Our original plans changed due to rain forecast in the White Mountains. Laura and I decided to do a Wapack Trail traverse of about half the trail from the Northern Terminus on Old Mountain Road with a car spot on Temple Road in Sharon. We had previously ended at Temple Road over the Winter when doing Kidder Mountain, and I have previously done Windblown XC Ski Area to Pratt Mountain and back.. so after today, I just have the 5 miles of the southern most section of trail to complete. I have loved just about every inch of this trail (minus a couple boring short road hikes). There has been variety of terrain without anything being too technical or sketchy, but still challenging. The day turned out to be perfect as far as temperatures. Started a bit brisk, warmed just enough to make it comfortable and no bugs! There were some small sections of mud/wet rocks or roots, but nothing to make it dangerous. We spotted my car at the Temple Rd trailhead and drove back to the Northern Terminus. For the second time on a traverse, I almost forgot my keys. I don't know why that keeps happening! Thankfully I remembered at the last second and all was saved. We decided to go North-South, which worked for us, though we passed a lot of people heading South-North.. so either would work. The climb up North Pack was moderate, but not steep. There are a couple peekaboo views from the summit, the best views on this mountain are a little ways down the Cliff Walk trail, which we had been on a few months ago. We stopped for a brief snack before continuing onto Pack Monadnock. The section between North Pack and Pack was beautiful pine forest with rolling trail. We kept stopping to enjoy the beauty. It steepened a little right before the Pack Monadnock summit. Just below the summit is a view spur named Joanne Bass Bross Outlook. Not much in the way of views as the southern part of the state doesn't have the mountainous vistas as is found in the Whites, but still a pretty view. We knew the summit of Pack Monadnock would be busy, having an auto road to the top with picnic facilities, a fire tower, a small store and a raptor migration observation area, which was busy with scientists and nature lovers alike with their extra long lenses. We quickly pit stopped without bothering to go up the fire tower as there was a constant stream of folks heading up and down. The descent from Pack Monadnock to the Miller State Park entrance was only 1.4 miles, but was the steepest and most technical section of the day. We were starting to tire and the foot puzzle of boulders slowed us down a bit. It seemed never ending! Eventually we arrived at the parking area and paid our $4 day use fee for Miller State Park. After carefully crossing Rt 101, the trail ascends via an access road for the old Temple Mountain ski area. While a welcome relief from all the boulder hopping coming off Pack Monadnock, it was just steep enough to be rather tedious. Near the top, the trail re-enters the woods and becomes a nice cruisy roller coaster of ups and downs over several knobs. We were really tired by this point but still able to enjoy the peace and beauty of this trail. Several cairns along the way mark the town line between Temple and Sharon. The first signed peak was Holt Peak, which is also Sharon's town highpoint. Holt Peak is wooded and just off the Wapack Trail with an obvious short herd path to the true summit. We stopped here for another break before starting the descent towards Burton Peak. Burton Peak is also wooded, but not long after the summit was a short spur with an unobstructed view straight across to Mt Monadnock. One of the amazing things about this section was we followed an old stone wall for much of the way, marveling at the workmanship and time it must have taken to construct. The final descent to Temple Road did also seem never ending but thankfully was easy going with 2 short view spurs to outlooks over the surrounding area. There was just enough Fall color poking through and with the waning daylight it cast a magical glow over everything. Either that or we were just delirious by this point and ready to be done! Another fantastic day in the woods.
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