Массачусетс штатының көркем жолы

the hiking trail in Massachusettes

The Midstate Trail is a scenic footpath which runs 92 mile (148 km) through Worcester County, Massachusetts, from the Rhode Island border to the New Hampshire border, approximately 45 mile (72 km) west of Boston. The trail is considered highly accessible, scenic, and remarkably rural despite its proximity to urban Boston. The trail includes the summits of Mount Wachusett and Mount Watatic, as well as many interesting geologic, historic, and natural features.

The northern terminus of the Midstate Trail is located on the New Hampshire border on the Ashburnham/ Ashby, Massachusetts town line just north of the summit of Mount Watatic; the southern terminus is located on the Rhode Island border in Douglas, Massachusetts in Douglas State Forest. In Ashburnham, the Midstate Trail meets the Wapack Trail, which runs north into New Hampshire for an additional 21 mile (34 km). Where the Midstate Trail terminates on the Rhode Island border, the North South Trail continues south 75 mile (121 km) to the Atlantic Ocean. The 22 mile (35 km) Southern New England Trunkline Trail, a converted rail trail, intersects the Midstate Trail in Douglas, Massachusetts, and there is a significant network of interconnecting shorter trails on Mount Wachusett and in the Ware River Watershed area maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Worcester Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the nonprofit organization Wachusett Greenways. The Midstate Trail corridor includes woodland, lake shores, ledges, swamp borders, small mountains, agricultural land, meadows, brooks, as well as a few classic New England hamlet commons. Suburban areas abut the trail in places. The highest point on the Midstate Trail is the 2006 foot (611m) summit of Mount Wachusett from which the Boston skyline, 45 mile (72 km) away, is visible in clear weather. The cliffs of Mount Watatic and the Crow Hills are considered particularly scenic. The damp woodlands throughout the trail corridor are scattered with stone walls, a reminder that the forest was farmland in the 19th century. Common on the trail are huge boulders, several of them balanced in unlikely positions, called glacial erratics; two noteworthy examples are Balance Rock on Mount Wachusett and Samson's Pebble in Oakham, Massachusetts. Notable features that are on or are easily accessible from the trail route include Wallum Lake, the French River (Massachusetts), Hodges Village Dam, Buffumville Lake and dam, the historic Ryder Tavern, Moose Hill, Sampson's Pebble, the ruins of an early 20th century work camp for prisoners with tuberculosis, Barre Falls Dam, the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wachusett Meadows and Burncoat Pond sanctuaries, Mount Wachusett (the most prominent peak in eastern Massachusetts), the Crow Hills (a popular rock climbing destination), Muddy Pond (an attractive, remote, and undeveloped glacial pond), and Mount Watatic, the southernmost prominent summit in the Wapack Range of mountains (sometimes referred to as the Pack Monadnock Range).

The Midstate Trail passes through land in the following incorporated towns: Douglas, Sutton, Oxford, Charlton, Spencer, Leicester, Oakham, Rutland, Barre, Hubbardston, Princeton, Westminster, Ashburnham, and Ashby.

Southern portions of the Midstate Trail traverse a terrain marked by rock outcrops and ledges of gneiss and schist, and occasionally granite. Central portions of the trail climb the flanks and summits of drumlins such as Moose Hill and Buck Hill in Spencer, Massachusetts. Northern portions of the trail (especially Mount Watatic) follow mountainous ridges of 400 million year old, heavily metamorphized schist and quartzite identified as the Littleton Formation. Evidence of recent glacial activity can be found throughout all parts of the Midstate Trail. Such evidence includes glacial erratics, glacial scouring, glacial striations, deranged drainage, highland swamps, and roches moutonnées, so called "sheepback mountains" because they often resemble the shape of a sheep in profile. The extremely steep south and/or east faces of these hills were carved by the movement of glacial ice down lee slopes. The trail route generally follows a highland watershed divide that separates the drainage of four river systems: the Blackstone River (southeast); the Nashua River, which is part of the Merrimack River watershed (northeast); the Ware River and Millers River watersheds which are absorbed by the Connecticut River watershed (west); and the French River in Oxford, Massachusetts, which is part of the south flowing Quinebaug River watershed. Major flood control projects are visible from the trail and have significantly altered the landscape via damming, the elimination of ecosystems subject to periodic flooding, and the creation of large bodies of water. These include the Hodges Village Dam and the Buffumville Lake projects in the French River drainage and the Barre Falls Dam project on the Ware River in Barre, Massachusetts. These projects are managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Abandoned farms and currently functional farms, hay fields, pastures, and orchards are also apparent landscape features on the trail. Venomous snakes are considered nearly (perhaps totally) extinct in Worcester County. The trail does pass through black bear habitat, although problems with bears are extremely rare (though not unheard of). Skunks, porcupines, and raccoons are common during the evening. Because some of the water sources flow through populated areas or farms, water sources along the trail may be unfit to drink. Several primitive lean tos and campsites are available along the route; however, camping is prohibited in most areas and amenities are lacking. Stands of old growth hardwood forest near the Midstate Trail on the slopes of Mount Wachusett became a magnet for controversy in 2003 after a court ruling in favor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in joint contract with a privately owned ski resort regarding plans for a ski slope expansion into an environmental buffer zone around the old growth stand. The old growth forest contains trees over 350 years old; the buffer zone contained mature trees about half that age. The Sierra Club and other conservation organizations criticized the ruling and two members of Earth First! staged a sit in protest by climbing into the crowns of several of the trees in the area slated to be clear cut. 2007 wording on the website of the Wachusett Mountain Ski Area includes strong language prohibiting skiers and snow boarders from entering the old growth area: "Anyone found entering old growth areas will have their lift ticket revoked. Subsequent offenses will be subject to fines." Efforts by the Midstate Trail Committee, Friends of the Wapack, Ashburnham Conservation Trust, and state agencies resulted in the protection of the summit and adjacent properties along the Midstate Trail on Mount Watatic in 2002, which had been slated for housing and communications tower construction. A communications tower service road had been blasted part way up the side of the mountain before the conservation efforts were finalized, illustrating the immediacy of the challenges present in preserving the Midstate Trail and its landscape. A number of local land conservation non profit organizations are active in preserving the viewshed and general landscape of the Midstate Trail region including the Metcomet Land Trust, Opacum Land Trust, White Oak Land Conservation Society, East Quabbin Land Trust, Princeton Land Trust, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Wachusett Greenways, and the Ashburnham Conservation Trust.