13. MA NET - Warwick: Mousie at the Shelter

And finally - the moment we've been waiting for: the resting place at the end of a long trail day! Actually, it turns out that after my first time through on the Appalachian Trail, I only very rarely stayed in trail shelters overnight, finding them to be too mouse-ridden for my tastes, and generally preferring my tent or sleeping under the stars. (Having shelter mice gnawing your fingers or running across your face in the middle of the night is no picnic!) However, this particular shelter site is special to me because it was the very first shelter I ever stayed in on my first full backpacking trip. So, for that I'll even wax nostalgic and offer Mousie some toast!

Anyway, to get to this "historic site" as the Goose flies, take dirt Orange Road southeast from Gulf down to a left on Wendell Road, right on Hockanum Road and left on route 78 through Warwick to just a bit over a mile north of the large Mt. Grace parking lot. At this point, find a small 2-car parking spot nestled in a hemlock glen to the left with the trail markers. Cross the bridge to the west and head up the trail to the next stream crossing, where you can see the shelter just beyond. From the back of the shelter take about 45 steps at 340 degrees to a smallish 3-birch/1-hemlock combo with just enough space for a mouse to hide under the birch on the back (north) side. This is about 15 steps east of a large boulder with a spiky hemlock fallen across its top, and maybe a foot west of a nice little patch of rattlesnake plantain.

So, here's the point at which we say, "Happy Trails and to all a good night!", as we settle down for a long rest. After this, the M&M/NET soon heads into NH on its way to Monadnock and now all the way onward up to Canada! Yes, the trail does loop back briefly into MA to touch in at Royalston, if anyone cares to add a Mass NETwork box to that town. And, of course, if anyone wants to pick up the banner to carry NET boxes up through all the towns in NH, that would be just terrific, too! Meanwhile, we just hope that as many people as possibly can will take some time to sample some or all of these varied trail sections and to enjoy some great nosox stamps as well!

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