monadnock

Destination: Mount Monadnock

Style: Urban retro

Entered: 8/29/03 by Chuck

Report:

Legend has it that Mt. Monadnock is the most climbed mountain in the world, second only to Japan's Mt. Fuji. Maybe, maybe not... but climbing this good day hike workout on a pleasant summer Saturday might just convince you.

Monadnock is located in Jaffrey New Hampshire, a small town with a big super market and an excellent Greek pizza place. The center of Jaffrey is only a 10 minute drive from the mountain, so supplies are never far. See this link for directions.

The mountain is a NH State Park and has a nice campground at the bottom. I was able to make reservations a couple weeks in advance. They do have sites that are first-come-first-serve, but if you're driving any distance I recommend getting reservations due to the popularity of the mountain.

Keep in mind, they DO NOT allow dogs in the park and will turn you away if one is in your car (this happened to me years ago after driving 2.5 hours to get there).

The campground is quite nice, spacious sites with trees and large fire pits. They sell firewood for $4/bundle at the park entrance (ask the dude in the gate house). There are pit toilets (outhouses, basically) that weren't too terrible to use, and flush toilets and showers if you're willing to walk a bit to get to them - they're at the base of the mountain). There's also a little park store for sundries, but I didn't go in so I'm not sure exactly what they sell.

We camped Friday night, after arriving around 8:30pm, and woke Saturday for the climb.

There are sevaral ways to get up Monadnock, as is shown in the detailed trail map provided when you enter. From the State Park base, there are three main ways to get up: the White Cross trail, the White Dot trail, and the Cascade Link. The White Cross and White Dot are pretty similar... direct routes up the mountain; pretty steep and consistent, with areas that require hands and knees unles you have superb balance.

Will have to finish this later...

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