My sister (18) and I (32) were planning a 7-10 day hike. She's a total beginner. I've done some hiking and one 2-night, 32-mile backpacking trip, but have other experience as a wilderness counselor (leading 2-3 week canoe trips=food repacking & prep, primitive camping, handling weather & other challenges; Peace Corps=lugging around a heavy backpack, figuring out Plan B, C, D, etc.). It was harder than we expected to find reasonable long hikes in the NE area. All long hikes seemed to have numerous "no camping allowed" areas, which makes it pretty difficult to do an extended or through-hike! We stumbled across the MST (figuratively--on the Internet) and it seemed like a good fit because it went through/near numerous towns (helpful if you need to bail early or have a medical emergency), was described as a pretty easy trail, and could be accomplished end-to-end in 6 or 7 days, we figured, and we made commitments on the following days that would bind us to this end date.
Our plan was to start at the southern terminus (near Douglas) on Saturday morning. The goal was to hike around 15 miles/day until the northern terminus, ending on Thursday night. This appeared to be about 10-15 miles from Fitchburg, so we planned to road-walk there (or hitch a ride, or find other hikers headed that way--it wasn't a very specific plan) to catch a commuter rail (every 90-120 minutes during weekday daytime hours) to Boston, where family would meet us.
Here's what actually happened:
Day 1 (11ish miles): We started at 11AM as planned. From the Southwest Main Street drop-off in Douglas, described on "A Thru-hiker's Guide to the Massachusetts Midstate Trail" (a very useful 4-page addendum found elsewhere on this site, I believe--thanks, "Nameless Mike" Benedetti!) we headed down a path to the trail. You run it to it and then have to backtrack if you want to start at the actual southern terminus, then retrace your steps and follow it north. We did this. So we thought. We kept walking and not hitting the southern terminus. Finally, we ran across other hikers who explained that we were already about 2.5 miles north of the terminus. We decided it wasn't worth it to backtrack this extra distance to touch Rhode Island and continued north. We walked about 11 miles and finally camped in the backyard area of a church - First Baptist - in Sutton. A gentleman who owned the property next door said that folks had done this before and it shouldn't be a problem. We found literally no place to camp for at least four miles prior to that due to either thick underbrush or heavy residential areas. We made sure we were up and out early on Sunday (by 8:10 AM) prior to the church's service at 9:30 AM.
Our mileage went down the next couple of days and we realized by day 2-3 that a through-hike was no longer a priority for us. Our packs were about 40 pounds each and this weighed us down significantly. (I'll include a gear list later down, but suffice it to say we carried some supplies we didn't need. Overall were still pretty frugal packers, but water and food are heavy, and if you don't buy super-expensive, ultra-light gear you'll have a few extra ounces here and there that add up.) We were totally exhausted after 11 miles and didn't want to rush through the trail in intense pain, so we decided to just enjoy the journey and go wherever we could. Fifteen miles/day may not be unrealistic for many people on many trails, but it was for us.
Day 2 (9.5ish): the church where we stayed was apparently just past a turn (Junction of Central Pike and Douglas Road?) because we realized after a mile or two on Day 2 that we were significantly off the trail. An iPhone map feature was very helpful in determining this, because we could compare our current location to the map and determine how to reroute. Rather than backtracking, we found another road that would get us back on the trail. Essentially, we stayed on that road (the pike? Sutton Trail Ave? it's hard to tell on the map), then went noth west on Sacarrappa Road until we hit Brown. This worked great, except that part of Sacarrappa Road is actually closed off. The bridge is "out"--but it could hold cement barriers so we figured it could hold us. It did, and we found a nice water source under this bridge. Unfortunately this road has also been the victim of a lot of dumping. :( We camped the second night just after the turnoff from Putnam Road, prior to the big hill. It was a nice wilderness-y area. We got pummeled with rain but our Wilderness Technology North Duo tent ($80 from 2nd Adventure, free shipping, pretty lightweight!) held up just fine. We hung our food in a bag in a tree but we could hear a dog in the distance and suspected there were houses nearby, so it may not have been necessary.
Day 3 (7ish): There is no "sturdy bridge" over the stream that we found, but it wasn't too difficult to navigate. The next turnoff, which leads you back into the woods, came quickly but was VERY easy to miss. You're walking up a pretty steep hill under the powerlines and are so focused on moving upward that you can easily miss it. It's a small painted blaze on a short post, not a plastic marker on a power line pole as others are. We walked up the hill and had to retrace our steps to find it. The "swampy" section appeared swampy, indeed, and my sister realized she was enjoying the road-walking better, so we skipped over that and just continued along Borkum. We were really excited about the campground listed on the guide as "Charlton City Camping" next to Wee Laddie Pond. However, when we got there, we saw no evidence of a campsite. The few people we asked had never heard of it. However, there was a "Virgin Mary Spiritual Vineyard" in the respective area on the map. We continued walking and got to another long residential section. We were ready to stop and there didn't seem to be any reasonable camping spots coming up. We asked if we could use an out-of-the way spot (owned, we learned, by Canterbury Acres-- a horse farm and special needs program, very lovely!) to put up a tent, but the owner refused due to liability. Homeowners a bit further up on E. Charlton Road, however, generously allowed us to use a section of their yard (a bit shielded from the house by some trees) and we camped.
Day 4 (8.5ish): Got nervous about water but reached the subdivision before running out. A generous homeowner let us fill up from his hose. When we reached the Route 9 junction, we stopped at the Spencer Country Inn to figure out our plan to get home, since we'd be ending much further south than we'd planned (not near Fitchburg) and knew that we might have fewer intersections with/near towns after crossing Route 9. Louise was very helpful there and gave some local intel on potential ways to get back. We also charged our phones and used them to look up bus schedules, etc. The inn is also a restaurant and although it isn't open Monday or Tuesday for dining, we could have stayed if we liked. ($55 for a room.) We definitely recommend stopping by this place--it's full of charm and history, and if you're going southbound and need a day to recuperate (or if it's pouring rain), this might be a good overnight or meal option. We made it to the Moose Hill shelter with plenty of time to spare and spent the afternoon relaxing. We again hung our food in a tree. The area seemed to be crawling with poison ivy (though we aren't sure), so be careful! The pond seemed stagnant but the water was OK after filtering. There are houses not too far and some folks were walking their dogs along the path before 9AM in the morning so just be aware of this so you're not taken by surprise.
Day 5 (11ish): The plan we concocted with Louise's help, after looking at numerous options, was to veer off the trail about a mile north of Moose Hill Shelter. Rather than crossing Paxton Road, we took a right and headed east toward the town of Paxton. This would be a very short day -- around 5-7 miles. Our hope was to stay here (in the Cascades Park, if possible) and then walk another 6-8 miles to Worcester on Day 6, where we could catch the commuter rail to Boston. This would get us back a day early, but my sister's blisters were painful, and we didn't want to continue further on the trail and put ourselves in a position in which we couldn't get back on Friday due to weather, distance, etc. However, this park is interesting. It can be tricky to get in (GPS helped here too) but it's neither a developed city park (i.e. no bathrooms or picnic shelters we could find) nor an overnight camp site (closed at night). It's lovely with trails, etc. in the midst of the city, but wasn't helpful to us. So we just kept road walking. We had suspected that it might be difficult to find a place to camp between Paxton and Worcester. We hadn't realized that there is essentially no division between the two cities and that we'd be walking about five miles in Worcester proper. We learned that when you have hiking gear in the city, kind people assume you are hard up and offer you food. Little did they know, we still had about 8-9 pounds of food we wanted to stop carrying around. We caught the 5:20PM commuter rail ($10.50 one-way to Boston, per person) and booked a hotel on Hotwire ($135 with fees) on our phones on the way. Had we planned further in advance, we could have potentially camped on the Boston Harbor Islands to save money and preserve the camping experience, despite leaving the trail early. We also realized that we could have stayed on the trail another day, reconnected at Thompson Road (just south of Browning Pond), and essentially done Day 5's road walking on Day 6.
Some general summary notes:1. Roads are not often marked, so you'll hit a junction and not be sure if this is the correct road.
2. If you go more than a minute (not walking too quickly) without seeing a marker of some kind (new or faded blaze), you're probably off the trail. This may not hold true everywhere but seemed to be the general rule.
3. There really aren't that many places to camp. When we read that you can camp on private property with owners' permission, we imagined a far end of a paddock or an out-of-sight area on their land. It might mean you are literally camping in their front yard because that's the only thing available. This can make going to the bathroom very awkward.
4. Although the trail road-walks through towns, this may not be as convenient as you think. For example, we walked by a lot of houses, but not a lot of public trash bins or convenience stores.
5. Hiking S-N is a bit more challenging because you're reading the trail guide in reverse. Which means when you read "Turn onto E. Charlton Road," you've already been on that road for a while, and you're now turning off it. It seems common sensical but it can actually be pretty confusing, so you need to read ahead and evaluate the instructions to make sure you're not confusing yourself. (This applies to mileage notes as well--you may think you've hit a certain distance once you hit that road, but the mileage is referring to the other end of that road where you get off of it.)
6. In general there were many water sources. However, just because some brooks/ponds/etc. are mentioned in the guide, don't assume this is all of them. There are many others and as beginners we weren't sure where we'd find them so we had to guess about whether to stock up fully (= more weight) or continue on to the next source.
7. Be wary of calling this route "easy." No route is easy when you're carrying gear. We found the road walking to be especially hard on our feet. Even without doing the mountain sections of this trail, we found some pretty steep hills and up-and-down-movement along the section we did, both on the road and in the wooded areas.
8. Many notes in the guide refer to stone walls, brooks, and cart roads. However, these are plentiful--especially stone walls. It can be hard to know if you are truly at the point mentioned. Do your best to gauge based on the distance you've gone.
Gear:
We bought a lot of gear new but also used what we had between ourselves and our parents. We were really happy with what we brought and there was nothing we wished we'd brought but didn't. Some things were extra, but partly that is because we had few medical problems, decent weather, and 2 fewer days on the trail than planned.
Packs: Cabela's 80 or 90-L pack (way too big but we didn't fill it to capacity; already had this and didn't want to buy another) + Kelty 65-L pack (came with 10-L removable day pack, unclear if this is included in the 65-L capacity but we left it behind; worked great.) Cabela's pack had a cover; Kelty didn't. Cover is very useful for rain.
Bags: Marmot 40-degree bag & compression sack (already had; worked great) & Copper River 20-degree bag (light but bulky. However, it was $30; the next best 20-degree options were $130. The extra bulk was worth the savings as we could attach it to the outside of the pack and line the casing with a trash bag for waterproofing).
Tent: Wilderness Technology North Duo. Roomy, light (~6 lbs?), very easy to set up, $80. Recommended. Does not come with a footprint, but we had a lightweight tarp that worked well and only weighed a few ounces.
Sleeping pad: Thermarest Ridgerest. Enormous but lightweight. Pads are nice to have but can easily be $50 or more to get one that compresses nicely. This was $15 so we gave it a whirl and it worked well. Much better for car camping than backpacking, although it was easy to strap onto a backpack. Honestly, it's more of a burden when traveling with packs en route to the trail (e.g. on Greyhound, metro, etc.) because of the bulk than it is on the trail, although it makes it challenging to walk side-by-side with a partner because it makes your pack significantly wider.
First Aid Kit: We put this together using supplies we already had (thanks to a nurse mom). We used a 7-day pill case to put in small quantities of creams and pills. Included burn cream, first aid ointment, hydrocortisone cream, allergy pills, benadryl, naproxin (painkiller), and probiotic (in the event of diarrhea). We also included sterile gloves, aloe vera in a travel-sized bottle, safety pins, ace bandage, guaze, pre-wrap, alcohol wipes, and Potable Aqua purification tablets in the event that our filter broke.
Toiletries: We repacked things in travel-sized bottles (pill bottles also work well). Dr. Bronner's works great for everything--surprisingly well to cut grease on dishes, and we only used a tiny bit of the 3 ounces we took. We had both natural bugspray and Deet bugspray (both helpful), as well as MosquitNo bug bracelet (skip it; not useful unless you're around literate mosquitos that read the "Don't bite me" instructions on the band). We had sunscreen, toothpaste & brushes, floss (with a needle stored inside, to double as a sewing kit), a small comb, tweezers (in case of ticks), contact solution, glasses, and a Burt's Bees poison ivy soap bar we had lying around.
Water Filter: Sawyer Mini, $20. Worked like a charm. Put this (and the cleaning plunger, straw & pouch, though we didn't use either so could have skipped them) in a small drawstring bag that we then stored with the cookware. Protip: Bring two (different-colored) 2-liter soda bottles. Keep one for unfiltered water, then filter it into the other. The filter screws right onto the bottle and the suction is helpful. These also fit nicely into the side pouches of packs. Additionally, unlike some filters, this allows you to get water at a source and then filter it later. We also had a Katadyn water bottle with in-bottle filter. A nice backup but unnecessary; it takes up weight and space in the bottle and makes it hard to drink.
Camp Stove/Cookware: MSR Pocket Rocket. Awesome. Lightweight, comes in a case, easy to use. We also splurged on a Sea-to-Summit Xpot and 2 bowls & mugs which store inside. We actually ate straight out of the pot usually, so the bowls weren't really necessary but were helpful. This was a big purchase ($120 for those 5 pieces) but is likely to get a lot of use. The portability can't be beat. We were also impressed how easy it was to clean the silicone. We packed the stove, a lighter (and matches in a ziploc), the cookware, a pocketknife, and a scrubby (didn't need--used our fingers or baby wipes for cleaning) in a mesh bag that also housed our water filter supplies in their own bag. Very handy.
Safety & Misc. Items: In addition to the pocketknife above, we had another pocketknife, two headlamps, a small flashlight, a camera, extra batteries, a taser (at our father's insistence), a compass that was possibly faulty, two iPhones (on separate cell networks) and chargers, cash, debit cards & IDs, and a Charliecard for transit in Boston. The camera was helpful for photos without draining battery life on the phones. We also carried a small trowel for digging catholes, a pair of MaryJane crocs (flipflops would work as well but very nice for moving around campsite or nighttime bathroom runs)--these hooked outside the pack on carabiners. We skipped toilet paper and carried a packet of unscented baby wipes (multipurpose, highly recommend). We also carried paracord and numerous small carabiners.
Food: We spent about $180 at a standard grocery store. It's important to repack food when possible to reduce trash and weight. Tortillas, simple rice/pasta mixes, mac&cheese with sauce (no milk/butter needed), peanut butter, pop-tarts, lots of granola bars of various types, cracker sandwich packs, organic fruit twists (yum), gummy bears, oatmeal, cream of wheat, tuna & salmon in packets (not tins), babybel & laughing cow cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and lots of dried fruit (apricots, apples, mangos, craisins, pineapple--too much). We pre-made a couple bags of trail mix with pretzel bites, cashews, almonds, peanuts, M&Ms, and craisins. We took salt & pepper in little paper packets (didn't use at all), cooking oil in a travel bottle (helpful but could have skipped), honey (bring less), hot cocoa mix (nice to have in rain), tea bags (ended up not using). Neither of us are big coffee drinkers so we skipped that. Overall it was nice mix of cook, no-cook, and eat-while-walking food. We didn't buy any of the fancy dehydrated meals sold in outdoors stores. However, we didn't have much for veggies at all.
Clothes: Skip cotton t-shirts. They stink when you sweat and are cardboard-like when you wash and air-dry. A quick-dry shirt (likely found at your local thrift store for a couple bucks) is preferable. Ideally an outfit to wear and an outfit to sleep in are the only necessary items, but it's helpful to have extras so you can wash or if you get soaked. We each wore sturdy hiking pants (e.g. Columbia quick-dry or cotton cargo pants) with belts, Merrell boots (break in ahead of time), and thick wool socks, like Wigwam, SmartWool, or UnderArmour. We slept without socks but had two pairs--helpful for washing/drying; dried OK hanging from the back of our pack when in the sun; some better than others. The extra warmth was worth it to preserve our legs from bites, scratches, sunburn, ticks, etc., and the socks were cushiony. Extra underwear is helpful for cleanliness. We each had leggings/yoga pants and an additional t-shirt to sleep in, as well as a long-sleeved shirt. We (inadvertently) had extras: hiking pants, leggings, fleece, t-shirt. Could have planned better in this regard, as a few pieces went totally unused. However, we only got rained on once, so we'd have used more over more time or in worse weather. Speaking of rain: we each carried a poncho that went over our bags as well as us. Critical. One was small and weighed a few ounces/fit in your hand when stored. One weighed a pound or two and was bulky. Work with what you have. We also carried a baseball cap each (one not used at all) and a bandanna (awesome for holding back grimy hair and many other purposes).
Final notes:
The Midstate Trail was worth a try. It has many lovely points. We only saw a section of it (about 5/12s). Finding good camping spots is a challenge but we made do. Don't underestimate the difficulty of hiking if you're a beginner. Be willing to ask for help (water, camping in the yard, etc.). Be flexible to allow for changes--going further or not as far; leaving early or staying late. Lastly: it's ideal if you have someone who can drop you off and pick you up from a trail, but not having this doesn't make it impossible. Good luck and enjoy!
