Mount Monadnock

The day after we walked all over Boston, we drove to Monadnock State Park in New Hampshire, about an hour north of us. Our plan was to summit Mount Monadnock, which is supposed to have 360-degree views from the treeless top. On our way we stopped at a farm with a roadside restaurant to fill up our tanks before embarking on our hike. After eating, it was a quick drive to the park where the ranger recommended we take the white dot trail to the top. Following his guidance, we started hiking around 1pm. One thing we noticed right away is that there were a lot more people hiking than you normally see in NM or CO. Sure there are tons of people out and about in CO, but when you go hiking in CO, you only run into people here and there. On this trail, people were everywhere. There was never a moment alone. The hike itself was challenging, but not as hard as CO hiking thanks to the lower elevation. The main challenge was the large rocks that we continually had to climb up.

It was a beautiful area and well worth the trek up the mountain. When you do finally get to the top, at 3,165 ft, you do have a great view. We spent a few minutes relaxing at the top with about 100 other hikers, and then got in line to hike back down the mountain.

All in all, it took us a few hours to go up and back down again. To finish off our day, we drove to a little quaint town in New Hampshire called Keene. Sadly most of the shops were closed, but we enjoyed a little treat in a local candy shop before we found a brewery/restaurant for dinner. That night we were exhausted. A weekend of walking all over Boston and then an afternoon of hiking destroyed us. In fact, we were still beat the following weekend, so we elected to do more driving than walking.