I was looking for an overnight bikepacking loop that was somewhat local and stumbled upon this route created by Jason Kahn for Bikepacking.com. Although it was a longer drive than I would have liked, the route is in an area I knew to be quite lovely (my dad grew up in western Massachusetts and I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents there). If I'm honest, I was also enticed by the "difficulty rating" of a 4 out of 10– I was looking for a little adventure but not a crucible. As it turns out, I learned a lesson about the subjectivity of ratings like these (and the importance of carefully reading the route description).
Day 1: 20.4 miles with 2,289 feet of climbing
I arrived at the Hampshire Bicycle Exchange in Amherst, MA around noon and checked in with the employees there about the best place to park. I was aiming for a campsite that was about 35 miles into the route and didn't want to arrive at camp too early. I figured that even under tougher than expected conditions, it would take four hours at most to cover the 35 mile distance (this reasoning was folly as it turned out).
After setting up my bike, I turned onto a bike path that quickly angled out of Amherst proper and into a pleasant forest. A turn onto some trails led into the Wentworth Farm Conservation area and then into a community of condominiums that had summer camp vibes, every structure shaded by towering pines and buried under a thick carpet of needles.
After this suburban interlude, I steered into the Harkness Conservation Area. The trails here are probably primarily used for hiking and I found the going pretty rough. My bike is currently set up without any suspension (except for my seat post which has as few centimeters of give for the really big bumps). I found myself bouncing off of every root and rock that I didn't manage to avoid. The extra weight of my overnight gear made me less nimble than usual and I had to dismount frequently to climb over blowdown and navigate obstacles. I relied on my bike computer more than usual as some of the trails were hard to discern. I traversed several sections that followed transmission lines. The wildflowers were spectacular and there were butterflies and berries to admire as I (mostly) climbed.
Gradually, I wound my way past several small reservoirs. Part of the route is just a few miles west of the great Quabbin Reservoir which helps provide drinking water to the entire Boston metro area. The only time I saw other people on this trip was near one of these smaller reservoirs. It was surprising how remote this part of the state is.
The trail was getting quite rough and I was becoming aware of just how slowly I was moving compared to my "normal" bikepacking pace (~10 miles per hour). The first 10.5 miles took me about 2.5 hours. I was also getting tired; the trail was wearing me out both physically and mentally. I wasn't taking the time I usually take to enjoy the ride because I felt my target campsite slipping from my grasp as the shadows grew longer. If anything, my pace got slower as I slogged through a five mile section of the New England Trail that I probably could have traversed more quickly on foot. The substantial roots and rocks would have been ridable on my full suspension mountain bike but without any suspension, I spent a fair amount of time pushing my bike.
This was a low point for me mentally on this trip. Things were not going to plan and I felt like I was racing the clock (silly in retrospect since I really could have camped pretty much anywhere on this stretch if I had to). I also felt boxed-in as this section was remote and crossed no secondary roads. My bike computer was very low on battery and my phone was low too (I was peaking at it more often than usual to double check my location and route). I had a USB charging brick but I hadn't expected to need to run it down so early in my trip.
After over an hour, the trail deposited me onto a paved road which led to a dirt road and finally a stretch of pleasant double track (New Boston Road). I decided that I didn't want to risk pressing on to my planned destination15 miles away and set up camp instead along a west branch of the Swift River. It was after 6:00 PM. It had taken me about 5 hours to travel just over 20 miles.
Day 2: 28 miles with 2,490 feet of climbing
I woke up surprisingly refreshed. Despite the sounds of a distant party (Peaceful Easy Feeling?), I slept well. I spent at least ten minutes fighting with my bear bag hang as the rough bark of an old silver birch declined to cooperate with my paracord. After winning my battle with the birch, I climbed on my bike and continued along New Boston Road. I enjoyed the morning forest sounds and puzzled over where the previous night's revelers had been as it was some time before I came across any sort of settlement.
Eventually, I turned into Wendell State Forest. This state park is crisscrossed by unpaved roads as well as the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and the New England Trail (my old friend from the day prior). The terrain here was highly varied. Some roads had a rough gravel surface while others were eroded and furrowed by deep ruts. Although challenging, this was exactly the sort of terrain I had been expecting when I chose this route. There were several serious climbs here, including a 1.5 mile section of Jerusalem Road that topped out around 12% on a very rough surface. I had read that this was the most challenging climb on the route and my confidence (battered from the previous day) swelled a bit upon completing it with little trouble.
I eventually rolled into the picnic area at Ruggles Pond near where I had originally planned to stay the previous night. It was a nice spot but I was glad that I hadn't tried to make it there the day before (it had taken me over two hours to traverse those 15 miles that morning).
After some more bumpy dirt roads, I made it to the New England Peace Pagoda on Cave Hill Road. I almost carried on after pausing at the sign but a passing cyclist encouraged me to take a closer look. After a short uphill walk passing many cairns, I got my first glimpse of this unique structure. It was built in 1985 as a Buddhist shrine to world peace and is situated in a lovely field surrounded by trees. I rested for a few minutes at this special place.
When I returned to Cave Hill Road, I made the decision to find my own way back to Amherst, cutting about 10 miles off the original route. My main reason for doing this was a pretty lame: my bike computer was low on battery and my phone battery wasn't too great either. Looking ahead on the route, I could see there were many dirt and trail sections ahead and I knew I would need to rely on the bike computer or my phone for maybe several hours more (I was also acutely aware of my flawed estimation of travel time the day before). I had enjoyed the morning and was ready to start the journey home on a high note. Ten miles or so on local roads, most of which were part of the Franklin County Bikeway, brought me to the outskirts of Amherst within an hour. I thanked Doug and company at the bike shop for allowing me to park there and started the long drive home.
For next time:
This trip was definitely instructive and I'll take away a few lessons for next time:
Although I don't like hanging around at camp and tend to prefer starting later in order to avoid this, this is isn't the first time I've felt some preventable time pressure on a bike trip. I'll try to leave myself lots of extra time in the future, especially on the first day.
Reading back over the route description more carefully, there was a note about the 10 miles of challenging singletrack on the first day and some comments about how people had routed around it. I really don't have an excuse for not availing myself of this information before leaving. I would probably quibble with the difficulty rating assigned by the creator of this route but I also need to stop relying on metrics like that since they are so incredibly dependent on skills, gear choices, and experience.
I need to bring more food and batteries. One reason I cut the second day short (besides low charge on my devices) was that I was down to just one snack. This was a large part of why I ruled out a continued adventure of unknown length that would no doubt require copious calories. Next time, I'll pack some extra food and an extra USB charging brick.
My bike and equipment performed extraordinarily well, especially considering the absolute gauntlet I put it through careening from rock to root on the first day. I did notice some loose water bottle bolts as I was loading my bike onto my car. On a rough route like this, I need to do a thorough bolt check each morning.
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