Mass Midstate Trail

[Montana Mac]

Does any one have info on a good 3 day/2 night on the Mass Midstate Trail without major road walk. I googled it but the web doesn't discuss much on camping along the trail..


Thanks in advance for replies

[Cosmo]

Are you talking about the New England National Scenic Trail (formerly known as the MM Trail), or the actual Mid State Trail? Neither have very many opportunities for overnight stays since they travel mostly on a combination of municipal and private lands. Not really set up for a continuous thru hike. NENST has one or two overnight sites (one with shelter).

Nice unofficial info on the MM/NEST here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacomet-Monadnock_Trail

Cosmo

[Snowleopard]

I think there's almost no camping on the midstate trail. There might be camping at the southern terminus or nearby. The Windblown ski area rents shelters and a cabin on the Wapack Trail which hooks up to the Midstate Trail at Mt. Watatic. The Worcester Chapter of the AMC does the Midstate trail as dayhikes each summer. I don't think there's much legal camping on the NENST trail either.

There is the Monadnock-Sunapee trail which has several nice shelters, so camping is legal in places on it and there is a campground at Mt. Monadnock. http://www.msgtc.org/

[burger]

Cosmo, you can camp almost anyplace on the Mass. section of the NEST (the M-M trail). I've done the whole thing, and there are loads of great campsites. Also, there are at least 4 camping shelters spaced about 20 miles apart in the MA section. A few spots in New Hampshire are closed to camping (the tops of Gap Mountain and Monadnock), and there are stretches of private property where camping is discouraged.

Overall, I'd say that the NEST in MA has better opportunities for stealth camping (away from shelters) than the AT through MA.

[burger]

To sort of answer the OP's question, I'd suggest a section on the northern part of the NEST (the M-M trail) instead. Start at Rte. 2 in Farley, MA and hike north to Monadnock or however far you make it in 3 days. This is an extremely scenic section: Farley Ledges, Crag Mountain, Mount Grace, Royalston Falls, Little Monadnock, Gap Mountain, and the big Monadnock.

The M-M Trail Guide is excellent: http://www.amazon.com/Metacomet-Mona...5&sr=8-1-spell

[Tuts]

There are a couple of shelters on the Midstate trail. I cannot remember where they are but a friend of mine has a guidebook with all the details inside it. Have you checked the midstate trail website? It has a lot of this information.
Tuts

[Tuts]

After doing a little research, I found something that will help you if you want to do some of the Midstate Trail. http://www.ugcs.org/~benedett/hikes/mmt/pdf/index.html click the link and you'll see a trail guide with shelter locations, distances, water sources, and a campground which appears to be open in the off season. I hope this helps.

[psyculman]

I have hiked the Mass Midstate Trail.

For the north half, down to Rt.9 it is considerably free of paved/inhabited road walking, but, it gets to be more and more of a street hike as you go south from Spencer MA. especially south of Rt. 20. The route shown in the official trail book/guide is also moved frequently onto streets by new residents from Spencer south in several places, and, the new resident developments have erased all the trail markers. It won't be easy to follow down there, and that's the way they want it. It is advisable to get the official trail guide. And a GPS is a good idea. The guide book needs to be updated. The book website has some updates, but not all, and not enough down there.

That being said, there are several shelters along the way, which are for overnight camping. Muddy Pond is the best, Long Pond and Moose Hill are also pleasantly isolated. There is no water source at Moose Hill in the summer, only a very very brackish pond. (and deafening bull frogs 24 hr.) Buck Hill is also a long way from water. Keep in mind that the shelters are not spaced so as to stop every night, some are very far apart. Stealthing would be necessary. The trail is very easy though, only the section which goes over Mt. Wachusett is a little steep, the rest is quite pleasant, and there is a lot to see out there any time of year. I hope that sections are not completely blocked by commercial greed in the future.

[Montana Mac]

Thanks for the info everybody.

Tuts - when did you start your AT 09 thru - I left Springer on 03/04/09 on my attempt

[Tuts]

Mac- I left 2/17/09, so by the time you left, I was already well on my way.

[Snowleopard]

Don't stealth camp on private land. We have to keep the private land owners happy or they'll close the trail and we'll have more road walking.

You probably shouldn't stealth on public land either, but it'll cause less problems.
I.e., don't stealth at all on private land, on public land do it stealthily.

[psyculman]

Good point, and I don't. Ever