Hiking up Wachusett Mountain, Princeton, MA

Has anyone ever told you to “take a hike?” Well, that’s exactly what we decided to do. In Central Massachusetts, well-known Wachusett Mountain attracts hikers, bikers, nature lovers, and skiers. If you’re interested or curious about hiking Wachusett Mountain, keep reading!

Me, pointing down the beginning of the path up the mountain. I’m such a dweeb! [/caption]

Our trip had a been a year in the making. We wanted to go last year, but somebody (that would be me) had come down with a severe cold. Yes, we could have gone in the summer, but we specifically wanted to do this hike in the fall to enjoy the colors and cool temperatures that autumn brings.

You just don’t get these colors in the spring or summer. 

We arrived at the visitor center at about 1 pm. This is a smaller mountain, with a summit of 2,006 feet. So, arriving later in the day isn’t a big deal. You’ll still have plenty of time to climb the mountain, enjoy the views from the summit, and then climb down.

Helpful hints:

1. There aren’t a lot of parking spots available near the visitor center. If you can’t find one, don’t be discouraged. There are other places nearby to park. 
2. Parking is $5 for cars with MA plates, and $10 for out-of-state plates. 

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Upward!

There are various ways to summit of Wachusett Mountain, and the welcome center has free handouts with suggested routes. There’s also a ranger, who helped us choose which path to take. We settled on the Pine Hill Trail.

Two paths diverged in a yellow wood. And we, well, we took the one that went straight up. 

Ah. The Pine Hill Trail. This way up provides, shall we say, a full, lower-body workout. There are stairs.

And more stairs…

And some more stairs…

A break in the stairs when you cross the autoroad:

To the right, right out of view, there’s a bench. We rested there for a few minutes.

And then more stairs!!!

And then, finally, the summit!

The Pine Hill Trail, as you can see, can be quite a workout, which was made trickier because of the wet rocks. We stopped a few times to catch our breath and allow more enthusiastic hikers to pass us. There was even one girl running up the stairs!

Helpful hints:

1. If you have a strong lower body, you will be able to handle this path. It brings you straight up to the summit. There are no switchbacks. 
2. If you want a more relaxing, meandering sort of way to the top type of path, do not take Pine Hill. There are other ways up.

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The Summit of Wachusett Mountain

There’s a lot of activity at the top of the Wachusett Mountain. Some people decided to go up the easy way by taking the autoroad.

As you can see, some people cheat and take their cars up. 😉

On the top, there’s a fish pond.

There’s also an observation tower with spectacular views of the area. From there, you can see into Vermont and New Hampshire.

Even though our legs felt like they were going to fall off, we managed to smile for the picture.

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The Downward Journey

After enjoying the views and the clean, crisp air, we decided to go continue our journey.

We went down the Old Indian Trail.

Finally, we would be going down! This was going to be a lot easier than going up, right? Nope. The trail was rocky, but that wasn’t the hard part. It must had rained the day before, or perhaps even that morning, because the rocks were wet and slick. Descending proved to be even more difficult than going up.

Other hikers were rushing past us. It was a bit surprising. At one point, there were ten people from four different groups rushing down the mountain. I thought to myself, “These people are hiking like they drive!” And I realized I should have talked about the New England tailgater in my Road Trip to New England? What to know before you share the road with us post. Oh well!

After a crowd left, I turned around to take this photo. If the rocks hadn’t been wet, it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad. 

After a while, the rocky route turned into a much more managable dirt path. Old Indian Trail brought us through the Wachusett Ski trails, where it began to rain.