An Afternoon Out and Back on the Wapack
It was a cloudy and unseasonably warm Veterans day. So I decided to take a ride and fill in a small section along the Wapack trail. The section I was looking at was between Temple, NH and New Ipswich, NH.
I started on the New Ipswich side and made by way north. The trail starts out and is pretty easy to follow. There are some side trails called Upper Flat Mountain Loop and Lower Flat Mountain Loop that I would take on my return.
| Date: | 11-11-2020 |
| Location: | New Ipswich, NH |
| Distance: | 6 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 486′ |
| Total Time: | 2 hr 56 min |
| Parking: | 10+ cars |
| Difficultly Rating: | Easy |
As I moved along the trail intersected with an old logging road that lead to what used to be a pond. But when I got there the pond was all dried up and just a trickling brook ran through it.
There are were some neat old cars sitting on the side of the road and an interesting octagon shaped cabin.
A little further down the trail becomes more of a trail agin. It is mostly level but has a few rolling hills to keep it interesting. The trail came out on the corner of Temple Road and Nashua Road.
So I walked up another .25 miles to the Belletete Kiosk. From here I started to make my way back. It was really nice to set back on the trail after walking on the pavement.
On my way back went quickly and before I knew it I was at the dried up pond and soon near the trails I wanted to check out. So I started the Upper Loop and the class 6 road trail turned in to a big mud pit. So I had to bushwhack around it.
Once I found the trail again I noticed it had a spur where there was an opening. So I walked over and it looked like it was an old ski area. You could still see some of the old rope tow poles. There was a some beautiful White Birch glades on both sides of the trail.
I figured this was private property so I headed back to the trail and down to the lower section of the trail. This also took me to the ski area more toward the bottom. It actually crossed right in front of the area before taking me back tot he parking lot.
The ski area was really a cool side trip and my favorite part of this hike. I’m glad I decided to take this. As for the rest of the trail is was ok. I enjoyed the trail sections more than the various road sections.
