#wapack

On this beautiful Sunday morning, Greg and I took a ride over to Mount Watatic in Ashby to hike the loop that goes up to the summit then over Nutting Hill and back down.  There were a lot of hikers out and we parked alongside route 119.

I’ve hiked this mountain several times in the past.  It is also part of the Wapack range, the southernmost peak, and my friend Laura and I hiked the Wapack Trail last fall.  We’re planning to tackle it again this year, probably in late September.

I grew up skiing on this mountain.  At three years old I rode with my feet on my mother’s skis.  At four I had my own but sat at the bottom and ate snow.  At five my parents got me into the lesson program to motivate me, and it was all downhill from there (pun intended).  My parents met skiing (on Wachusett) and we were regulars at Watatic.  I could negotiate a t-bar at age 5.  I don’t even know if ski areas use t-bars anymore!

Anyway, back to hiking.  There is a parking lot off of route 119 (which was full) and the South end of the Wapack trail begins here.  The beginning is fairly flat and wide, then becomes slightly rockier and more sloped.  After about maybe a half mile, you can go either right, continuing on the Wapack Trail to Watatic Summit, or continue straight, and the rough road name changes to either/and State Line Trail/Midstate Trail.  I’ve seen it referenced as both, depending on the source.

The Wapack Trail takes you directly to the summit with a heart-pumping climb!

We stayed on the Wapack Trail to the summit.  Shortly after you make this turn, the trail gets fairly steep.  And it stays that way.  It’s an excellent workout, and will have you breathing heavily.  You basically get all your elevation gain at once, bringing you right up to the summit.  

It gets pretty steep here!

On the way to the summit

After reaching the summit, there is a pretty good view.  There is the usual summit marker and an engraved stone with the name of the mountain and some verse (I neglected to snap a picture of it).  However, if you take the short, dead-end trail that connects to a bald “second summit” (you can see it from the actual summit), you are rewarded with an AMAZING view of everything all around.  Greg and I took the time to do this and poked around a little on the summit.  

Beautiful view, sort of Northeastish

As a side note, we encountered a fair amount of OFF LEASH dogs during our hike.  Additionally, we saw dog poop on the trail.  The trail clearly says leashed dogs.  In fact at the end of our hike, we saw one woman in the parking lot walk her dog to the start of the trail, bend over, and let him off the leash, and he bounded away. I am always surprised the way people do not consider other hikers when letting their dogs off leash, and figure since their dog is “good” and stays with them, it’s okay.  It’s NOT okay.

Mount Wachusett (home!!!) in the distance

After checking out the view, we retraced our steps the short distance back to the summit and continued on the Wapack trail, heading a bit more North toward Nutting Hill.  There is another climb to the top of that but it’s not too bad and you don’t really mind it.  I like this section through here, it’s pretty.  

Morning sunlight filters through the leaves

As we descended from Nutting Hill, we stayed to the left, leaving the Wapack trail and joining up with the State Line/Midstate trail.  It becomes wider again more like an old cart path but rather rocky.  Sections of this can be muddy depending on what the weather has been doing but it was not too bad today.  Eventually this joins back with the very start of the Wapack Trail and brings you right back to the parking area.