We only hiked this trail once before while redlining, and that was in late winter/early spring. But I remembered rather liking it. Surely it would only be better in late summer...
Of course, that was also two or three years ago when I was that much younger and in slightly better hiking shape. Still, we needed Mack for the August grid, and I'd been wanting to try this trail again, so it seemed a reasonable opportunity. It's more challenging than the Wood Rd. approach, but not that much shorter. Mack is just never a quick hike from any direction.
The trail was similar to what I remembered - long, varied, relatively steep in places, but not entirely unrelenting (thankfully!), and fairly interesting. It's certainly worth doing, but it's a workout! Did I mention it's long?
Starting from Camp Bell, you follow the gravelly snowmobile trail for quite some distance until Mack Ridge Trail finally splits off. There isn't really any warmup, as the snomo trail begins climbing moderately but steadily right off the bat. Mack Ridge narrows and becomes steeper, mostly going straight up or slicing across slopes intense enough to feel the burn a lot faster than usual. The majority of the trail picks around and over rocks (as many of the Belknap Range trails do). The elevation gain is the main challenge. Hummingbird and I were both drained, and we'd barely hit 2 miles. Early on I decided to get my poles out to help my rubbery legs scale this mountain. Yep, you know it's getting serious when Dragonfly gets the poles out! 😂
Mack Ridge trail obviously doesn't see as much traffic as other trails. Not only was I constantly clearing the path of spider webs (which I have to say is particularly gross in a crop top), there were more intact leaves on trail remaining from last fall. There just hasn't been enough foot traffic to break them down. Thankfully they didn't cause too much added danger. We also found many parts of the trail overgrown; it was almost a bushwhack at times!
Those were minor unpleasantries, but the bigger annoyance was how buggy it was. Man, we'd gotten used to an early fall weather pattern, with cool air and fewer bugs, but today's temp hit 80, so of course the bugs were back out. Once we hit higher elevation, they eased off, but of course we ran back into them on the way down. At least we were moving slightly faster then.
We also were rewarded with a welcome breeze as we got out of the thicker forest. There are a few nice viewpoints, although I didn't take pics at all of them, as the hazy skies continue. Overall I still think this is kind of a neat trail, mostly because it has so much variety. I don't regret doing it... but I'll be satisfied with not taking this route again for a while now. 😉
8/24 Mack Ridge loop to summit, 6.05 mi, 1316 ft, 2:53 hrs
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