Distance: 7 Miles with option for more
Difficulty: Moderate
The Wapack Trail is a 21 Mile Hike that goes from Mt Watatic in Ashburnham Massachusetts to North Pack in Greenfield New Hampshire. This is a popular trail in the Monadnock Region. The nice thing about the Wapack Trail is there are several options to hike sections of it, if you do not want to do the whole 21 miles. We typically do the Sharon Ledges to Temple Mountain section, but I have been eyeing the Barrett Mountain to Pratt Mountain Section.
We parked in the Wapack Parking Lot across from Windblown and also the trailhead for Kidder Mountain. We crossed Rt 123/124 to walk up the driveway for Windblown. There are signs that mark the Wapack Trail. They have been doing some timber harvesting. There was a nice view of Mt. Monadnock thanks to this harvesting.
After a steady incline you reach the top of Barrett Mountain. There are no view points here, but it is a pretty walk through the forest.
After hiking over Barrett Mountain we continued onto New Ipswich Mountain. Again there was no view point from the summit of New Ipswich Mountain. We continued on to Stony Top where we got some stunning views looking west at Mt. Monadnock.
After leaving Stony Top we continued our hike over to Pratt Mountain. Walking between the mountains is not too strenuous. There are some flat parts and some up and downs.
After summiting Pratt Mountain you start to descend this section of the trail, but make sure you take the short side trail to the lookout over Pratt Pond with views of Boston.
Descending Pratt Mountain is a little steep. We found the steepest sections of this trail was going up Barrett Mountain and down Pratt Mountain. Once we were on the secondary road, Binney Hill Road, you can continue on the Wapack Trail to Mt. Watatic which is roughly another 3-4 miles. We walked down Binney Hill Road, which is a rocky road to the parking lot where a friend picked us up. This total hike was seven miles.
