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...

Where: Crow Hill, Leominster State Forest MA When: December 24, 2025 With: Solo Crow Hill, just east of Mt. Wachusett, has been on my radar for some time. It has cliffs used by rock climbers and military groups for training, and I've looked at the trails nearby for mountain biking. A recent post by an AMC group of their hike there brought it to mind again, so when I felt the need for some trail time, I had my destination set. There was some familiarity as I approached and pulled into the Rocky Pond parking lot. I'd been here before, snowshoeing with a neighbor many years ago. There was only 2-3" of snow on the ground today, so snowshoes weren't needed this time, but I pulled on microspikes before setting off. My plan was for a loop route suggested online, climbing up and over the Crow Hill ledges before returning on forest trails back to the parking lot. I was the first traveler on the Sawyer Run Trail, putting fresh footprints in the snow. I could've bare-booted i...

Where: Mt. Wachusett When: December 4, 2025 With: Solo I was in need of some trail time, but a long ride/full day trip to the White Mountains wasn't in the cards. A quick run over to Mt. Wachusett was in order. A storm earlier in the week had dropped about a half a foot of snow, and I wasn't quite sure what to bring for traction so I brought both spikes and snowshoes. There were about half a dozen cars at the Echo Lake Trail trail head when I arrived, mostly parked along the road. I checked out the snow depth and figured I'd be okay with microspikes, but carried the snowshoes anyway, just in case. After a quick chat with other hikers who'd just arrived, I set out for the short (half mile) walk down the road to the Harrington Trail. The trail showed signs of travel, but only boots...no snowshoes. I slipped the spikes on and began the hike. The snow wasn't especially packed down - it seemed like only a few folks had walked the trail since the storm - but the snow was ...

Where: Mt. Monadnock, NH When: 1 December 2021 With: Solo I was thinking of a hike for this day, and it came down to two destinations - the Osceolas, off the Kanc in the White Mountains, or Mt. Monadnock. The Osceolas would give me two more 4K peaks for my list (#s 27 & 28), but would require an early rise, a 2.5 hour drive and a 3.8 mile hike. Plus, I'd have to summit East Osceola twice (on the way to Osceola and on the return). Monadnock was a shorter drive (1.5 hours), and a shorter hike (2.2 miles) on a trail I've had on my wish list for some time, the Dublin Trail. As I thought about Monadnock, I realized I was actually looking forward to it. Unusual for me.  So I woke at my usual time, took Wilma for a walk, made coffee for Jane, packed a lunch and a backpack, left Jane a note, and I was off. I pulled out of the garage at 7:25. I landed at the trailhead a few minutes after 9. It was probably the last time before spring that my old Accord could get there. The access ro...

Where: Mt. Isolation, NH When: 18 November, 2021 With: Steve & Sam Here's how it started: While I continue to work on summiting the 48 NH 4000' peaks, Steve is working on The Grid , and in a post about another hike he'd done for his November summits, he mentioned Mt. Isolation. It's true to its name. Remote and genuinely isolated, it requires a long, tough hike to get to it. It's just barely over 4000 feet (4004'), and despite spectacular views from the top, it probably wouldn't get much traffic if not for the 4K list. I figured I'd get it eventually, but there were plenty of other peaks to get to first. Still, here was an opportunity to check it off. Though I had a few chances to back out (or not agree to go in the first place), I kept saying I was still in for the hike. The final call from Steve came the day before the hike. Showers were predicted all day, and I hadn't been sleeping well the past few days, and there was that twinge in my back, ...

Where: F. Gilbert Hills State Forest, Foxborough MA When: 19 December 2020 With: Chip & Dave A pandemic relief XC ski trip. A week earlier we'd been enjoying warm temps and dry ground, but now there was good snow on the ground, and Dave suggested trails near his house in the F. Gilbert Hills state forest. I'd been interested in visiting it for some time anyway. We met at the parking area, reviewed our varius aches & pains, then set off. Other folks were on the trails but it wasn't especially crowded. We donned our masks when we met others, but often went without the masks. Dave led the way, since he walked the trails often, and he led us off into a quieter portion of the property, near a pond. At one point we debated taking a side trail but it seemed too steep for our skills and we passed on it. Another downhill later on was unavoidable, but we all managed to negotiate it one way or the other. Eventually we all ran out of energy and turned our skis back toward the p...

Where: MA-VT-NY Tri-state marker via Taconic Crest Trail When: 19 November 2020 With: Solo Massachusetts has four tri-state junctions, spots where the border of the state meets the borders of two other states. One is at the bottom of the Connecticut River (MA-VT-NH). The rest are marked by large stone monuments. I've already visited two others - MA-RI-CT and MA-CT-NY - so today was my opportunity to get the last one (MA-VT-NY). I woke up at 6:00AM and was out the door by 6:30. My previous two marker visits were somewhat eventful. One featured a 22 mile mountain bike ride and ended with a call to my wife for a ride home. The other included an encounter with a rare timber rattlesnake in the middle of the trail. This one had no such adventure. A 2.5 hour drive to the trailhead, then a fairly straightforward trail walk to the marker, and lots of solitude. I was the only car in the parking area at Petersburg Pass today. I signed in at the trail register (the wrong one, it turns out......

Where: Wachusett Mt. When: Jan 13, 2020 With: Wilma No pictures from this hike, which is odd for me. Whatever. My recollection is that I'd planned to park at the visitor center at the base of the auto road and take the Pine Hill trail to the summit. I didn't feel like paying the parking fee though, so I used the restroom and drove back down Mountain Road to the Mountain House trail head. On the trail, we quickly turned on to the Bicentennial Trail heading north and followed it to the Loop Trail. We walked that until it rejoined the Mountain House Trail, visited the summit, and took Mountain House back to the car. There were few other folks out that day, and we only saw other hikers at the summit. There wasn't enough snow/ice to allow any traction, and a dusting of snow on wet rocks (with some ice) made for tricky footing, but careful stepping got me to the top. No views, but the frosted trees at the summit were pretty.  

Where: North & South Kinsman When: 26 November 2019 With: Solo This was the finale of my Loose Ends hiking trips, getting peaks I should have summited on previous hikes. Most folks get both peaks in one trip (they're close to each other), but I managed to get only one of each. I tied up two loose ends (South Hancock and North Twin) previously this year, and today it was time to summit South Kinsman. I'd been planning this hike for a while, but hadn't been able to pull it together. It was actually almost a last-minute call. I got some chores out of the way the day before, then noted that the weather was looking good and my calendar was clear, so I pulled a pack together and set the alarm for 5AM. I pulled into the parking lot at 8AM after an uneventful ride north, finding four cars already there. The lot didn't look familiar...I figured it had been updated since my last visit in 1995 . I pulled my gear together and started up the trail. I kept a lookout for...

Where: Wachusett Mt. When: March 3, 2019 With: Wilma I've got the photos , and sort of remember the hike. There was snow on the ground, but not a lot. We parked at the Mountain House trail head, and got the last spot. Took Mountain House to the summit, then the Jack Frost, High Meadow, and Bicentennial Trails back.

Where: Hopkinton Town Forest When: 9 March, 2014 With: Chip & Dave Some good snow, so I invited Chip & Dave to join me for some XC skiing on the trails outside my neighborhood. We headed in by The Cave, then followed the trail running parallel to 495. We made a stop at a couple of old, abandoned cars, then continued up into the Cameron Woods property. A fairly steep downhill was a bit more than we thought we could handle on a trail, so we cut across the slope into the woods before making our way back to a trail. From there, we went up behind Sylvan Way, then into Phipps' land. A side trail took us through a hemlock grove and back to the main trail, where we began heading back toward home. Chip & Dave groaned when they saw another hill looming ahead, but were relieved when I turned onto another side trail just before the ascent. That trail took us back to the start. More pictures

Where: Mt. Greylock When: 03/24/04 With: Solo For my traditional birthday vacation day I considered either a fishing trip to the Westfield River or a hike up Mt. Greylock. I wound up tossing the gear for both activities in the car and headed west toward Greylock. I'd seen an indication on some maps of a shelter in a ravine on the eastern slopes but none of my information sources (maps, trails guides, etc.) seemed to agree on its existence. On some maps it appeared at the terminus of a dead-end trail from the summit. Other maps didn't even show the trail and trail guides made no mention of it at all. I figured I could get in a nice hike and make a side trip to check it out to see if it might have potential for a future trip. I also had tentative plans for a camping trip in the southern Berkshires (Mt. Alander) the following week and wanted to check out the ground (i.e., snow) conditions. So, west I drove, following the Pike out to Lee and then travelling north on Route 7 up...