Midstate Trail map
If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.
-Yogi Berra
Christine, Phyllis and I, and I’m pretty sure Waldo agrees, have decided that our next big project will be to hike the Midstate Trail, crossing Massachusetts, north to south, from southern New Hampshire down to northern Rhode Island. Of the options we considered, this was the easiest and least complicated to fit into our respective schedules. Because the trail is a dirt path that meanders its way through forest in the middle of nowhere, we won’t be starting until the ground and weather are a bit dryer. Slogging up and down hills covered in mud, and wading across swamps that are knee deep in pond scum, is something we want to avoid. This is the time of year when the planning is done – the hiking comes later.
The Midstate Trail is a little daunting. It’s not that long, only 99.6 miles. That’s nothing compared to our other treks. But it goes up and down some pretty hefty hills, with a total gain in elevation of 10,774 feet (that’s the total amount of “up” you have to climb, not the difference in altitude of the starting point from the end point). Being in the middle of the state, there’s not a lot of civilization that provides convenient places to park at the end points of a day’s hike. So, preparation is required.
Looking at the map, I see there are some hills at the beginning of the trail in New Hampshire. I start searching and see that after going up and down four or so topographic “bumps,” the trail crosses a road, Rte 119. That’s about 8.8 miles and 1,700 ft in elevation gain. We’re used to walking around 12 miles at a time, but the most elevation gain we’ve done is 800-900 feet on a single hike, so shortening the distance is a good idea. I’m sure we’re going to be going slow with frequent stops to catch our breath. That means that we’ll, no doubt, be averaging less than 2 miles an hour, so the whole thing will take us 5 to 6 hrs. That doesn’t include the more than 1 hour drive to get to the starting point and then home when we’re done. So, an entire day will be consumed.
That’s not such a big deal for Waldo and I, but Phyllis has a busy schedule that can be hard to work around and Christine has a stable full of animals she has to care for. Waldo and I can get up before dawn on the hot days, but it’s really hard for Christine to get her chores done and be ready to start walking before dawn. I figure we can walk later on in the day until, maybe, around late May and then it’ll be too hot for Waldo to walk much beyond noon. Even then, there have been days in late May, in the past, where the high temperature broached 100℉. Phyllis likes to get up and walk in the morning, but she only has windows of opportunity for her other activities in that same block of time. That means she’ll have to block out an entire day for our walks. So, you can see, planning is not as simple as, “Hey, Phyllis, Christine, let’s go for a hike!”
The entire 100 miles of the trail, taking 9-mile bites at a time, should take us around 11 trips. Phyllis is tied up doing other stuff until the second week in May, so if we can manage two trips a week, we can be done by mid to late June. That’s possible, but unlikely in this era of global warming. Phyllis is willing to block out two days a week for our project, with the understanding that if something else comes up that’s more important, we’ll cancel on a day-by-day basis. If things get too hot for Waldo (I won’t walk him more than a mile or so if the temp is above 76℉), we ‘ll have to pause and finish in the fall when things get cooler again.
I suppose Waldo and I could get around some of these complications by walking part of it on our own, but, for reasons of logistics, that would require round trip walks that are only around 4 miles or so. It would take us forever to complete the trek. Besides, one of the best parts of these trips is the company. My God, what has modern man wrought that makes such a simple task as going for a walk such a complicated endeavor?
In the meantime, between walks with Phyllis and Christine, Waldo and I can finish exploring where the Mass Central Rail Trail will run when it’s done. That’ll take us awhile too.
When I decided to get Waldo so I’d have a companion to walk with, I never imagined that we’d be wandering all over New England to do it. But here we are.
And we’re the better for it.
Apparently, there are places to park…