Elevation: 1,602 ft (overall) 2,464 ft (total)
Time: 2:03 (Summit) 3:35 (Park HQ) 4:52 (Total)
Trails: Old Halfway House Trail, Side Foot Trail, White Arrow Trail, Pumpelly Trail, Red Spot Trail, Old Ski Path, White Dot Trail, Parker Trail, Old Toll Road
Since I didn't get much hiking in during the winter, I've been getting anxious to get out again for a while. Finally I had a weekend with decent weather and minimal obligations. Since I did have some obligations though, I decided to get in another hike of my local mountain, Mt. Monadnock. Today's hike was a chance to check off another day of the year hiking it and with my planned route remap a few more trails with my newer GPS. A long term goal I have for Mt. Monadnock is to hike it in every calendar day of the year, and today would be my 80th different day on the calendar checked off. A more short term goal is remap all the trails from low elevation to high with my newer GPS. I've done this before and it's a fun way to plan routes and revisit places on the mountain others don't normally go.
For today's hike, I started at the Old Toll Road trail head by hiking up the Old Halfway House Trail. The trail was in good condition with one small treetop leaning over the trail. Other than that, there was a little bit of mud in the normal wet places and lots of small plants starting to sprout out of the ground and show some greenery. At the junction with the Cart Path, I headed right on the Cart Path to avoid the closed top section of this trail. I then walked up to the Old Halfway House Site for a quick break.
The forest starting to turn green
From here I headed up the Side Foot Trail which leaves right from the Old Halfway House Site. This was the first trail I wanted to remap with my GPS. Currently the sign is missing, but the post is still there and the trail should be easy to spot. This trail more or less parallels the White Arrow Trail, but is narrower and sees less traffic. Along the trail there were a couple blow downs that were easy to step over, but might direct some people to the side and just off the trail and the established tread way. Make sure to stay on the trail so as to not trample vegetation or speed up erosion. Once at the top of the Side Foot Trail, I headed left to the White Arrow Trail which I would take up to the summit without any issues along the route.
Along the Side Foot Trail
When I got to the summit there were very few people there, but quickly more and more were arriving. After spending some time taking pictures, I was ready to get away from the growing crowd and headed down the Pumpelly Trail for the junction with the Red Spot Trail. Once on the Red Spot Trail, I headed down for what seemed further than I remembered it being to the junction to the Old Ski Path. The Old Ski Path was the second trail I wanted to remap today, so I again headed back uphill. This trail sees very little traffic, but is still easy to follow. It was a bit wet in places as you can tell water flows down it in the spring. Once to the top of the Old Ski Path, I made my way quickly down the White Dot Trail through the increasing crowds to the Park Headquarters.
Summit view west
Summit view south
At the Park Headquarters I took a little break and enjoyed the "Meet the Mountain" program Antioch college was doing today. The best part for me was being able to see a Horned Owl and Red Tailed Hawk up close and listen to their handlers talk about them. I enjoyed seeing the animals, but still had plans for the afternoon and needed to keep hiking. I made my way around the reservoir to the Parker Trail so that I could make my way back to the trail head I actually started at.
Great Horned Owl
Red Tailed Hawk
The Parker Trail is the third and last trail I wanted to remap today. It's an easy trail to follow and is never that steep. It crosses a few brooks and is wet in a couple spots, but it also goes by two large glacial erratics as well. The trail had two blow downs that were easy to get over, but the trail adopter was doing a guided hike out here today, so they should now know about them as well. The hike back to the Old Toll Road went well, except for the large items of trash that I picked up along the way. I'll never understand why someone can pick up trash and put it somewhere easier to see, but can't just carry it out themselves. Once back to the Old Toll Road, I walked down it briefly before cutting just into the woods to get back on the Old Halfway House Trail so that I could also grab a glove that was hanging on a tree that I didn't grab while hiking up the mountain. Then it was a quick walk back to the car.
Glacial erratic next to the Parker Trail
Route for the day
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
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