Back in our dating years we hiked Southern New Hampshire’s 3165ft
high Mount Monadnock.
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| Mt Monadnock from Little
Monadnock |
We jokingly remember missing a trail and making the hike a
little longer than planned. We’ve hiked it several times since. A monadnock is an isolated hill or ridge rising
above a plain. Mount
Monadnock stands out,
though some smaller mountains surround it. This past week, we hiked two of
these smaller mountains.
The first was PACK MONADNOCK at 2290ft. Pack Monadnock means
“little monadnock.” Pack Monadnock holds good memories for us, as we’ve both
hiked and driven to the summit with special family and friends. When our
daughter, Carrie, was just 3 years old, we were proud of her for hiking all the
way up; then she slept all the way down the mountain on Bill’s shoulders.
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| with Barbara's parents 1998 |
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| with Bill's parents 2006 |
This week we hiked up the Marion Davis Trail – a 1.4mi hike
with an 800ft elevation change. Barbara liked this mountain, considering it
more her level than the larger monadnock.
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| Barbara on Pack Monadnock |
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| ladyslippers |
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| Bill at Pack Monadnock summit |
Our second monadnock hike was the somewhat redundantly named
LITTLE MONADNOCK, the smallest of these mountains at 1900ft. This was new
territory for us. The trail we took to the top started at Rhododendron State Park
with its 0.6 mile handicapped accessible loop trail through an amazing grove of
rhododendrons. Some day we’ll have to come back in mid-July when the flowers bloom.
Then we took the 1-mile spur trail 700ft up Little Monadnock and, like our
previous hike, got a view of Mount
Monadnock near the top.
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| Bill at trail entrance |
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| Barbara on Rhodoodendron Loop Trail |
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| Barbara at Little Monadnock summit |
In the meantime we are enjoying our lake view home while
still looking at real estate when things come up.
