I've hiked Wachusett Mountain about 20 times this summer but never have written a report on it. But this Labor Day weekend turned out to be a special one. I was looking to get a quick hike in before the weather turned ugly at around 3:00 as predicted by the weather personalities. So at about 8:30 I had my bag packed and started giving my goodbye kisses. When I got to Kayla and told her what I was doing, she wanted to come along. So I packed up some extra food and after a stop at Gourmet Donuts for a chocolate covered doughnut with sprinkles we were on our way for a hike. With Kayla coming along, I wasn't sure if Wachusett was the right destination, but figured I'd take a route where we could bail out on the access roads if she got too tired. On the ride to the trail head, we saw that Wachusett was in the clouds.
We started at the access road parking area on the west side of the mountain off Westminster Road. I chose the dirt road which led to the wind turbines which I had told Kayla about in the past. She was pretty impressed by the size when we got there and with how loud they were.
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| Loud turbine! |
After taking in the massive windmills, we headed on Old Stage Coach trail which for the most part was a downhill trail. Kayla told me she was a little nervous because it was so dark on the trail, but that all changed when we saw our first orange newt.
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| First orange newt |
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| Pointing out a newt |
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| They are little guys |
From the Old Stage Coach Trail we connected with the Harrington Trail which in my opinion is the most difficult trail on the mountain. The trail in it's totality travels 1.4 miles and climbs 750 feet. Where we intersected with the Harrington Trail, we probably cut out the .4 miles but not much of the elevation. The beginning of the trail provides relatively easy footing but the last 1/4 mile or so is a scramble to the top. Although the Harrington Trail can be difficult, it does has three bail out routes which we could have taken to get back to the car. While on the Harrington trail Kayla proclaimed several times that she was a "Wild Girl" which was something she must have gotten from a Disney Tarzan movie she has been watching. She was having a great time and we ran across a few people on the trail all of which were friendly and impressed with her hiking. We ended up seeing a total of 39 orange newts, 5 daddy long legs, 1 red squirrel and a few dogs on the trail! When we reached the scrambling portion of the trail Kayla did awesome and didn't need much help as she "walked like a gorilla" along much of this portion of the trail. Once we passed the auto road we started heading up into the clouds where Kayla as a little nervous and kept coughing as if she was suffering from smoke inhalation. When we reached the summit, it was cloud covered, windy and much much cooler than any other part of our hike. At the top we visited the summit fire tower and took refuge from the wind behind one of the vista point rock walls to have a snack.
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| Scrambling up Harrington |
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| Which way to go? |
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| Silly on the summit |
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| Us on the Summit |
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| Snack time on the summit |
After finishing our snacks, we headed down the Mountain House Trail and connected with the Jack Frost Trail to the High Meadow Trail. I had to carry Kayla through a couple portions of these trails but only for a couple hundred feet at a time. She definitely had to be a bit tired, but playing the copy game and the promise of throwing rocks into Echo Lake kept her trudging along. Heading down the High Meadow Trail Kayla told me she missed her mom so we gave her a call when we reached the bench at the old apple field at the intersection of the Bicentennial trail. After several "are we almost there yet?" we finally reached Echo Lake where many many rocks were thrown.
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| Kayla at Echo Lake |
To get back to the car we stayed on the access roads and as incentive the promise of a Gerardo cupcake kept her slogging along until we finally reached the car at 1:00. I've done this loop often and usually get it done in about an hour and 10 or 15 minutes and have estimated it to be 3.5 to 4 miles. Usually when I do this hike by myself I am practically running to make sure I am home in a reasonable amount of time in case I am needed. With Kayla I was relaxed and enjoyed it more than any other time I have been on the mountain this summer. I am very proud of her and will be buying her a Camelbak backpack of her own for her 5th birthday in 2 weeks.
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