Mt. Wachusett Red Lining

Where: Mt. Wachusett, Princeton MA
When: August 12, 2026
With: Solo

Another "I need some trail time" hike, which I combined with a "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. 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. Some issue with the GPS signal. I switched 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 the summit.

I caught up with and passed two guys, and crossed paths with several other folks coming down before arriving at the summit. Despite a little haze, there was decent visibility to the horizon in all directions. After a brief visit to the summit tower to take some photos, I headed down the Mountain House Trail, then took the Loop Trail back toward the Visitor Center. When I was looking at maps the previous night I thought the Loop Trail would also be a new one for me, but it looked familiar while I was walking it, and I confirmed at home that I'd been on it before.

The Bicentennial Trail joined from the right, then the Pine Hill Trail left to the right, and I was back at the Visitor Center. No trip tracking, but it was about 3.5 miles of hiking in an hour and 45 minutes or so. I walked two new trails on Wachusett, and have walked them all now, along with nearly all of the interior roads. I just need to walk the Balance Rock Road to complete the quest.

Photos

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