September 19th 2011: Chasing the Sun at Mount Wachusett

After work today, I decided to see if I could finish hiking Mount Wachusett in Princeton. There seemed to be an access road all the way to the summit which I could possibly drive up, so accomplishing my mission for today seemed highly plausible, except for one thing; today, they decided to repave the road. As a result. The access was blocked and I was forced to part along Mountain Road close to the entrance instead. The route I had to take in order to get to the summit in the shortest time possible is highlighted below in pink.

In order to get up the mountain, I had to I walk left along the Bicentennial Trail, and when I reached the Pine Hill Trail, which was the shortest way up to the top, I took it. Man, was I to regret this. The path was so steep that I was panting by the time I reached the halfway point at the roadside. The setting sun was not helping either.

I decided to follow the road after this to the summit, running from time to time, and although the top was under construction, I could still walk all around the construction area and see the views from several vantage points.

With the sun continuing to set, I half ran to the next viewpoint down the road I came up and turning right at the junction going to the summit to head to the parking spot nearby.

The views here were fantastic as well, with two windmills in the distance

and a lake which I think is Bickford Pond.

From here, I turned around and jogged all the way around to the other side of the mountain where the ski slopes were, covered in grass instead of snow. By now it was getting really dark, so my pictures were getting worse as well.

As I got closer to my car, although I could still see the road, I realized my map that I held in my hand had become totally useless to me because it was that dark. It was a good thing that I still managed to find my way out in the end.

My original intention after this was to try out a french restaurant named Sonoma in the same town, but as my luck would go today, it is closed on Mondays, so I ended up heading to Cheoy Lee's II at 45 Sterling Street in West Boylston. This is a decent restaurant with nice decor and a bar for American Chinese food, which I, being from Singapore, have been taught to loathe,

but interestingly, the spicy chicken wings and crispy spicy beef were actually quite good.

The only problem was, that the portions of both dishes were so large that I could barely finish a third of each, and so my meals for the next few days were set as I brought the leftovers home.

Overall, I enjoyed my hike up Mount Wachusett. I will definitely come again, to take better pictures the next time around in better lighting.