In my opinion, Mt.Watatic is one of the most unique monadnocks in New England. Standing alone at 1,831 feet, this peak used to be covered in farmland for cows to graze in. Some remnants can still be seen today, with multiple stonewalls lining the trails all the way up to the summit area.
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| The plaque atop the mountain featuring an inspirational story. |
The Wapack Trail begins at the trailhead and ends after passing over the Pack Monadnocks. The trail is pretty easy in the beginning as it passes over bog bridges to the first junction. We did Mt.Watatic in a loop going counter-clockwise. The trail is easy, anyone can do it. After going uphill for a while we came across a small ledge area with small views over to Mt.Wachusett and what appears to be a memorial stone.
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| Looking over to Mt.Wachusett from the first ledge. |
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| The memorial for Gary Evans. Coincidence? |
After going up a bit more, we came to the open summit. The true summit is scattered with pine trees, but mostly grassy and bald due to when the land was used for cows. This specific kind of grassy and ledgey summit is unique to the Monadnock area and Southern Taconics. There were two fire towers on the mountain, both of which have been taken down.
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| The summit cairn with an old footing. |
We took a short trail to a massive lower ledge which offered the best views over the countryside. We saw the Pack Monadnocks to the north, Mt.Wachusett to the south and Mt.Grace to the west. The ledge has many carvings in it, dating back to 1811. The one mountain we couldn't see was Mt.Monadnock.
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| Looking west with Little Watatic just beyond the ledge. |
After spending time on the summit, we continued on the Wapack Trail to Nutting Hill. The only views that can be had from here include looking back at Mt.Watatic. The top of Nutting Hill still had some ledges, they were just grown in.
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| The bald, yet viewless, summit of Nutting Hill. |
Another feature of Mt.Watatic is that the Midstate Trail ends on the mountain. The Midstate Trail starts at Douglas State Forest and ends at the New Hampshire border in the reservation.
GALLERY
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| The bog bridges running over the brook. |
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| A shot of the first ledge. |
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| Approaching the meadow-like summit. |
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| Looking east from the high point. |
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| The rest of the Wapack Range to the right. |
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| Mt.Wachusett from the summit ledge. |
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| Looking towards the sun. |
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| Looking up the trail on the way back. |
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| One of the old fire tower sites below the summit. |
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| Mt.Watatic from Nutting Hill. |
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| More ledges on Nutting Hill. |
This is a fun peak to do if you live a few minutes away, and it's still a great mountain to do if you live an hour away. It's no wonder this peak is so popular. The one problem is the crowds, which is why I came on a Monday. I've done it once before, and I'll be doing it again. If you don't feel like climbing Mt.Monadnock and you happen to be in the area, I highly recommend coming here. Little effort for grand views in Massachusetts.
A very thorough and informative report, as always!
ReplyDeleteRegarding your statement at the end of your posting, i.e. “The one problem is the crowds, which is why I came on a Monday.” I can definitely relate to this. It seems that hiking has become more popular over the past few years, and as a result many of the trails are very crowded, especially during weekends and holidays. Like you, whenever possible, I like to hike mid-week.
John
Thanks for following my blogs John! I do these short hikes because I need to get there and hike it all after school. These kinds of places can sometimes have more crowds then some 4,000 footers. They're still always worth enjoying.
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