Fumbling Around In The Woods: January 2016

Friday, January 8, 2016

Mt. Monadnock (3,165 ft) 12-31-15

Distance: 5.22 mi.
Elevation: 1,647 ft (overall) 1,920 ft (total)
Time: 2:24 Summit 3:37 Total
Trails: Old Toll Road, Sidefoot Trail, Noble Trail, Cliff Walk Trail, Smith Connecting Link, White Dot Trail, White Arrow Trail, Old Toll Road

Trying to get one more day of the year checked off my Monadnock hiking list, I did an early morning hike for New Years Eve day. I normally go away for the holiday, so this was another hard to hike day of the year. This year though I was able to hike up just after sunrise and be done in time to head north for the long weekend.

There was finally some snow on the ground, but not enough for snowshoes yet. To save time today, I used the Old Toll Road instead of the Halfway House Trail like I normally do. It wasn't plowed yet, but was on the descent. At the Halfway House Site there were some views out past the clouds, but the summit showed to be in the clouds. I put on my Microspikes and headed for the Noble Trail.

Halfway House Site view

No one had been up the Noble Trial yet since it snowed. It hasn't been many days since the snow, but it's not a popular trail in winter anyways. Conditions were pretty good and I made it up just fine. There had been some traffic on the Cliff Walk Trail and Bald Rock had a thin layer of ice on most things. Smith Connecting Link had tracks until the Amphitheater Trail, but nothing above that. It's pretty easy to follow until the open rocks right at the end though and I have been on it many times before. The remainder of the climb to the summit became increasingly icy, but spikes were good enough traction.

Noble Trail

Cliff Walk Trail

Bald Rock

Ice covered rock near the summit

The summit was in the clouds and the wind was blowing around 20 mph. Since there were no views, I didn't stay long. I did have the summit to myself while I was there though. The White Arrow Trail wasn't bad to descend, since it had a bit less ice than the White Dot Trail. The trail markings were mostly covered in snow and ice though, so it was good to be familiar with the route.

At the summit

Miles the Mountain Monkey on the ice covered rocks

The ice bulge a bit below treeline on the White Arrow Trail hasn't really formed yet. Warm temps kept it pretty small so far. There was running water going down over it though which I am sure will add ice quickly. Heading down more, the ice got better, but spikes were certainly still helpful. One pair of hikers didn't appear to have traction and I thought I heard one of them say they hoped there wasn't more ice higher up. Hopefully they made it safely or turned around when things got bad.

The stone steps on the White Arrow Trail

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Mt. Monadnock (3,165 ft) 12-25-15

Distance: 5.66 mi.
Elevation: 1,731 ft (overall) 2,117 ft (total)
Time: 2:42 Summit 3:46 Total
Trails: White Cross Trail, Cascade Link, Pumpelly Trail, White Dot Trail

I have the goal of hiking Mt. Monadnock on every day on the calendar. I always knew Christmas was going to be a hard one to check off though. Luckily, this year it worked out for me to check that one off the list. There was a full moon for the night of the 24th, skies were predicted to be at least partly clear for sunrise, and my daughter is probably one year too young to really understand Christmas and want to open gifts first thing in the morning. Couple that with an abnormally warm December making for snow and ice free conditions, and I had to jump at the chance.

Busy with other things Christmas eve, I only managed about 3 hours of sleep before getting up and heading out to hike. Also wanting to hike each trail up the mountain for a sunrise, I needed a bit earlier start as I planned to take the Cascade Link to the Pumpelly Trail this morning.

The trails were wet from recent rain, but complete free of ice or snow. This made for easy travel. The warm temps made it even easier and I was even able to hike in shorts to the summit (on Christmas morning, that's crazy). It was a bit breezy above treeline, so just a windbreaker was needed.

The effects of the full moon were dulled by thin clouds hanging around and the sunrise was blocked by some clouds. This made things a bit less exciting than I had hoped for, but it was still a pretty cool experience. There were about a dozen of us scattered around the summit area at sunrise, and more people were headed up as I descended. The hike went off well and I was able to check one more tricky to hike day off my list.