Mighty Monadnock

Do you remember last weekend when it was super hot? Well, Ben and I decided to hike Monadnock (Southwest NH) on Friday night...on our way to visit friends in Keene for the weekend. What a great decision...it turned out to be a gorgeous night, we met no one on the way up, and had the top to ourselves. Not bad for the mountain deemed the "most climbed mountain in the world." (Mt. Fuji in Japan has had that designation for years, but I heard Monadnock surpassed it once they built a road up to the top of Fuji...)

After poking around the guide books, Ben thought we should go up the Cliffwalk trail. It is probably not as well traveled, since it meanders up a southern ridge, which adds about a mile to the ascent. Most people that hike Monadnock go up the most direct route (and therefore steepest), which is the White Dot trail. If you hike this mountain, go up Cliffwalk and then White Arrow trail. You will not be disappointed!

Plus, on Cliffwalk there is a mini bonus-summit called Bald Rock...the above picture is the view of the Monadnock summit from Bald Rock.

There were really cool alpine pools on both summits, and this one had these wierd grasses that were in bloom with really puffy, cottonball-like flowers.

This is the way up Monadnock, up the southern rock face.

An interesting aside:

Monadnock is only 3210' high...you wouldn't expect a mountain that short to have a rocky summit. Treeline is higher. So why is Monadnock this crazy bald summit that stretches forever?

Well, because of logging and subsequent windstorms, the top of Monadnock became a maze of blown down trees. Wolves began to inhabit these protective tree habitats, which didn't bode well for the sheep farmers down in the valley. The farmers decided to set fire to the summit to protect their sheep, and it burned so hot and intensely that it burned everything on the mountain, straight down to the soil...leaving behind bare rock. So, essentially, the most climbed mountain in the world is there because of a bunch of pyromaniacs down in the valley...

This picture is of our raven friend...he was the king of that summit. He paid us no mind, hopping around looking for leftovers...and boy did we see lots of vittles left by messy hikers. He was well fed!

At the summit, there were really cool slabs of metamorphic rock...

Do you remember one of the subsequent posts, where I was kind of making fun of Ben's new giraffe-print gaiters? Well, I did go and order my own pair...tiger print! It was a completely dry hike, so they stayed clean :)

The light at the summit was amazing...the sun was setting over the western side...

You could see for miles and miles at the top...being that there are no other peaks around. They say on a clear day you can see Boston...

On our descent we saw a snake catching the last rays of the sun. As of right now, he is unidentified. I looked on the NH Fish and Game website, and of the snakes listed in NH, there are none that have stripes like this...could be a variation of a common pattern. If you recognize this snake, give us a holler!

Here, you can see the shadow that Monadnock cast over the valley below...

If you carry along warm layers and a headlamp, I highly recommend a summer sunset hike. We scooted down the White Dot trail (1.7 miles) and made it back to the car before we had to get out headlamps. It was an amazing hike...still can't believe that we were at the summit by ourselves!!!