Hike of Mt Monadnock

Jaffrey, NH

October 9th, 2012

We climbed Mt. Monadnock for the second time in less than a month; this time for our traditional fall break Tuesday hike. A favorite roundabout route up the Parker Trail led us to the Cliff Walk Trail, which Katy and Marie tackle as our ascent begins in earnest. They are rewarded with great views.	click photos to view full size (in new window)

	Nick blends right in with the fall colors as Marie, Katy and Steven brave the cold wind in their faces to gaze at the awesome scenery.

Now you see it... now you don't. The clouds hung low and every so often one would blow past us.

All five of us along the the Cliff Walk Trail.

	We continue up the Cliff Walk Trail to Thoreau's Seat and another great view. Emerson's Seat nearby was pretty cool too.

Steven, Nick, Katie and Marie stand on top of Thoreau's Seat.

We arrive at Bald Rock and look toward the shrouded Monadnock summit. But we were still beneath the clouds and treated to more great views of the valley below.

Continuing our hike, we're caught between a cloud and a rock.

Steven and Nick enjoy the scenery at Black Precipice, our last photo before ascending into thick clouds and a bone chilling wind-whipped fog.

As always, the trick to making the most of a Mt. Monadnock trip is choosing the paths less traveled, and that was especially true for the five of us. Being a Tuesday, our annual fall break hike is normally a very quiet day on the mountain. In fact, we encountered nobody at all during our 3-hour ascent along the Parker, Cliff Walk, Amphitheater, and Smith Summit trails. But thanks to a huge high school field trip, the cold, fogged-in summit was occupied by hundreds of screaming teens whose voices we could hear halfway down the mountain.

We crossed the summit as quickly as possible, distancing ourselves from the pandemonium, and selected another less traveled route for our descent along the Pumpelly and Red Spot Trails, which we enjoyed in peace and fog.

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