Ritzhikes

Where: Mt. Pemigewasset, NH When: October 21, 2026 With: Solo After finishing the NH48 last year, I figured I'd spend this summer climbing "lesser" NH peaks, but it didn't happen. Lots of reasons, some legitimate, some lame. I did one hike with Chip at the beginning of July, and several local (Mt. Wachusett) hikes, but that was it.  I had this loop on my to-do list as my next NH hike, and kept putting off. Finally, tired of beating myself up for not going, I resolved to just go. I announced my intentions to Jane, put a pack together last night, and forced myself up and out this morning. I was out the door at 5:30AM, and at the trailhead just before 8:00. I'd been watching the outside temperature drop as I drove north, and it was 32 degrees as I pulled into the parking area. Brrrrr! I figured I'd warm up as I walked so I didn't add any layers, but I did zip up everything I was wearing. The parking lot was for the Indian Head trail, which I planned to come...

Where: Mt. Wachusett When: October 6, 2026 With: Solo Though the day was on the chilly side, I left my fleece hoodie in the car as I headed to the trail, figuring I'd warm up as I got going. I began questioning that decision when I was a fair way up the trail and still a bit cold. "Perhaps I'm on a fool's errand," I thought, given my motive for today's hike. My goal was to find a feature I'd spotted on a LIDAR image. It seemed to show a square-ish depression deep in the woods about midway between the Balance Rock Road and the North Road,   at the intersection of two stone walls (center of the image below) . Maybe a cellar hole? There was also an indication of a path in the woods just north of the Balance Rock Road that I thought I'd check out as well, beginning at the stream flowing out of the Needham Pool. I started my hike at the Bolton Pond Trail trailhead. I haven't been there since my first hike up Wachusett, which I did with Wilma in 2014. Th...

Where: Mt. Wachusett When: September 22, 2026 With: Solo Redlining is the practice of tracing trails walked, traditionally with a red pen (though I use a yellow highlighter). Given enough visits to an area, the redlined trails begin to dominate and the gaps become evident, and compelling. There's a strong urge to fill in those gaps. Some especially driven hikers have redlined every trail in the AMC's White Mountain Guide, and I've been keeping track of my progress in the Pemigewassett Wilderness in those mountains, but today I set out to complete a more attainable goal: walking every trail and woods road in the Mt. Wachusett State Reservation . My visits to Wachusett go back to 1987, when Chip & I went out for a winter adventure with XC skis , but we stayed on the lower parts of the mountain. My first visit to the summit was with Wilma in 2014 . Since then, I've climbed it a dozen more times. Sometimes solo, often with Wilma, once with Andy & Wilma, and once wit...

Where: Moose Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary (Sharon MA) When: September 8, 2026 With: Solo When I was commuting to work in Canton, driving north on Route 95, I'd notice this property on my navigation as I passed through Sharon. I promised myself that I'd visit it some day, and today was the day. I checked in at the visitor center when I arrived, presenting my Mass Audubon member card and asking for advice for a route to explore. "Point me to a trail," I said, "something with a hill." "A hill with a view?" was the reply. Of course. So a route was suggested and I was shown where to find the trail head. The property has a long history. It was Mass Audubon's first wildlife sanctuary, established in 1916 when biologist and Sharon resident George W. Field offered his property to use as a bird sanctuary. The adjacent Moose Hill Farm (managed by the Trustees of Reservations) reflects centuries of New England agricultural history, transitioning from h...

Where: Mt. Wachusett, Princeton MA When: August 12, 2026 With: Solo Another "I need some trail time" hike, which I combined with my "hike all the trails on Wachusett" (red lining) quest. I parked at the Visitor Center and headed north to the Donbrowo Trail, which ran up to the ski slope base area, where I made my way along the base area buildings and parking lot to the head of the Balance Rock Trail. At that point I found my trip tracking on OSM+ wasn't working (I'd neglected to upload map info when I got my new phone). I switched to Gaia, just to be sure I was on the right trail, then didn't use it for the rest of the hike. In fairly short order I looked up to see Balance Rock on the trail just ahead. I got up to it and turned on to the Old Indian Trail. Up until that point I'd been walking on new trails (for me), but now I was on paths I'd traveled before. My first hike, coming up on the Bolton Pond Trail , had followed the Old Indian Trail to ...

Where: Mt. Cardigan, NH When: July 1, 2026 With: Chip On-line comments about the Holt Trail: The Holt Trail to Mt Cardigan's peak is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous hikes in New Hampshire The short but challenging Holt Trail hike up Mt. Cardigan can be harrowing in good weather and down-right dangerous in poor conditions. Tackling Mount Cardigan via the Holt Trail, a 4.7-mile loop with steep rock scrambles, is one of New England's toughest hikes I've never been so scared hiking until I met Cardigan's Holt Trail With the 48 NH 4000 footers done , I've turned my attention to the lower peaks. Some new for me (bypassed in favor of the 4K summits) and some I've climbed before. Cardigan is one of the latter. I climbed it in the mid-1980s (1985?), taking advantage of a new car that allowed me to venture beyond the bounds of Boston. My recollections of the hike are very sketchy though. Even the date is a guess. A recent post on-line mentioned the pea...

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...