Hike of Mt. Monadnock

Jaffrey, NH

Tuesday October 9th, 2007

Choosing the path less traveled is always noble advice, and we were rewarded many times over by selecting a very roundabout route to the Monadnock summit. We were doing it on Tuesday of our fall break - the day after the Labor Day holiday - which also meant that the normally-crowded mountain would be very empty. It was the ideal day to climb and enjoy the New England fall foliage.

Arjun and Jason climb up a wooden ladder as we begin ascending the Cliff Walk trail from the Parker Trail.

They are joined by Khaila a short distance further up the trail. It was narrow, twisty, and involved a lot of scrambling up and over boulders; the perfect recipe for fun.

Whew, that's a lot of climbing! Jason, Ky, Lana, and Arjun stop to rest along the trail.

	As we continue to gain elevation, Jason, Lana and Ky check out the view from Pt. Surprise.

We proceeded down the Pt. Surprise Trail and back up the Thoreau trail, rejoining the Cliff walk Trail. Eventually we arrived at Bald Rock, where we had a gorgeous view of the Monadnock summit.

Jeremy is resting at Bald Rock while Lana and Ky eat their lunch. They were pretending not to notice how far we still had to go to reach the summit.

Khaila, however, wasn't intimidated.

Jason, Arjun and Brian preferred life on the edge.

Khaila and Greg are foraging for food in their backpacks.

We left Bald Rock and traversed the Mountain along the Amphitheater Trail, passing Black Precipice and joining the Smith Summit trail above Monte Rosa. As we proceeded up the Smith Summit trail and neared the summit, our climb became increasingly steep.

Yay! We made it! All of us on the Monadnock summit, tired but happy.

Jeremy, Khaila, Brian and Ky gaze at the beautiful foliage while Lana recuperates. We're not exactly sure what Jason and Arjun are doing.

Brian thinks he's a guru atop the mountain.

Our route down the mountain along the White Cross Trail was direct and less eventful, but still afforded some nice views.

After connecting with the White Dot Trail, we stopped at the mountain spring to relax and refill our water bottles with refreshing Monadnock spring water.

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