I’ve been hiking Mount Monadnock since before I can remember. It is one of THE things to do here in the Monadnock Region, and I’ve even caught myself in a state of genuine surprise when meeting someone from the area that hasn’t spent at least an afternoon up there.
The story is that Monadnock is the second most climbed mountain in the world, next to Mount Fuji. That’s its claim to fame. I can believe it. There is bedrock and ledge along the trails that have been worn smooth by the tramping of feet, booted and bare. Realistically, it has probably only been a destination, a weekend jaunt, since the mid 1800’s.
Mount Monadnock is located in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. It is the highest peak in southern New Hampshire. You can see mountains in Vermont and Massachusetts from the top. On a clear day, you can see the Atlantic and the Boston sky line, 75 miles away, the later of which is surprisingly prominent on the horizon… not what you expect from such a distance. There are tons of stories and folklore about our mountain, too. Thoreau camped there and wrote about it.
My personal history with the mountain goes way back. When I was a kid, we took class trips to go up the mountain. I believe the cub scouts also went up. It’s true, that during the 5th grade through 12th grade years, I probably didn’t visit Monadnock as often…for although you can see it from almost anywhere around, a lone sentinel guarding the pastoral life in Cheshire County, one still needs a car and license to get there….or at least a driver.
During the college years, I re-discovered the exhilaration of the climb. In fact, it often became a Sunday morning cure for overindulgence the night before… a race up the mountain and down to sweat the poisons out. Afterwards, we would come back and hit “Mr. Pizza” (now Amicci’s) for a slice or sub and… a… beer.
These days, I go at least once a year in the Fall with the kids. Waldorf has a hike day, and the entire school does a trek up the mountain. Ironically this year, my trip was not that one. The Family had been talking about doing the mountain all summer, and last weekend, it just happened to work out to be a time when we all could go. The school trip was going to be mid-week, a few days later, but no matter. I couldn’t take the time off, this year, to go with them, so I was happy to have this opportunity.
The day turned out fantastic. It was actually quite warm for September, and not long into the hike, the guys had their shirts off and still managed to soak everything with sweat. We took the White Dot Trail, from the State Park headquarters.
The trail starts out relatively easy, with only a minor grade. Then you hit the wall. It seems like every trail up the mountain has the same spot. A flattish section, and then a dramatic break in grade, where you spend a while going up almost vertically, hands and knees style, or cutting back and forth across the slope.
Things changed once we got up above the tree line. When you come out of the trees, the slope evens out, the wind picks up significantly (and never seems to dissipate,) and the temperature drops at least 10-15 degrees. The shirts and sweatshirts went back on.
Finally, we made it to the top. There were more people up there than I had ever seen before. I guess the height of foliage season is not the time to go if you are looking for quiet and solitude. There were a lot of college age kids, freezing their behinds off, dressed only in shorts and tank tops. But at least they looked good, with earrings and makeup and sparkles and I-phones out texting madly to their friends on the peak with them. And that’s what counts…being stylish. Right?
We ate our lunch at the top, and then dubbed around for a while. Tracy and Ken took a bunch of pictures. After an hour of that, we packed up and made our way down. A storm was moving in, and by the time we hit the tree line, the clouds had covered the peak.
Once we got down to the ranger station, we checked out the gift shop and Gumpa bought everybody a souvenir. I love State and National park gift shops. So many field guides, maps, trinkets, hiking gadgets, and cold drinks… its one of the few times I realy like “shopping”
Then, per “Hiking Monadnock” tradition, we drove back to Keene and went to Amicci's for pizza before heading home.
Yesterday, Jeremiah climbed the mountain again with his school…a different trail and new adventure. I never get sick of it. I could go up the mountain once a week. The last trip even inspired us to do more.
I’ve always liked hiking, but this time the rest of the family seemed to really enjoy it, too. Now we are talking about doing the 5-6 day Monadnock-Sunapee Trail, a 50 mile jaunt between the two mountains. I even bought the trail guide.
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