Epilogue

To cap off my hike this year, Alex & Cassandra gave me a special Christmas present.  It is a hard cover photo book made to capture this adventure in case the internet explodes and all the content (including this blog) disappears.  This is a beautiful keepsake for me and will allow me to share it others when I am out of range of a wireless network.

The picture on the front cover can be found with the blog entry for the final hike.

Charts Are Here

As promised, here are the statistics from our Mid-State hiking in 2012.  Yes, it took me all Saturday afternoon into the evening, and yes, it does border on obsessive-compulsive, but it is fun to look at the numbers after it's all over.

Here are some interesting statistics.

• Total number of days to complete the hike:  238
• Average number of photos per hike:  11.7
• Average hike duration:  2:30
• Average start time (when recorded):  1:17 pm
• I count dogs and babies (in utero) as people.
• Most days hiking were sunny.  Two days had rain.  One day had fog.

Overall Mileage Per Person

No surprise as to who did the most (yours truly), however, it was surprising to see how close some of the other hikers were to each other.

Here are the actual numbers.  Note the spreatsheet total is 0.8 miles higher that it actually should be.  Clearly, I made some error in calculating mileages along the way.  That said, it is only an error of 0.835%.  Not good enough for a launching a missile, but good enough for me.

Steve	96.57
Betsy	31.77
Alex	31.74
Cassandra	17.01
Dominic	16.39
Tom	11.10
Baby Girl	11.10
Matt	8.66
Dave	7.12
Jim	6.21
Nathaniel	6.06
Brian	4.50
Amanda	3.50
Aaron	3.50
James	1.18

The average mileage per person was 17.09 miles, but the median mileage was just 8.66.

 

Number of Hikes Per Person 

I did all the hikes, but there were 13 other people and a dog hiking with me.  The average number of hikes per person was 3.27, but not surprisingly, the median was on 1 (I had a lot of people just come for 1 hike).

Another way to look at this is to see the number of hikes grouped together.

How Long Were the Hikes?

All hikes were between 3 and 9 miles.

When Did We Hike?

There are two aspects to this question, but both pertain to the calendar.

Who Kept Me Company?

I had to do one hike alone from beginning to end, but most of the time I had one companion.

This was a lot of fun to put together, but it was even more fun to do the actual hiking.

Thank you all!

The patch

It's official.  I have completed the entire Mid-State trail in a single season.  And now, I have the patch to prove it!  I love the little yellow triangle on the tree.

Hike 16 - Section #17

December 8, 2012 - The Finale

It is finally here!  The last hike of my Mid-State hiking goal!  I had originally planned to go last week, thinking that by December 8th, it might be snowing.  The irony is that it snowed last weekend, not this one.  Through a number of circumstances, this week just turned out to be better.  I was able to enlist a several hiking partners which made the walk all the more enjoyable.

This last section entirely in Douglas State Forest.  The trail was very nice for this entire section.  While it was raining when I woke up (in North County), it was all but gone in South County (yes, we are still in Worcester county).

We celebrated with a few extra photos, so enjoy!

In our classic "starting off" photo we have: Alex, Dominic, Cassandra, Tom, Betsy, Steve.

The terrain was pretty cool.  The trail wound between a "forest of boulders".

Alex has the baby.  Tom has Baby Girl.

Lots of interesting things to see on this hike.  Here's an old abandoned well in the middle of the forest.

         

This is an old railroad bed that is now a rail trail: the Southern New England Trunkline Trail.

Just off the trail and over a berm, we found this colorful swamp and pond.

At the 3.85 mile mark, Betsy & Brian hike .75 miles to join us from the parking area.

          

Betsy shows Cassandra and sleeping baby how to find her way back to the car.

Behind us is the foundation of a old center-chimney house.  We could see the base of the chimney, as well.

Yay!  We made it to the end!  Let's celebrate!

  

Here's the last yellow triangle I have to look for.

The stone marker proves I made it to the terminus.

The Mid-State continues into Rhode Island as the North-South Trail.  If we start here, it's only 78 miles to the ocean.

Backtracking, we take this trail back to the parking lot.  But we saw this same sign with the same mileage at several locations on the Coffee House Loop.  I guess if you're looping, you never really get to the end, eh?

This moss makes for an "artsy" picture like my friend Peter takes.  Now all we need is that cool Spyro Gyra "Morning Dance" music you get with Smilebox.

Beautiful Walulm Lake is beside a large picnic area back near the parking lot.  I think I can paddle into Rhode Island from here.

Wow!  It's a hike where we actually gained  people instead of losing them.
The most partners ever for one of my hikes.  Thanks for coming!
(My photo composition leaves a little to be desired.  Who put the shortest person at the lowest point?)

I planned this hike with three options:

• Option #1 - from Rt 16 to end then back to car = 7.6 miles (Steve, Tom, Alex)
• Option #2 - from Rt 16 to lower Coffee House Loop back to car = 4.6 miles (Cassandra, Dominic)
• Option #3 - from car to state line via Coffee House Loop and back = 4.5 miles (Betsy, Brian)

 We started at 10:07am and finished at 1:18pm, with lots of stops along the way.

The total hiking mileage including the turn-arounds at both ends was:

92.08 (book) +  2.44 (Watatic) + 1.25 (Wallum) = 95.77 MILES.

Thanks to everyone who accompanied me, or cheered me on, or just enjoyed reading about this adventure.  Feel free to post comments.

Next blog entry will be hiking statistics (with charts!).  Stay tuned.

Hike 15 - Section #15

It has been a very busy few days, but we find a way to squeeze in a hike one way or another.  As you can see by the map, there is only 1 little segment left to hike, all the way at the southern end of the county.

This was a relatively easy 5 mile hike,  with 3.75 of it on paved roads.  Betsy was smart, bring both her hiking shoes for the woods and her sneakers for the roads.

We started hiking at 1:19pm.  It was nice and sunny, but since it's mid-November, the sun was really low in the sky. 

We start just off Rt 12 in "downtown" Oxford parking at the conservation commission.

A few weeks ago, we were hiking over the Mass Pike (I-90).  Today we hike under I-395. 

Although much of the hiking is on the road, there is plenty of farmland all around.  In the distance, you can see the wildlife (cows).

This was a particularly pretty pond, with a beaver dam on the edge (foreground left). 
Underfoot, there is water running...

... from this swamp on the other side of the trail.

We were right on the border of the Singletary Rod & Gun Club's archery range.

From the top of the hill, you could just barely make out Mt. Wachusett.  The silos and pastures made for a better photograph.

Back on the road again, the First Baptist Church of Sutton is were we parked our car.

We covered 5.03 miles in 1 hour 57 minutes - really good time.

Although a little chilly, it was nice to get outdoors.  Earlier in the week, learned that my Uncle Bob passed away rather suddenly.  He was a real outdoorsman, so he would have heartily approved of our hiking endeavors.  Over the years he gave me good advice on important things in life like buying a used car, raising boys, and living as a conservative in Massachusetts.  While it was great to see the family at yesterday's funeral, he will truly be missed.

Hike 14 - Section #14

The last time we were out hiking, Hurricane Sandy was just starting to swing into New England.  This past week, we had another strong nor'easter hit us.  Geez, it's only November!  Up in North County, we only got about an inch of snow, but in the southern part of Worcester County, they got quite a bit more.  Apparently, Southbridge (only 1 town over from where we hiked today) hit the jackpot with 9" of snow earlier this week.  I never thought I would be doing any of this trail in the snow! 

Instead of hiking my planned 10 miles today, I opted to walk with Betsy, Cassandra, and Dominic doing about half that.  Once again, it is a beautiful day to hike, so the leaves will just have to litter my yard for another weekend.

One of the challenges today was that fact that the trail maps from the "old" and "new" Mid State trail guides differed.  I assumed, of course, that the newer guide would be correct, but in fact, that map was not correct.  Use the map from the older trail guide to get it right.  Moreover, signage in the section around the quarry was poor.  Trail markers were so far apart, we almost made a couple of wrong turns.

Betsy drops me off just above the "cow tunnel" in Charlton, then drives to the segment mid point.

Oh my!  Where's the trail?  It's under there somewhere.  Fortunately, trail markers were plentiful here.  Look carefully; there's one on the tree directly in the center of the photo.

Amazing, this pond already has a layer of ice on top. 

Cassandra, Dominic and Betsy join me along the road.

Maybe we should have brought micro-spikes.

The trail guide says "one of the prettiest sections of the trail".  This was absolutely true.  This beautiful babbling brook accompanied us as we walked down a long hill.

Then this big mountain of rock appeared out of nowhere.  We also saw monster trucks as we passed by this quarry.

A cool pedestrian bridge over another stream.

Suddenly, the trail ended and there was our car.  As I mentioned above, the "new" map is wrong, so our time estimates (based on mileage) were all wrong.  We still had some energy, so Cassandra and I walked another 0.8 miles to Main Street in Oxford while Betsy & Dominic drove down the road to pick us up.

Dominic was helping Betsy to read the map.

We saw these two hikers twice, hiking the other direction.  Strangely enough, I have seen very few other hikers on my entire trip down the Mid State.  Sorry to say, I did not get their names, but it was nice meeting and chatting with them.  Walk on!

I started hiking at 12:20, and despite the snow (which slowed us down a bit), we finished walking at 2:45 for a total time of 2:25.  Even though both maps were different, the mileage shown in them was the same, so I will say that today's total mileage was 6.42, but it certainly felt like a bit less.

Hike 13 - Section #13B

Sunday, October 28 - Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the whole eastern seaboard (see local paper spelling error), but it's still a good day to get out for a hike.  Well, maybe.

This section of the hike goes mostly through Charlton and traverses the famous "cow tunnel" under 4 lanes of US Route 20 (Boston Post Road).  That was my pitch, anyway, to entice Betsy to join me on this stretch, in less-than-ideal weather conditions.  Driving to the start is now a bit easier because we are close to major highways once again (I-290, US 20).  To get started earlier, we leave directly from church after Youth Ministry Band (YMB) practice. Once again, we jockey cars so that I have a little longer hike  and Betsy joins me in the middle. I start walking at 1:52pm.

Betsy takes a photo of me through the car window back at Four Chimneys.  You have to look very carefully, but there are raindrops on the windshield.

Several parts of today's hike were over pipeline, which made for easy walking.

Some of the roads I was on are designated "scenic", apparently meaning narrow and winding, with lots of trees, but no views.

Lots of variety on this hike.This is the major east-west rail line from Worcester to Springfield.

And somebody painted a welcome message for me on the bridge.

This appears to be a monastery or retreat center of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which separated after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.

It just seems odd that it should be behind such heavy security.

Betsy joins me after two miles.  It is still misty and drizzling a bit, but we're well prepared for weather.

You don't expect to see pink and purple leaves in the fall, but these almost match Betsy's backpack.

We make it to Rider Tavern, home to the Charlton Historical Society.

Across the street is a muster field, used well into the 19th century.  Betsy thinks I sometimes use my trekking poles as weapons, so I posed with them for this photo.

Passing over the Mass Pike, there's lots of westbound traffic evading the hurricane's path.  The rest area is in the distance.

This tree was being strangled by this heavy vine.

We finally arrive at the cow tunnel.  Inside, Betsy had an unfortunate fall because it seems someone left a bread-loaf size rock in the middle of the very dark path.

But we make it safely to the car, only another 0.1 mile away.

We were a little soggy at the end of 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 5.05 miles, but a Dunkaccino and hot tea on the way home really warmed things up.