Mt. Wachusett roads with Wilma

Where: Mt. Wachusett state reservation
When: 3/22/2024
With: Wilma

There was a recent post on one of the Views From The Top hiker forums about Mt. Wachusett, and I commented that my dog & I had walked most of the trails. That's true, but in addition to the trails, Wachusett has several unimproved (dirt) roads. I've crossed them often on the trails, and have wanted to follow them some day. Today was that day.

Wilma & I made the quick drive to the trail head and began our walk on the Administration Road. We'd walked part of it on our last visit, entering from the Jack Frost trail and exiting on Echo Lake Road, but today we'd walk the entire road. It was a wide path with a rough surface of crushed rock, and Wilma had to content herself with sniffing piles of leaves along the edges.

We passed the junction with the West Road (which we'd be returning on), then a crossing of the Harrington Trail before arriving at a paved road and a picnic area. My map showed the road we wanted leading to the left so we went that way, but quickly came to a gate and the end of the pavement. I checked my trail app and sure 'nuf... we were going the right way. Apparently the road shown on the map had been bypassed long ago. It was now a grassy path through the woods, with the remains of the former road (posts for guardrails, culverts) still in place. Very pleasant to walk, and we had it all to ourselves.

It ended back at the paved road. We crossed of the West Side Trail soon after we got on the pavement, then walked downhill on the paved road quite a ways. Eventually the North Road split off to the left. The map indicated a picnic area at the junction, but there was nothing there but a gate (apparently recently replaced).  We passed the gate, returning to a dirt road. A short distance further, at a corner in the road, the picnic area appeared. A single picnic table and a fairly new bench shared a cleared area with an expansive view to the NNW.


Mt. Monadnock was the primary point of interest in the distance, rising above the surrounding landscape. Further to the west I spotted two ski areas in a range of peaks. My PeakFinder app identified them as Mt. Snow and Stratton Mt., both in VT's Green Mountains. With such great visibility, I almost regretted not taking in the view from the summit today.

We continued descending North Road, passing the junction with the Balanced Rock Road, and arriving at West Princeton Road (a "real" road, open for auto travel, but unpaved). More road plodding, though on a dirt surface now. One car passed us, but otherwise we had it all to ourselves. I noted paint lines on the dirt and sides at one point apparently indicating a culvert scheduled for replacement. Wilma insisted on going down into the ditch, smelling something unusually compelling. I let her sniff a while before finally "encouraging" her to come out.

Shortly after the trail head for the West Side Trail, our final path - the West Road - headed up the slope and into the woods. I expected a constant climb, but there was a mix of ascents and descents. A sign along the way noted a side trail to Siplas Pool. I'd seen it on the map and was curious. Though on a road, it's in something of a remote section of the reservation. Perhaps a hidden gem of a swimming hole? It turned out to be a shallow pool behind a small rock dam on a stream. Pretty, to be sure, but not swimmable.

Back on the road, it was just a short walk further to another Harrington Trail crossing, then the return to the Administration Road. A right turn and a steady walk brought us back to the car for the ride home. Totals: 4.71 miles, nearly 1700 ft. of climbing, and 2 hours of walking. People encountered: very few. Maybe a half dozen total, and most of the time we had the roads to ourselves.





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