In the Fall when the leaves are changing in New England you hike where the colors are peaking. Today this meant that I was staying in southern New Hampshire/Northern Mass.
So after some deliberation I decided to go to the southern terminus of the Wapack Trail and hike up Mt. Watatic.
As I arrived to where the parking is located I saw the lot was totally full and people were parking across the street. So I made my way down the road till I found a place to park.
Date:
10-03-2020
Location:
Adams, MA
Distance:
4.4 mi
Elevation Gain:
711′
Total Time:
2 hr 39 min
Parking:
10-15 cars
Difficultly Rating:
Easy
The trail started off with a beautiful bog bridge along a small wetland. The trail up to Watatic was easy to moderate most of the way. It is a VERY well traveled trail with lots of side trails along the way.
Once I reached the summit there was a rock with a marker and a large cairn. There were great views at the summit. On the way up I was informed that there was a second summit with great views of Boston so I made my way over to check it out first hand.
After a few pictures I decided to continue on and make a loop out of this trip. So I headed north to the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border. This is where the Wapack Trail and the Mid State Trail part ways.
After having some lunch at the boarder I headed back out to the car via the Mid State Trail Bypass. When I arrived back a the car I was amazed at how many cars there were. When I reached my car the line kept going as far as the eye can see.
I really enjoyed this hike. While there appeared to be a lot of people due to all the vehicles, I did not see as many people as I thought I would. This is a great small hike with some great views.
We didn’t have to go far for a great camping experience.
We wanted to try and get another camping trip in before the season ends. For this trip we invited our niece and nephew to join us for an evening.
We choose to go to Bear Brook State park in Pembroke, New Hampshire. This state park is one of the largest state parks in New Hampshire with over 10,000 acres of land. This park is also only about a half hour away from our home.
The weather looked great for the weekend with temps in the 70’s and 80’s duding the day and only about mid 50’s and 60’s during the night.
Date:
9/25/20 – 9/27/20
Location:
Pembroke, NH
Price:
$25 per night
Site Number:
Site 57
Toilets
Flush Toilet
Max People Per Site
6
Parking:
2 cars
Dog/Pets:
Yes
Hammock:
Yes
Our site was number was 57. The site is kind of in the middle of the campground but had some trees all around that made us feel secluded. The site was large with lots of options for setting up the tent and EZ up. There were also lots of spots that a hammock could be hung. The site was mostly flat and we had three cars parked on it with still room to move around.
We arrived at the park around 4:30pm on Friday and started setting up like we always do. I was going to sleep in my hammock and my wife, niece and nephew in the tent. Once we got set up we started getting ready for dinner. We brought the dutch oven we got on our last trip and ended up doing all the cooking in this pot.
For our first night we made pizzas in the dutch oven. The next morning we cooked biscuits in it and used them to make egg sandwiches. Soon a friend of our arrived to walk a 5k for ALZ. Because of COVID-19 all the 5k’s have been virtual and done at your own pace. Lucky and I decided to join them in the walk.
We made our way out of the campground to the Beaver Pond trail. This is a beautiful trail with lots of boardwalk bridges. The trees around the pond were if full foliage colors. There were brilliant reds, bright oranges and golden yellows. In some areas the colors were so bright it looked the trees were on fire.
After returning to the campsite we rested a bit before my niece and nephew arrived. Once they got there we had lunch. Dutch oven grilled cheeses and grilled peanut button and Fluff for my sister were on the menu.
After lunch we went for a quick walk to get some Geocaches that were located on the beaver pond trail. After three successful finds we made our way back to camp. My niece and nephew wanted to go swimming at the beach so we got on our bikes and headed out. The campground beach is nice and sandy and it was not very busy when we arrived.
After the beach we made our way back to camp and started to get dinner ready. My Mom was on our way to the site to join us for dinner. The Dutch oven mac and cheese and apple crisp came out great.
As night time came we enjoyed the fire and told some hilarious ghost stories and made S’mores.
The next morning we got the fire going and made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we started breaking down the site and packing up the car.
This is a great trip. We got to check out other camp sites.
Driving home from out Labor Day Camping trip we decided to avoid the heavy traffic on the highways and take the back way home through Evans Notch. On our way we saw a sign for Madison Boulder.
I had always wanted to visit this geological site but it is kind of off the beaten path. So I knew this was my chance to check it out.
This is not a long hike. So while the parking lot is small there is a lot of turn over so we were able to easily find a spot.
Date:
9-7-2020
Location:
Madison, NH
Distance:
1 mi
Elevation Gain:
67′
Total Time:
0 hr 40 min
Parking:
5+ cars
Difficultly Rating:
Easy
Lucky is having a good tiem
The trail is dog friendly so I decided to bring Lucky with me to check out the rock. The trail is short, flat and wide. The whole trail is about a half mile there and a half mile back. A very easy stroll.
Madison Bolder itself is massive. It is one of the largest glacial erratic in North America. And one of the largest in the world.
It is 83 feet long, 23 feet hight, 37 feet wide and weighs about 5000 tons. It’s HUGE! It was truly a pleasure to behold.
If you are into geology this is a must visit site to see the bolder. If you are not into geology it is still worth the trip. This is a fun short hike for people and families of all ages.
Clear skies and crisp temperatures make for great night time shots of stars. So my buddy and I headed up north to capture what is left of the Milky Way in September.
We first grabbed a first come first serve site at the Covered Bridge Campground. Hung the hammocks and then headed out to take some photos.
Our first stop was Rocky Gorge off the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire. Lighting up the foreground was a little difficult and the Milky Way was not lining up with our shot. Since the moon was going to be rising at around Midnight we decided to keep moving along.
Date:
9/12/20 – 9/12/20
Location:
Crawford Notch, NH
Distance:
200+ mi RT
Outing Time:
2 days
Reason for Trip
Night Photography
I’m not saying this is a picture of aliens but I’m pretty sure it’s aliens.
As we drove we spotted a moose on the side of the road. Then we saw a couple fo foxes. Lots of wildlife this night.
We headed up to Crawford Notch and decided to photograph the Crawford Depot building. This is a historic train station located in the notch.
We spent some time at this location photographing the building from different angles and playing with some light painting.
I was happy with the way most of the images came out.
After we were done shooting we headed back to camp. Then took a scenic ride back to a view more pics on a bright and sunny day.
Let’s go camping on Labor Day Weekend. This was our bright idea two weeks before Labor Day.
We started looking at some of our favorite campgrounds and everything seemed to be all booked up in New Hampshire.
We enjoy trying new places so we decided to try a campground we had never been to. After a little more searching we found Timberland Campground in Shelburn, NH.
It had many of the amenities that we enjoy like a pool, walking trails, pet friendly, fire rings, etc. They only had 2-3 sites left. We knew they would not be the best sites since it was Labor Day but we decided to go for it. So we reserved tent site 7.
Date:
9/4/20 – 9/7/20
Location:
Shelburn, NH
Price:
$26 Per Night
Site Number:
Site 7
Toilets
Flush/Shower
Max People Per Site
8
Parking:
1 cars
Dog/Pets:
Yes
Hammock:
Yes
We got to the campground on Friday afternoon around 5pm. We checked in at the store and then made our way to the site.
The tent site is in a small cul-de-sac of tent sites and ours was the last one on the loop. Site 7 was a bit awkward and looking around at the other sites in the loop it was also the smallest and our least favorite. But we decided to make it work.
The site shaped like a narrow “L”. It was also very rooty so we were limited on where we could set the tent. Once we got the tent set up we set up the rest of camp.
Below us was a large group of campers that were having a good time and were a bit loud but again, we knew this was Labor Day and this would be going on at every campground.
As the night went on the group below us congregated to a fire pit below us. It seemed a bit awkward for us to be facing down at the larger group. I’m sure it seemed weir to them too having people looking down.
The next morning I went to the store to get a campground sticker. The camp owner asked what site I was at and when I told her she smiled and said they too heard the group.
I asked if all the sites up there were full and she said there was a cancellation and two sites in the circle were not being used. We asked if we could move our site and they said to go ahead.
We looked at the other sites and decided to move our tent down to site 5. About 30 feet away from our current site. At least now we were not facing the large group. This site was much larger and flatter and over all much more enjoyable.
The only draw back to this campground was that it was close to the road. Tractor trailers and motorcycles frequent this road and when they drive by it is hard to hear if someone is talking. Especially if there is a motorcycle ride going by. (There are several on Labor Day Weekend).
Again we made the best of things and enjoyed the camping trip. We spent a lot of time at the camp cooking with our new Dutch Oven. We tried cooking all kinds of things; Pulled Pork, Frittatas, muffins, pancakes, and hash over the course of the weekend.
The campground had a nice river walk and lots of great places to fish or swim. It also had a heated pool. We didn’t go in but seemed like it would be nice.
Over all the campground had a lot of variety of sites. The bathrooms were clean and the owners were very friendly.
During the day we took a ride up to Berlin, NH to check out Jericho State Park. Neither of us had ever been. We knew the park catered to ATV riders but were surprised to find out everything else the park offered.
When we got to the parking lot we went and talked to the ranger and he let us in (We have NH State Park Plates so we don’t have to pay the fee). There is a beautiful beach on Jericho Lake, a nice bath house with flush toilets, picnic area with grills and a campground. The park is mostly pet friendly so we all took a walk around to check everything out.
As we walked through the campground we saw lean too sights, cabins, RV sites and tent sites. Many of them were on the water or at least had great views of the water. We both said that we would have to try this campground sometime and rent some ATV’s. Over all we were very impressed with this State Park.
I enjoy exploring new trails up mountains I’ve been to many times. I was looking at my map of the Wapack Trail and noticed that I had never taken the Raymond Trail to the summit of Pack Monadnock.
So after some work and chores on a beautiful Sunday afternoon I decided to take a ride and check out this trail.
The trail head is a dirt parking lot. There is another parking lot a couple of hundred feet down the road that goes to the Cherry Pond trail as well. The lot looked a bit bigger but was full.
Date:
8-30-2020
Location:
Peterborough, NH
Distance:
3.4 mi
Elevation Gain:
920′
Total Time:
2 hr 23 min
Parking:
4+ cars
Difficultly Rating:
Easy
The Raymond Trail starts with some ups and downs until the junction with the Cherry Pond Trial. From here it climbs steadily for about a mile.
Soon I came to the steeper rocky pitches that took me to the summit. The rocks took a little maneuvering in some spots but over all were not that difficult to navigate.
Once at the top I enjoyed some views of Mt. Monadnock and North Pack. There were a few people up there but it was not over crowded due to the park limiting people because of COVID-19.
I started down back down the trail. On my decent I took my time going down the rocky steep section. I tend to go a little slower and more careful when hiking solo. Soon I made it back to my car.
This was a fun trail to take. It was not over crowded like other trails on this mountain. I would recommend this trail to new hikers and I’m sure kids would have a blast.
