You Are Here: Pack Monadnock

I had 4 trails left in the entire Wapack Area, and had been putting them off as I know it's a busy area, and I prefer it more quiet. However, redlining doesn't allow for what we like and don't like ;) It was forecast to be unseasonably warm (80 degrees at the end of October!) so Laura and I headed out. We planned a car spot at Miller State Park, beginning at the Raymond Trail on East Mountain Rd in Peterborough. I made my reservation the night before and we attempted to get there as early as possible to beat the majority of the crowds. Raymond Trailhead has room for 3 cars and a couple more roadside if parked smartly. It was a gorgeous morning with the light filtering through the trees making the leaves glow. A car pulled up besides us as we were gearing up and a man got out, not seemingly prepared or really knowing where he was and started out very slowly along the trail. He made us feel very uneasy, so we decided to walk down the road to the overflow parking at Cranberry Meadow trailhead and take the side path up to the Raymond Trail hoping not to bump into him again (we didn't). The sign says 0.5 miles to the additional parking, but it was more like 0.2 and we were on our way. It was muddy down low, but nothing too crazy. We rejoined Raymond Trail after about 0.3 miles and a gentle ascent. The trail basically climbs the entire way with a couple short reprieves. Some of it was on the gentler side, some was quite steep and rocky. It was very, very leafy (being Fall and all) and the leaves were dry for the most part, so in some places it was quite slippery which slowed us down a lot more than anticipated. The terrain was a mix of roots, pine needle bed and big rocks to climb over! All the variety. It was very pretty and definitely the more quieter way to ascend this mountain. We only saw 1 person on our way up. At about 1.6 miles, Raymond Trail crosses the Wapack Trail and continues a few hundred feet to another branch of the Wapack Trail where people were hawk watching. I feel like this has been happening every time I've visited this mountain! We took a left on the Wapack Trail and started the Summit Loop Trail, marked with red dots. We got a bit confused where it left Wapack as there was no sign but if you look carefully there are red dots on the rock ledge, and then where the trail branches off to the right you can see a dot on a tree a little way down. This trail was a little more rugged than I had anticipated (thinking it was advertised as an easy loop for those who may have driven up the auto road to follow). We followed around with some peekaboo views through the trees till we reached the auto road junction and "Boston View" signage. The views today were very hazy, and the skyline was not visible. We picked up Spruce Knoll Trail which takes you 0.3 miles out over a knob (and the town of Temple highpoint) to a bit more of an open view in the same direction as the "Boston View". We backtracked to the auto road and crossed around to finish up Summit Loop which descended down to the Wapack Trail and back up to the Raymond Trail intersection. We crossed back over the summit to Marion Davis Trail, which begins just next to the store. The first half of this trail was very steep and rocky and particularly slippery and somewhat wet as well, which made footing sometimes of a challenge. Even on the less steep sections, all the leaves hid holes, rocks and roots. This trail was VERY busy, as I anticipated. And as always, I was amazed at the amount of people seemingly unprepared. Yes, it may only be a little under 1.5 miles, but the trail is far from easy. I don't know why it still surprises me to see so many people like this! We made it down safely, picking up my car at the Miller State entrance and drove back around to Raymond Trail to pick up Laura's car. That's a wrap on the Wapack Trail. Overall, I loved this whole area, some of my favorite trail sections to date!

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