Wapack Trail End-To-End with Wuzzam & Hillbillidge.
At some point late this summer, Wuzzam told me he was determined to attempt a marathon type event no matter what this year. He also mentioned that he missed entering the official "Wapack End to End" event held in May... he had finished it a few times years past.
It seemed like a perfect match to me, combine my friends two "wishes" into the one event... an "outsider, do it yourself" attempt at the Wapack End to End. Making things even better, in a conversation with the Hillbillidge, he too was "in".
We looked over the distances, the road-crossings (two main roads), aid station positions, and the driving logistics. Settled on September 20th, as long as the humidity stayed low and rain was a non-factor.
Historically, according to Wikipedia... "...The trail was born in a conversation in the summer of 1922 at the Shattuck Inn in Jaffrey, New Hampshire between Allen Chamberlain, who later became president of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and Jaffrey farmer Albert Annett while overlooking the Wapack Range, then known as the Boundary Mountains. The two talked about the possibility of a skyline trail along the ridge of the Boundary Mountains from Mt. Watatic to North Pack Monadnock.
Later, Albert brought the idea to fellow farmers Frank Robbins and Marion Buck of Rindge, New Hampshire. The three started cutting the trail near the end of the summer using hand tools. The trail was opened in 1923. Buck named it by joining the Wa from Mt. Watatic and Pack from North Pack Monadnock, and soon the Boundary Mountains became known as the Wapack Range."
I too had completed the End to End, twice actually. Not at the officially held events that have happened regularly in the last decade, but in 1996 and 1997, with a time in '96 of 4:54:59, and no recorded time from the '97 run (it would have been pretty close to '96). I ran both those with
CP, and they were minimally organized by the Young Gulliver.
So, here we were in 2019 on a really perfect day, with morning temperatures around 40-degrees when I left Connecticut at 4:45 a.m. As I drove north, it didn't warm up any.
The run, which is at times difficult to consider a "run" due to the technical portions of some down-hill, is a real gem. Along the way there are numerous ups and downs, but the main climbs are as follows:
- North Pack, 2276'
- Middle Pack, 1968'
- Pack Monadnock, 2290'
- Holt Peak, 2045'
- Temple Mountain, 2045'
- Burton Peak, 1985'
- Barrett Mountain, 1841'
- New Ipswich, 1860'
- Stony Top, 1744'
- Pratt Mountain, 1811'
- Nutting Hill, 1621'
- Mount Watatic, 1831'
Ready to go at the Mountain Road northern trail-head, we were running by 8:00 a.m., with the moon still visible high up in the sky.
"Northern Trail-Head" Mountain Road, Greenfield, NH
8:00 a.m., 43-degrees, Moon in the west, northwest
The first section from Mountain Road to Miller State Park at Route 101 is incredibly beautiful. We had three climbs, and for the first four-miles or so it was good going. Then, we had to descend Pack Monadnock, which is the most technical section of the entire route, and massively slow.
We zig-zagged so much on the descent that the 5-mile section turned into 5.5-miles, and two-hours of time on our feet.
Looking back (north) from the climb up North Pack
Climbing within the first mile or so
Mount Monadnock in the distance to the west
Hillbillidge and Wuzzam less than an hour into it
From the summit of Pack Monadnock, looking north
A group was charting Hawk sightings from just below the peak
The old fire-tower on Pack Monadnock
View of Monadnock from Pack
Still looking great at the 80-minute mark
Coming down off Pack Monadnock
Coming down off Pack Monadnock
After crossing 101, it would be roughly a 7-mile section to Windblown and the Route 123/124 crossing. We would be climbing Temple, Holt and Burton during this section, as well as doing some decent running as much of the trail in this section is runnable!
There were an incredible amount of stonewalls throughout the segment, which kept me occupied and fascinated. Other than the long dirt/gravel climb at the start up Temple, it really wasn't all that difficult a section. We managed to run the 7 or so miles in 2:12, give or take. We had a good re-fresh at our last aid station drop at this point, sitting on an old stonewall and feasting on paydays, pretzels, pringles, and fluids. We had over 12-miles completed, with roughly 9-miles to go. By the time we began running again, we were already on our feet for 4:20.
View west off Burton Peak
Marker and an example of the stonewalls along the ridge
View south of Burton, of Conant, Wildcat and Kidder, which we did not visit
A "Sign" unique to our adventure
Excellent "bridge-work"
Excellent "bridge-work"
The last section is from Windblown Cross-Country Ski Area to the Mount Watatic Parking spot. This the route of the official Wapack Trail Race, which has been run continuously since 1992. I ran it the first 15 years, but I haven't been back since 2007. Wuzzam and Hillbillidge have run it often, even lately.
We would be tackling 9-miles, and it would be a challenge. The initial section has changed since I have been on it, heading west in a pretty good detour from what it used to be. This new addition loses a lot of elevation too, which means we climb it back up.
I could remember much of this, which brought back some really good memories. It is a really wonderful section, especially everything to Binney Pond. We developed some trouble at the top of Pratt though... two trails leading downhill just prior to the actual descent. Hillbillidge couldn't recall which route to take (he had just completed the official Wapack Race a few weeks prior, but we were getting tired). He went on the left option, I went right, thinking we would come out roughly in the same spot at the bottom. I traveled 6/10-mile, began to turn back north, and turned around to re-climb up Pratt. At some point, my friend decided his route was "wrong", and bushwhacked over to join the trail I was on... but he never found a trail and bushwhacked all the way to Route 119, finishing about 20-minutes before Wuzzam and I made it.
The section from the south end of Binney Pond to near Nutting Hill is an abundance or dirt/gravel road and some open field. I did not remember this being as prevalent from my old times here.
By the time I covered the extra 1.2-miles, Wuzzam was well on his way. It took me until Nutting Hill to catch him, almost an hour. We took a nice break on a rock, getting some plain water into Wuzzam.
We managed our way to the finish, the trail from Watatic down is very different from what I remembered. I thought it was pretty clear from the old-days, but in 2019 it looks like there isn't one actual route up the steep stuff, just a basic adventure to do as you please.
It took 3:40 or so to complete this section. The final tally was 8:04 total time, 7:04 moving time. I recorded 24-miles on my gps, which included the "lost" portion.
Bent Tree Limb Seat on on Barrett
View along the Wapack Trail
Hillbillidge along the Wapack Trail
View of Monadnock along the Wapack Trail
View off Watatic
Along the Wapack Trail
Stone-Steps coming down off Watatic
Wuzzam navigating the steps, almost finished!
We finished, and found the Hilly-Billidge
After completed this, I believe I am counting this as a finished "Marathon". I realize that it is not exactly "Marathon" distance, but the effort is there, and sometimes that is enough. So, not only was this my 56th completed marathon, but I have re-evaluated the two additional finishes I had of this beast from the 1990's for inclusion.
