For the second year in a row, I picked up a virus on Halloween, making it hard for me to do anything but rest for most of last week. But on Friday, I started turning the corner a bit, and while I didn’t have the energy to pursue a big climb, after a week of malaise my legs were getting restless—I needed to go up something.
Finding My Way Back to the Wapack Range
I capped off work around 2 p.m. and headed out. I wish I was referring to writing when I said “work,” but some day. Some day… Not wanting to spend a lot of time in the car to find a mountain to ascend, I was able to find an easy solution. We sometimes forget—at least, I know I do—that there are a lot of great little mountains in southern New Hampshire offering scenery and peace. Sometimes I turn my attention so much towards the big stuff up north, I forget that I don’t need to try so hard to find something beautiful. There’s plenty of it close by.
It’s been a while since I visited the Wapack Trail—a 21.5-mile hike running from Greenfield, NH, down to Ashburnham, MA. (Massachusetts people might say the trail starts in Ashburnham, but from my perspective, New Hampshire is king, so you always start with the better state first.) I’ve hiked several portions of the trail—never the full stretch—choosing to lop off portions of it when I just need to get out for a little exercise. But I mostly only hit the bits around Temple Mountain and Pack Monadnock. For the portions running south of Temple, I haven’t visited much of it since 2010. I have no adequate explanation for the neglect.
View from Kidder Mountain Summit
Where is Kidder?
Since back then, there have been a bunch of mountains on the Wapack, and around it, that I’ve been meaning to check out. One of these is Kidder Mountain, which isn’t directly on the Wapack Trail but can be reached via a section of it in New Ipswich, NH. The best access point is a parking lot on Route 123 that I found from a report listed on www.nhfamilyhikes.com (I’d include the link here, but my browser says the website isn’t secure. I’m sure it’s fine, but I’ll leave that up to you. It is a very helpful site if you aren’t concerned.)
Even though it’s a small mountain at 1,816 feet, with an elevation gain of around five hundred feet at most, I relied on GPS tracks entered on Peakbagger.com to show me the way. There is nothing at the lot saying, “this is the way to Kidder,” so I didn’t want to make the mistake of heading off for a mile or two in the wrong direction. The trailhead sign only mentions Temple Mountain, but thankfully, the GPS tracks on my phone confirmed that it was also the way to Kidder. Just when you start to think technology is the devil…
The trailhead sign for Kidder only notes Temple Mountain and two roads.
The Trail
Kidder is a nice, easy ascent. Along the way, I kept thinking that if someone wanted a good place for a training run, this would be a great choice. The trail is wide and clear, with few rocks and roots to trip up your ankles. One portion of it intersects with a power line corridor before it picks back up again with a clear sign to Kidder on your left. I never think of myself as a runner, but sometimes get the urge, and Kidder’s trails looked very encouraging.
The very runnable Kidder Mountain Trail
But I was walking, easing myself back into repaired health. About three quarters of the way up, I met a woman on her way down wearing orange. I had considered doing the same, but felt the trail was public and clear enough before starting out. Maybe I was wrong. My jacket had a little orange trim on the zipper liner and I figured that was enough for today.
After a friendly “hello,” I made my way up to the summit, but not before passing a strange sight: two large planters pointing the way up a mowed lane—almost like a road that once was—situated off the main trail. I immediately thought that they looked like a portal to another dimension. That if one passed through them, they might find themselves in a different realm or different time period. Maybe a hundred years in the past on the lawn of a Gatsby-esque mansion. One step in and the lighting could shift, placing you squarely in a black and white film.
One step between the planters, and who knows where—or when—you’ll end up.
Passing Through
But I couldn’t see any sign that a house or anything else was ever here. And the planters, large as they were, didn’t look that old. Who brought these up? Why bring them here? Staying on trail, I circumvented them, eyeing the land all around to see if I could find any indication that a structure once sat in the area. I found none. It wasn’t until I reached the summit that I saw something man constructed: in this case, stone walls of thin granite slab, probably outlining an old border between two people’s lands.
The summit of Kidder is beautiful, with far-reaching views. Autumn colors still lingered on the deciduous trees in the valley below, and finding myself alone, I enjoyed several minutes looking out and enjoying the scenery. While I didn’t walk through the planter portal I saw a few minutes earlier, I felt myself transitioning from sickness to health, and considered how every hike does transport you somewhere good with your thoughts, your mindset, and your body. That these portals are all around us, and you don’t have to drive for some ungodly amount of time to find them. You don’t even have to go up a mountain. All you have to do is find a trail and see where it takes you.
Kidder Mountain Summit