Ritzhikes

Where: Mt. Wachusett When: March 11, 2026 With: Solo Another "I need to get on a trail" hike. I'd missed an opportunity to go north to NH yesterday, so a short ride & hike at Wachusett was in order. I've been eyeing this hike for a week or so, and had the Westside trailhead parking already set up in my phone's navigation. I tossed my snowshoes into the car and off I went. The parking area was muddy, but plowed, and a truck was already there. I eyed the trail, trying to decide if it was worthwhile bringing the snowshoes. Then I noticed someone coming down the trail (the truck's owner). I asked him and he said there were some sections of deeper snow up above, so I kept the snowshoes lashed to my pack and started the climb. The trail was dirt and ice to start, and the Hillsound spikes I was wearing were helpful. There was a short, steep, rocky climb right away, followed by a more level section with a good amount of snow. It had the remnants of a snowshoe mono...

Where: Duck Pond Trail When: March 8, 2026 With: Solo I was determined to not let this winter end without at least one more XC ski trip. After many years with little/no snow at all, we had an oversupply this season. So much, in fact, that skiing on ungroomed trails was almost impossible. A group of us packed down some trails after one of the first significant storms, and I got out to ski on those. Then another storm came through and all of our hard work was buried. Propelled by an upcoming Trails Club walk, I walked the Duck Pond trail at Hopkinton State park in snowshoes, just to check the conditions. The trail started out as a packed footpath - a bit rough at first, then fine - before turning into a snowmobile track. Wide, smooth, well packed down. That lasted until an intersection where the trail split off from the snowmobile track. The trail after that was unbroken. Somewhat reluctantly, I set off on it, breaking the path with my snowshoes. I lost the route a couple of times, but f...

Desolation Shelter, January 1996 Desolation Shelter was a small lean-to shelter built by the Appalachian Mountain Club in 1949. Set deep in the Pemigewasset Wilderness ("The Pemi") of New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest, it stood near Stillwater Junction. Long ago, logging railroads had met up at that spot, and their abandoned rail beds now served as trails to the site.  Dick Carden Clearing Desolation Shelter Site, 1949 When I say the shelter was set deep in the Pemi, I'm not exaggerating.  The shortest route, going up and over Mt. Nancy from the east, was 8.1 miles long. Coming through Carrigain Notch, also from the east, avoided the climb over a mountain but added another half mile. Following the Pemigewasset River from the west was a 9.3 mile journey. From the south, via Cedar Brook, the route was 12.2 miles. And coming in from the north, via Zealand Notch and Shoal Pond, was a 13.5 mile hike. I cite all of this because, despite its remoteness,  I visit...