June 2017 Thru hike

[coyotemega]

Hi everyone

I am thru hiking southbound in mid June of this year. I have scouted the roads to the south near Oxford and am excited to see that most of it is well marked. When I am finished I will give an update of my experience. I am very excited to do this trail being so close to home. 

Coyote MEGA SOBO 2010, LT 11 and 16 

[coyotemega]

I have successfully thru hiked the Midstate! I set off on June 11 and made it to the RI border on June 16. The trail was in excellent condition and the marking was excellent as well. I did get lost once heading south from the Rt 2 overpass but was able to make my way back easily enough. The signage there was fine I just wasn’t paying attention. Besides that I had no trouble following the trail and was pleasantly surprised with signage. The week I hiked was in the mid 90s which made for some sweaty days but I had no trouble finding water. There are streams and rivers everywhere and also many opportunities to go swimming which I did. The official guidebook was great and very accurate. The Princeton re route was the only area not in the guidebook that I could remember but the re routed trail was so well marked it was no problem. The views in the northern half were awesome. Wachusett and the crow hills section has some of the best views and nicest woods walking. I was also happy to find trash bins in the Barre dam area and also more when you come into Oxford. As far as camping goes it is mainly a stealth camping trail. The shelters were oddly spaced as pointed out by everyone before me but i just set my tent up in the woods and left no trace and had no trouble. If you do stay in the shelters they were all in good shape. Long pond shelter had an ice cold pipes spring just to the south of it maybe a 2 minute walk and also a lake to swim in about 5 minutes south of that. So I’d say that’s a good one to stop at if you can. I met some really nice people along the way who gave me water and conversation which was great. I kind of thought many of the people who lived by the trail didn’t know about it but many did which was fantastic. The road walking was not bad at all until Oxford but the roads for the most part were seldom traveled and I didn’t mind. There is even a pizza place I stopped at in downtown. The one downside of this trail that drove me almost to the point of leaving were the mosquitoes. I have thru hiked the AT and LT and had never encountered mosquitoes so numerous and aggressive. I resorted to putting on my rain coat and pulling my socks to my knees to get away from them and keep in mind it was in the 90s! But hey there’s not much you can do about that when hiking in June and I laugh about it now. Otherwise I would say if you are thinking about thru hiking this trail do it! You will be pleasantly surprised. Just keep in mind it’s not exactly a wilderness trail but more of a trail through small New England towns and state forests. Twice I came out onto someone’s lawn while they were mowing and both times they smiled and waved. So though it’s not a wilderness trail it is unique and worth hiking. It was fairly flat too with the only major elevation and wachusett and watatic. It would be a good warm up hike to someone trying to get into backpacking or training for a larger trail. Ok I’ve said too much at this point ha but I hope this helps make up anyone’s mind about doing the trail since I know there isn’t a ton of info on thru hiking it out there. Coyote