with an orange coolmax mesh tank top. I instantly switched tops. I returned Cantdog's rain coat and shirt (laundered no less) from last weekend. We piled into Cantdog's car and headed north to Newton Cemetery on Route 32, which is beginning to look very familiar.
We Deet-ed up, donned our packs, and headed south (wasn't that west?) on the M-M. Bob showed us his frozen water bottles, which I offered to carry (in my pack next to my back), but alas, he did not want the help. The first mile or so to Bliss Hill road is more or less flat, and runs concurrently with the Tully Trail. After crossing Bliss Hill we lost the trail for a bit. We saw a painted over blaze and decided to back track to find a white blaze. PBernard quickly got us back on true trail. we began ascending White Hill, our first real hill of the day. It wasn't big, but it sure was steep.
The next memorable feature was what the guidebook called a "pothole" swamp. It was pretty, white flowers blooming on the lily pads. The trail followed the surrounding hill around it. We saw beaver chewed trees in this area. Pbernard, who is from the area, supplied a wealth of local information throughout the hike. Here, he told of us Warwick Prison, closed in the 1980's. Somewhere in this stretch NH_Mtn_Hiker proved that he responded not only to damsels in distress, but snakes in distress too. He herded a small snake (species unidentified) from a paved road shortly before a car passed.
We got to route 78. The embankment was loose sand and a little steep. I skidded to a stop behind NH, and narrowly avoided pushing him into traffic (sorry!). With all of us safely across, we began the biggest climb of the day, Mt Grace. We stopped at the shelter to resupply water. My not-quite-brand-new-anymore MSR Miniworks worked beautifully. It was interesting to see the water moving around through the translucent casing. I thought I'd firmly reattached the bite valve to my camelback hose, then noticed it was missing. After three of us looked around for a couple of minutes, I saw that it had luckily fallen into the stuff sack in which I was carrying the camelbak. We broke here also for food, sunblock, and yet more DEET-ing.
We continued on up Grace which is the end point between sections 18 and 17. It's bigger than White Hill, but not as steep. Along the way, we took a pause to contemplate frog legs. We passed on the idea and allowed a beautiful light green frog to jump away to freedom. We got to the top of Grace. The placque is missing from the rock. Cantdog, NH_Mtn_Hiker, and I climbed to almost the top of the fire tower. We could see Northfield Reservoir but it was too hazy for peaks. The breeze was wonderful. We climbed back down to rejoin Jade and pbernard, and continued on our way.
We reached a campsite on the ridge before the next road crossing and stopped to admire the view. We heard some rolling thunder and decided we should move along. The thunder kept getting louder, we eventually saw lightning. And then it came... the deluge. Though not all were pleased, I
loved it. It knocked away the pesky fighter-jet deerflies and cooled the air. We walked on and on, thunder and lightning crashing close by, getting wetter and wetter and wetter. NH_Mtn_Hiker removed his hat. He'd thoroughly DEET-ed it the night before. The rain dripped from the bill into his mouth, DEET cocktail. The rain eventually stopped. I stopped to dry my glasses, and we took the opportunity to eat lunch. Jade revealed her new gear, a raincoat, which she used as bug protection during the stop. The rain brought out the orange newts, which we were to see the rest of the day.
We reapplied DEET (did I mention it was buggy?), and off we went, wondering where Cantdog had gone. NH spotted her tracks in front of us. We eventually caught up to her taking her lunch break. We continued along, our next major landmark Gulf Road, which is the point between section 16 and 17. Of course, Gulf Road to Crag Mountain was flat (um, well, sort of). We got to the sun-warmed exposed summit of Crag and instantly dropped everything to spread out and dry out. NH came perilously close to losing his dry spare socks by placing them too close to me. Jade also dried her pickled feet and donned dry socks. Unlike the morning, the sun actually felt nice as
it dried us. There were tree swallows dipping and zooming overhead. We reluctantly arose, packed up, and went on. The first bit off the summit is steep. NH demonstrated just how steep with a particularly acrobatic sliding-falling-recovery.
In this typical New England woods walk, it was noticed that pbernard's shorts, when wet, "revealed" that they were cut from the same cloth as the emperor's new clothes. Let's just say we were grateful that he was wearing plaid boxers too. We found an overlook with views to the east and south, and took another sit down break. We could see the cemetery on Moutain Road, Millers River, Erving Paper Mill, and a few other landmarks. The trees in this area had char on the trunks. Pbernard said it's from a large forest fire that happened about three years ago.
We eventually came to a jumble of rocks with a tall waterfall. Not much water was visible. We stepped up the pace as the mosquitoes grew more voracious. We emerged on a paved road, and with a couple of twists and turns found ourselves across the low clearance bridge back to our cars.
We changed out of wet shoes and wet clothes. Cantdog admired NH's anti-yankees t-shirt. I ferried Cantdog back to her car, which gave her a chance to review my photos of our Mid-state section hikes.
Trail conditions were good throughout, though wet while it rained. The heavy rains cleared the leaf litter from the trail up Crag nicely. Blazes were plentiful and in some places very fresh.
Even with the rain, this was a good hike. I felt surprisingly good at the end. But it was an easy hike - flat, snowy, cool...
Looking ahead, section 15 (9.8 miles south of Farley Rd) terminates at the Leverett Coop, a general store with a little deli and indoor seating (bug free and air conditioning). That'll be a good lunch stop.
