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Published: February 2nd 2017
Winter Wonderland
Forest of young pine trees on Mount WachusettI loved snow growing up. Waking up to the yard covered by a storm made my heart soar. Not only did I get a day off from school, I knew I would spend most of it playing outside in a white fantasyland. As I grew up, that thrill faded away. Snow became that awful stuff I had to shovel off my car before driving to work. When I did get the chance to be outdoors, the snow had inevitably melted into an icy mess. I thought I would never enjoy it again. Today, for one day at least, the wonder all came back.
A powder storm fell on the region late this week. This was a storm winter lovers dream about, pure enough to see individual snowflakes. I had to get outside and hike. In snow season that means one place above all others,
Mount Wachusett in central Massachusetts. It has a bare summit that shows more of the state than anywhere else on a clear day. More important from a practical perspective, the trails are busy enough to be found if something goes wrong but not popular enough to ruin the wilderness feel. They are almost guaranteed to be broken
Mount Wachusett ridge
Ridge of Mount Wachusett behind Echo Lake in too, an important criteria this time of year.
In winter, the mountain has a nasty parking issue. Part of the mountain is covered by a
ski area, which eats up all parking in the vicinity. The lots for the state park that covers the rest of the area prohibit ski parking but are only open limited hours. Regular hikers avoid both and park at our favorite hidden spots, which I’m not revealing in my blog : )
This hike narrative must start somewhere, so how about a small pond next to a remote road junction? Three roads meet here, only two of which had been plowed (and only one of those is paved). The pond is formed by an obvious dam. It had iced over with inches of snow on top, so today hikers may not even known it was there.
From the pond a clearly broken in trail climbed a nearby hillside. Within minutes, I followed it into a place that could be my childhood fantasies. The path entered a young pine forest, with tall and very narrow trees all the same height and width. Light fluffy snow covered the branches, downed trunks, and ground. With
Picnic Area
Echo Lake Picnic area covered in snow with the lake behind it the bright sun shining through the trees, this forest was a place of magic.
Those with knowledge of New England landscapes quickly realize these trees are different to many. Although Mount Wachusett appears to be natural forest, the area was extensively farmed and grazed before the state acquired the land for the park. This part was once all open fields. These trees all seeded at the same time, likely deliberately. The result, in snow, created a winter wonder.
The pine wonderland lasted until the trail passed a stone wall and abruptly turned left. The forest changed just as abruptly, from pine to deciduous. This too is artificial. The stone wall marks the boundary of the former field. The trail now dropped down the hill straight as an arrow, with a view of a bigger hill in the distance through the trees. This was an old road, another reminder of the mountain’s long human history.
The path dropped through that wonderful snow until it reached a bridge buried in still more. This crossed a creek barely visible under the snow cover. Immediately afterward, the trail ended at a real road. This one was not plowed, and covered in
High meadow climb
Hiking through the snow to High Meadow cross country ski tracks.
I followed the tracks briefly until they reached a wide flat expanse of white on the left, Echo Lake. It’s formed by a dam that the road crossed. Behind the snow-covered pond, countless trees covered in snow rose up that hill I saw earlier. It’s a ridge leading to the summit of Wachusett.
The far side of the pond held one of the park’s beauty spots, a picnic area by the lake that can only be reached by hiking. It had a stone grill and single picnic table. Covered in powder, they formed another perfect winter scene. The trail split from the road here and started to climb the ridge.
The trail became another vision of childhood fantasies. Light fluffy snow covered everything, including downed trees. The path formed a three inch deep groove through the snow. With no leaves on the trees in this forest, the bright sun made everything glow. All I wanted to do was drink in the scenery, the perfect winter hike.
As the path continued up, it started to get steep. Now I had to think about foot placement, lest I slip and fall. Compared to what
High Meadow
Old orchard reclaimed by nature on Mount Wachusett came later, this was only a warm up. The toughest stretch was where an old partially rotted tree had fallen across the trail. Maintenance workers had cut a path directly through the rotted part of the tree, which was now covered in snow and slippery.
Finally, the slope became gentler, the trees thinned out, and they appeared very young. The trail then broke into an open hillside overgrown with vines and bushes, plus some scraggly old apple trees, all covered in snow. Clearly, this place had once been an orchard; and nature has now reclaimed it. Officially, it’s called the High Meadow. I loved being here, the visible sense of past history.
The top of the meadow had a nice view to the south. It was dominated by a hump shaped mountain unofficially called “Little Wachusett”. To its left, the buildings of Worcester, the largest city in central Massachusetts, peaked out from a distant valley. The rest was rolling hills, covered in white. This too was just the warmup.
Above the meadow the path entered a very young forest on a steep rocky hillside. Fluffy white snow sill covered everything, with black rocks poking through. One thing
Young Forest
Young trees and rocks om the way to the ridge hasn’t changed; the bright sunshine and snow turned this scene into a beauty fest.
Quickly, the groove marking the path started to twist through those rocks, heading upward. This was harder than the lower slopes, steep and slippery. I began now to plan my steps, using trees and rocks for hand holds. I hike like this I would never have attempted in my childhood.
The rock climb led to something truly nasty, a slanted rock face covered in ice about eight feet high. As the many boot marks showed, the path went directly up the ice. I dislike this climb even in summer and now it had even less traction. I stopped and studied this section, carefully. Bits of rock stuck up from the ice, which could serve as sketchy but usable holds. I probed the snow along the edge too, looking for places I could grasp the rock underneath. After that, my only choices were up or down. A dozen moves later, whose sanity should not be examined closely, I was up above the ice. Without my level of scrambling experience, I would probably have ended in a world of pain.
Finally on the ridge, the
Ice climb
Imagine having to climb this! obvious groove passed through still more young trees. Thanks the lack of leaves, they had a view behind them, the same one I saw from the meadow. The snow was less deep here, likely due to the wind.
At the top of the ridge, the trail the trail reached a junction and turned right. Now the view through the trees showed a rounded hump in the distance, the summit of Mount Wachusett. The young trees and snow continued on. Very abruptly, the trees then became a pine forest. Like the meadow, this shows yet more evidence of past human activities. In this case, the pines are the mountain’s natural environment, and the young trees cover former pasture.
Walking through these pines became yet another winter wonder. Unlike the previous pine forest, these had a mixture of size and age. They also grew low to the ground, thanks to wind. Fluffy snow covered the dense needles, turning this forest into something from a Currier and Ives print. The sun shone strongly through the branches, creating an amazing contrast between dark shadows, green branches, and all that white snow. I wanted the magic to go on forever.
Instead, it
Ridge pines
Fantasy pine forest on the way to the summit ended at the Mountain House Trail, Mount Wachusett’s most popular summit trail. That popularity showed in the wide path through the snow made by hundreds of boots and skis. It made this trail the least scenic on the mountain so far. However, it’s popular for a reason, being the least steep trail to reach the top.
The wide trail pushed steadily upward, passing through another forest of young trees with no leaves. It then crossed a suspiciously wide and flat area covered in ski tracks. Summer reveals it as the highway to the summit; in winter it becomes a cross-country skiing mecca. Beyond it, the trail scaled a short rocky slope. In winter this is normally covered in ice but today it was snow. Beyond it the trail finally flattened out.
The flatter area led to a picnic area, and then to the mountain’s wide summit. This area was all bare rock and snow patches surrounded by low trees, thanks again to the wind. Needless to say I felt it, biting through my heavy coat.
As noted in the introduction, the summit shows more of Massachusetts than anywhere else when the weather is clear enough. The only
Summit view east
North and South Monoosnoc Hills, and Leominster. The towers of Boston are barely visible on the horizon things to mar that view are two groups of communication towers, one on either side of the summit. I personally like to find the post with a compass on it that marks the official top. I grew up in Worcester Country, so this view encompassed nearly everything I remember from childhood.
Many visitors immediately look east southeast, which shows the towers of Boston on the horizon. The view also showed a lumpy ridge close by,
North and South ,Monoosnoc with the city of Leominster behind them. South revealed a large body of water,
Wachusett Reservoir, with the towers of Worcester in a valley beyond (the same view seen from High Meadow). The view northward featured a large solitary bare peak,
Mount Monadnock, which dominates any view in its direction. Its summit has the largest view available in New England, hundreds of thousands of square miles. To its east appeared another peak surrounded by rolling hills,
Mount Watatic.
West contained a view common in winter but rare the rest of the year, rolling hills leading a long ridge in the far distance, the Berkshires. A round knob appeared on the far left,
Mount Everett in the far southwest corner of the state. A long mountain north
Summit view south
Snow covered Wachusett Reservoir in the distance of it looked vaguely like a whale,
Mount Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts. Finally, a barely visible peak appeared to its north,
Mount Stratton in southern Vermont. Nearly 100 miles away, it is the furthest point visible from the summit.
I chose a much more difficult trail to descend than the way up. The path through the snow was much narrower than Mountain House, for reasons that will soon become obvious. It first passed through scrubby trees, and then reached several drops over big rocks. Covered in snow, these were quite slippery and required careful scrambling. Those led to an actual stone staircase also covered in snow to the road seen on the way up.
Beyond the road the groove twisted through deeper snow between a mix of deciduous and pine trees. The trail headed almost directly west at this point, so the sun shone through the trees to make everything glow. The view beyond them showed rolling hills to the west far below. The slope was gentle.
As the view clearly revealed, the gentle slope was an illusion. Something steep had to be arriving soon. The trail passed a sign for viewpoint (which I skipped due to
Summit view north
Mount Monadnock from Mount Wachusett lack of time), and entered another pine forest. The adventure began immediately afterward as that groove in the snow became a very steep drop.
In summer, this section of trail resembles a rocky staircase. Since this is New England, that staircase is composed of hundreds of awkwardly arranged rocks. In winter, those rocks were covered in beautiful white snow and quite slippery. Falling here would be very painful.
I loved the pine trees with snow on the branches glowing in the sun, but that descent was another matter. I had to carefully study each drop, looking for things to hold and safe places to step. Make the move, drop about a foot, and regain balance. Then do it all again, and again, and again. Scrambling down that trail became a mental marathon, step after careful step. At least the scenery was pretty, the trail was obvious, and it had no ice.
I finally reached the bottom at another trail junction. It was surrounded by pines and rocks, all covered in white powder snow. Looking on either side, however, revealed steeper sections of the mountain covered in huge icicles. That’s how close I came to being caught in
Summit view west
Mount Greylock in the far distance ice. Yikes!
Beyond the junction the landscape became easier but hike became harder for other reasons. Thanks to short winter days, the sun was starting to get low. I needed to get out of here or risk running out of daylight. The trail still had many rock slopes to drop, but they all had flat sections between snow covered pines in between. With fluffy snow covering all those green needles, it was yet another winter fantasy.
The snowy path finally reached another junction next to a bridge over a barely visible brook. Like the previous one, the stream showed in patches through the snow. Very pretty. Afterwards, the groove passed a suspiciously wide and flat area with more ski tracks, an unplowed maintenance road. On the far side, it returned to pine forest.
By this point, the sun was close to setting. All those pretty pines now became a serious problem, as their dense needles screened what light remained. On the plus side, the slope became gentle and the snow made the trail very easy to find. I started to hike faster; I must get out while I can still see.
The path passed through pine
Steep descent
Just as pretty and challenging as it looks trees for what felt like a long time. The need to get somewhere quickly probably helped create this impression. The trees were all very pretty, of course, but I no longer had time to look at them. Finally, the trail returned to deciduous trees. The view through them showed I was now in twilight. Thankfully, soon afterward I reached the junction I needed.
Here, I turned onto the Stagecoach Trail. As the name hopefully implies, it’s another old road. The path followed an old stone wall, ramrod straight, up a gentle hill. The path in the snow made it pretty obvious, which was important with light steadily dropping.
At the top of the hill, the path flattened out and entered another pine forest. This was a big problem in twilight, because pine trees screened what little light remained. Then, an open area appeared through the trees on the right, with boot marks heading for it. I followed them to a sign warning of serious danger from falling snow for those who go further. The open area beyond held two huge windmills,
one of the oldest wind farms in Massachusetts. I saw them from the mountain summit. In the fading twilight they made a
Windfarm
Wachusett windmill in twilight pretty sight.
Back on the trail, it followed the edge of the open area. This was great, more light and visibility. The path finally ended on a plowed dirt road, the service road for the wind farm. This I could practically follow in the dark; good thing because it was almost dark. The road dropped straight down the side of the hill, following yet another old stone wall. This must have looked very petty in the snow, but I had no time or light to see it. The road ended at the junction next to the pond where I started my hike, the end of an incredible day. I loved snow again!
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Lisa Paris
non-member comment
Beautiful
Makes me miss back home. Thanks for sharing Ezra