Fall 2004 / Winter 2005 Voice of the Wapack Published by the “Friends of the Wapack” Issue #74 On the Trail It would evidently be a noble niversary, I had to look it up too!) of walk from Watatic to Goffstown per- the publication of Henry David Tho- chance, over the Peterboro moun- reau’s masterpiece, Walden. The tains, along the very backbone of this Thoreau Society has planned several Inside this issue: part of New Hampshire - the most events around the world to celebrate novel and interesting walk that I can this milestone. One of these “Walden think of in these parts.” Henry David 2004” events is the address to be de- Trail Workdays Report 2 Thoreau, 1860. livered at our Annual Meeting. Trail Workdays Report 3 Hello Friends! It has been Since I am both a Thoreau (cont.) some time since our last newsletter, enthusiast and friend of the Wapack, Kidder Mt. (cont.) 4 so I would like to use this install- I have long seen a connection be- ment of my On the Trail article to tween Thoreau and the Monadnock On the Trail (cont.) 5 provide the following updates and Region, including the Wapack comments Range. From comments in his jour- On the Lighter Side 6 Annual Meeting, October 16 nal, to reflections in books, poems and lyceum addresses, Thoreau ex- This year pressed his interest and admiration Calendar of events 7 marks the for our region. Sesquicen- Friends General Store 7 tennial Our featured speaker at this th (150 An- (Continued on page 5) New Members 8 Courtesy on the trail Kidder Mountain, over the years • Foot travel welcome. I met my husband Bruce of our first ‘dates’ was a hike up Kid- • Leave NO trace. Buck when he returned home from der Mt. For me, a ‘city girl’, it WAS a • Be quiet near houses. the Navy in 1954 and I had just ‘hike’, but I know for most of you • Stay on blazed trails. graduated from Fitchburg High ‘real hikers’, it is just a ‘walk in the School. Bruce is Marion Davis’s park’. Once up on the top of Kidder, I • Respect trailside property. nephew (the Marion Davis Trail’s fell in love with the view (you can see • Park cars so others can pass. Marion) and as they have always the Boston skyline on a good day), been an ‘outdoors’ kind of family, one (Continued on page 4) Trail Workdays 2003 Workdays nadnock. The day was pretty much ideal for the ( Our 2004 Workdays will be reviewed in the next drainage work as it was raining, a rain that in- issue of the Voice.) creased as the day wore on, but at least it wasn't snowing. A total of seven hearty souls partici- 2003 was another successful year for the pated including Rick and Ed Blanchette, Ollie Friends and our workdays. Three workdays were and Jane Mutch, Tom Brumaghim, Tom Jenks, held in addition to New Hampshire Trails Day. and myself. The workdays continue to be important to the maintenance of the Trail and in bringing new We started at the summit and worked members into the Friends. Thanks go out to all down as most of the problem areas were located who participated. near the summit. Since we were at this point pro- tected from the southeast wind by the mountain, Workday Number 1 the weather was not that bad. We were able to The first workday was on April 26th and clean out and repair a fair number of water bars involved general maintenance and drainage work and ditches. By noon we had reached a particu- on the section of the trail between the parking lot larly wet section in a hollow around half way at Miller State Park and the summit of Pack Mo- (Continued on page 3) Friends of the Wapack The Voice of the Wapack is published twice a year Board Members by the Friends of the Wapack. The Friends are nonprofit Officers: volunteers dedicated to the maintenance and preserva- Jeff MacGillivray, President (603) 878-4251 tion of the Wapack Trail System. Financial support’s pro- Mitch Call, Vice President (603) 924-7544 vided by member donations which are tax deductible to Wendy Christensen, Secretary (603) 878-1000 the extent allowed by law. Affiliated Club Member of the Bruce Myrick, Treasurer (603) 352-8616 American Hiking Society and the New England Trail Standing Committee Chairs: Conference. The Wapack Trail is a 21-mile skyline foot- Lee Baker, Trips (603) 525-5262 path from Mt. Watatic in Ashburnham, MA to North Rick Blanchette, Trails (603) 878-1464 Pack in Greenfield, NH. Completed in 1923, it is the old- Mitch Call, Ways & Means (603) 924-7544 est interstate hiking trail in the Northeast. Renee Blanchette, Newsletter (603) 878-1464 Copyright © 2004 Friends of the Jeff MacGillivray, Management / Wapack, Inc. Right-of-Way (603) 878-4251 Directors: Joanne Buck (603) 532-7386 Friends of the Wapack Dave Buren (603) 924-3967 P.O. Box 115 Liz Freeman (603) 878-2782 West Peterborough, NH 03468 Dwight Horan (603) 878-3779 Ollie Mutch (978) 386-5318 Mike Przybyla (603) 878-3350 Website: http://www.wapack.org Newsletter Distribution, Membership Coordinator, & Map/Guide Sales: Wendy Christensen (603) 878-1000 Trail Master: Mike Przybyla (603) 878-3350 Web Master: Rick Blanchette (603) 878-1464 Page 2 Voice of the Wapack Trail Workdays (Continued from page 2) stubs of cut branches in some of the spruces. At the end of the day, we all headed over down the mountain. We were able to install to Crotched Mountain to join other NHTD partici- enough stepping stones to make the going for hik- pants for a slide show and supper generously ers a lot drier. At this point the rain and wind be- proved by Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Cen- gan to pick up and everyone was quite wet, ter. muddy, and hungry. We had accomplished a fair amount and decided to call it a Workday Number 2 day. The second workday was New Hampshire Trails Day held on September 27th and in- volved the clearing of the thick un- New Hampshire Trails dergrowth that has grown up Day (NHTD) was held on July along the trail from Temple Moun- 19th. This was one of the best tain south to Holt Peak. Portions NHTD's I've been on. The weather of the section were logged a few was just about perfect for mid- years back and that, in addition to July, not too hot and most impor- the ice storm we had, has opened tantly, not humid. We had a good up the tree canopy enough to allow turnout with a number of new various noxious weeds to grow up. faces. These included Ed and Rick While we normally don't use power Blanchette, Lauren Morse and her tools, we succumbed to modern father Jonathan, Gregory convenience and used a brush saw Gauthier, Brendan McClure, Tom to cut most of the weeds and there Brumaghim, and Tim Stockman. were a lot of them. Interestingly, This year’s project was the while this is one of the least trav- cutting of a new trail on the Na- eled sections of the trail, we saw ture Conservancy's Joanne Bass two groups go through. Thanks to Bross Preserve adjacent to Miller Glenn Lloyd and Tom Brumaghim. State Park. The new trail, named Tom and Mike yuck it up while build- Workday Number 3 the Spruce Knoll Trail, runs from ing the Spruce Knoll Trail on New the summit of Pack Monadnock Hampshire Trails Day, 2003. The final workday of 2003 eastward to a knoll located on a was held on October 25th. We in- shoulder of the mountain. This trail was laid out stalled two water bars and did some view clearing by Rick Blanchette and myself with input from along the Sharon Ledges. Curiously, last year’s the Nature Conservancy. The trail is a short (1/4 final workday was postponed due to snow and for mile) out and back trail with a loop around the this year's we had three inches of snow on the knoll at the end of the trail. For a relatively short ground. The water bars were installed on an erod- trail, it traverses some interesting terrain habi- ing section of trail just above the Berry Pasture tats. It crosses a number of small ledge outcrops trail. Two bars were constructed and we were in a predominantly Oak forest typical of a south- lucky in that we were able to find enough rocks to southeast facing slope. At the point the loop use. The only problem was that the stones would starts there is an old boundary marker at the turn into snowballs as we rolled them downhill to Peterborough-Temple townline with a "T" and "P" the work site. Both water bars turned out good, chiseled into it. At this point the trail makes a with the upper one being one of our better ones small loop around a small knoll covered with from a technical standpoint. Thanks to Ed and Spruce and numerous rock outcroppings. There Rick Blanchette and Tom Brumaghim. are indications that there was at one time an- - Mike Przybyla, Trail Master other trail at this location as evident from the Issue #74 Page 3 Kidder Mountain, over the years (Continued from page 1) ‘Kidder’ was a sure bet. Our children climbed the blueberries, the Ce- with us over the years dar Waxwings that and picked blueberries, usually show up when as have our six grand- we are there (plus a few children in the more uninvited ants).