We are almost to the end of the Midstate Trail! Although we would have liked to finish up today, we did 13 miles and that was enough for this 56-year old who is quite stiff this evening. (Time to do more yoga. I’m not sure why I don’t do more yoga. You can always talk me into a hike, though!)
And what a day we had! It was a beautiful fall day, and the picture I chose for the top of this post shows that. Blue skies, fallen leaves, autumn colors. Hard to believe we are going to be heading into winter hiking soon. A set of micro-spikes is on my Christmas list this year. Already have the snow shoes!
Today’s hike was mostly on roads, some busy, but most bringing us by farms and country homes. At one point two deer bounded from one side of the road to the other in front of us, disappearing into the woods. So, even not in the woods, we experienced the woods. However, the roads were tough on the legs….
Annie’s son Jackson joined us for the first 5 miles, then walked back to his car as we continued south. He is visiting from Colorado. I made him take our selfie because I always struggle with holding the phone and pressing the button. These young kids have the coordination to do both those things at the same time (in a split second) and get everybody in the picture while looking relaxed. Impressive.
But this is actually the first picture I took on my phone. We walked under route 395. The walk started out on the busier roads.
But before you knew it, we started passing by farms.
(A lot of my pictures had sun interference, making them light/washed out. But who can complain about the sun?!)
We also passed by a few old homes. You can’t read the marker on this one, but this is the Learned Davis house, circa 1793.
Walked by this pond, too.
And into the woods. Yay!
Then we came back out again, but at least there were some very rural roads and cart paths.
The trail guide said this high point had a view of Wachusett. It actually did, behind a tree along the horizon. Not sure we would have seen it if the tree had been leafed out. And you for sure can’t see it in this picture, but it is on the left side of the road, in between the two trees, along the horizon. Trust me.
Cows!
A really terrific view from a farm house. But still, the picture doesn’t capture it. This, my friends, is why you need to do the hike yourself, up close and personal. Really, I highly recommend it. It is an amazing experience. We ran into two guys our age-ish who have been friends since they were little who were hiking the trail together. They were from Rhode Island. Nice guys. The thing about hikers? They are all nice. I love the conversations you have on the trail, from a shared love of the outdoors.
This seemed like a family cemetery. Only a few headstones.
I’ve lost where this picture comes in the hike, but at some point we hit West Sutton.
And I took this picture because it was a dried up body of water. Because of the drought this year? I’m not sure, there was running water at the far end. But it was dried up and rather smelly.
A few more shots along the way, through Douglas State Forest.
This last one is where we parked the car along route 116 in Douglas. We will finish up the southernmost part of the trail – about 5 or 6 more miles meandering through Douglas State Forest, which is beautiful. By the time we get to do that, will we have snow? Busy holiday / work times for us. So we shall see. But we are planning on a post-hike out-to-dinner celebration whatever day it happens to be. It will mark Annie’s completion of the trail. (I have a couple more legs to fill in closer to home, from Princeton to Spencer, stay tuned!)
