[Journal entry for September 22, 2018; Mount Monadock, Jaffrey New Hampshire] Dallas and I returned to Mt. Monadnock (Jaffrey New Hampshire), resuming our August hike, were deteriorating weather caused us to turn back before reaching the summit.

We drove up the previous afternoon and stayed the night at the Comfort Inn on Putney Road in Brattleboro Vermont, so that we could get an early start. Our drive to the mountain, via Roue 124, took us past Perkins Pond, where we stopped for a few minutes. Maples around the lake are now in their fall colors and Mt Monadock is dramatically visible across the lake. We arrived at the hikers’ lot, at the end of Poole Road in Jaffrey New Hampshire, a little before 9AM. The lot was already mostly full with cars.

Last time, we took the White Dot Trail (blazed with a white dot) up the mountain, but today we took the sub-parallel White Cross Trail (blazed with a white cross), instead, for we knew from out August hike that it is a little less steep and passes a beautiful wetland and pond in the alpine area. The White Cross trail ascends steeply through tall hardwoods with sparse undergrowth of Blueberry bushes. We spent an hour or more scrambling up ledges of schist with a prominent pattern of finger-long crystals, crisscrossing each other at angles. These crystals are sillimanite pseudomorphs after andalusite, locally called “turkey tracks”. Many of the ledges have scratches, grooves and flutes carved by Ice Age glaciers. The trail flattens when it reaches the alpine area, and winds through sparse, low conifer woods and over rock ledges. This part of the trail is marked by high cairns, as well as by blazes. We passed many spots with good views out across the plains surrounding the mountain. We came to the wetland and pond, the outlet of which forms a tiny waterfall. The wetland is full of sedge and wildflowers gone to powder-puff seed. We could see the rock knob of the summit ahead of us, and pressed on, reaching the intersection of the White Cross and White Dot Trails, which converge to a single ascent trail.

The hike from the intersection to the summit steep is steep and across wide rock ledges that offer good views of the mountainside and the surrounding plains (including Perkins Pond, where we stopped while driving in). The footing, while not terrible, is sufficiently precarious to require careful attention. We passed one wide ledge where the schist has beautiful banding that stretches for hundreds of yards. We also passed a second pond, set between rounded rock knobs a few hundred yards below the trail. In a few minutes we reached the summit. While mostly knobby rock, it has a surprising number of tiny ponds, meadows, bushes and patches of wildflowers, nestled in low spots below the knobs. The summit area was a bit windy, and full of hikers.

I cooked a lunch of fried eggs, Spam, vegetables and tea on my MSR PocketRocket stove. We chose a lunch spot on the lee side of a rock wall, in a depression that was out of the wind and warmed by the sun, but rather wet. We balanced ourselves and our gear on boulders. We chatted with several other hikers who had taken refuge in the same hollow. After finishing up, we took a short tour of the summit area, visiting the largest of the ponds. We then headed back down the mountain, talking the same route that we took on our ascent.

I made a detour to get closer to the pond that we had passed previously, and was able get to within about fifty yards of it while walking exclusively on the rock ledges, so as not to damage the vegetation. Its blue water is surrounded by yellow grass and green bushes. It is a very beautiful place, and a surprising one, given its perch high up on the mountain. Later on, I also took a close look at the pond along the White Cross Trail. The two ponds are similar, but their environs are different, since this one is surrounded by short conifer trees, not rock knobs.

We had been hiking about six hours by the time we reached the hikers’ lot. I purchased a couple of sodas in the Park Store, and Dallas a new water bottle. Dallas rested while I took a leisurely walk over to Poole Reservoir. It is a fenced off area, so I had to limit my exploration to its dam and outlet stream (both of which are picturesque). I passed patches of wildflowers, including some I did not recognize (as well as the ubiquitous Goldenrod). At about 5 PM, I again set up the MSR stove, this time on a picnic table near the parking lot, and cooked dinner of sausages, red cabbage and tea. After dinner, we drove back to Brattleboro, staying at the Comfort Inn again for the night. We drove back to New York the following day.

About nine hours at the park, of which about six were hiking.