Page Type:
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Mountain/Rock |
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Lat/Lon:
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42.86130°N / 72.1083°W |
Elevation:
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3165 ft / 965 m |
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Overview
Mount Monadnock stands alone above southern New Hampshire at 3165 feet. In fact, it's name is Native American for "stands alone". It has a bare rocky summit due to forest fires between 1801 and 1815 and is reported to be one of the most climbed mountains in the world at 125,000 people per year since Mt. Fuji got public transportation to assist travelers (buses up to about 2300 feet ) to its summit. The First Recorded Ascent was July 31, 1725 by rangers from Lancaster, MA who were hunting Indians per the book "50 More Hikes in New Hampshire". Due to the unique topography (and difference in size with all other peaks in the area) Monadnock can be seen from Boston's Hancock Tower on clear days - a distance of 70+ miles.
This mountain was a favorite of Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote a poem about climbing it as well as Thoreau who used to camp there frequently. There are many trails to the summit from all directions ranging from steep to gentle. These include the White Dot Trail, Monadnock-Sunapee Trail, Marlboro Trail, Red Spot/Old Ski Trail, Cascade Link, Spellman Trail and Pumpelly Trail, to name a few. For a description of them, please click here.
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Getting There
Due to the large number of trailheads that originate from different areas around Monadnock be sure to follow the "Getting There" section of the trailheads listed.
Directions to the trails can be found here. To get to the longest trail at about 9 miles roundtrip, the Pumpelly Trail, take New Hampshire 101 to the east end of Dublin Lake. Turn south on Lake Road and go .5 miles to the trailhead. There is no trailhead marker but the trail starts at about the point on the road you come the closest to Dublin Lake. Park on the shoulder.
Red Tape
No red tape or passes required. However, please note that the start of the Pumpelly Trail is on private land and please respect it.
Good info from nartreb
The main entrance to the state park (the trailheads of white spot, white cross, cascade link, etc) has a large parking lot. Admission is $3.00 per person over 12 years old. Note these routes are often crowded.
Pets are not allowed on the mountain.
When To Climb
Year-round.
Camping
Monadnock State Park
(603) 532-8862
Mountain Conditions
Monadnock State Park
(603) 532-8862
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External Links
- trail map [PDF format]
from the state park service
5 Routes
nartreb - Feb 3, 2006 10:56 am - Voted 10/10
Untitled Commentoops- actually the highest bus station on Fuji is at 2380 meters. That still leaves a good Monadnock's worth of elevation gain.
nartreb - Jan 18, 2006 10:30 pm - Voted 10/10
Untitled CommentThere are buses up to about 2300 feet on Mt Fuji, which is a 12,300 foot mountain. In other words, you get off the bus and climb about three Monadnocks (measured from sea level) worth of elevation.
nartreb - Feb 3, 2006 10:56 am - Voted 10/10
Untitled Commentoops- actually the highest bus station on Fuji is at 2380 meters. That still leaves a good Monadnock's worth of elevation gain.
nartreb - Feb 3, 2006 12:15 pm - Voted 10/10
Untitled CommentSome mountains suffer from "altitude inflation" by proud governments or local businesses. In Monadnock's case there seems to be some "visitor inflation" going on.
See the second paragraph in Chapter 2 of:
http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/Monadnock/MMP040103/monadnockmasterplanch1Final.pdf
The number of hikers to Monadnock's summit is under 95,000 (as of 2003), according to the NH State Parks.
Flanders - Mar 6, 2006 9:03 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Untitled CommentSorry for the delayed reply Not sure if the 95,000 includes only those that access the mountain from the park, or if it includes the hikers that come from the Marlboro, Dublin or Pumpelly trails. Either way - 95,000 or 125,000 hikers is a whole lot of people and I wouldn't want to pick which one is the "most summitted". Thanks for keeping the page honest
nartreb - Mar 6, 2006 9:39 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Untitled CommentThe report said "visitors to the park" - that includes folks who just picnic at Togue Pond, or camp, or cross-country ski, and folks who start up but don't make it. In theory, hikers who start on Dublin, Marlboro, or Pumpelly are also park visitors, but I'm not sure the park service is actually counting them. They don't say how they count but my guess is they track parking fees collected, in which case those three trailheads don't get counted. However, I don't think you'll get 30,000 people a year using those three trails - for one thing, parking is very limited. It's possible if you assume the trailheads are overflowing with cars on every snow-free day including weekdays, but that doesn't match my experience on those trails.
nartreb - May 16, 2006 9:02 pm - Voted 10/10
more bad news resorry to harp on this, but I just got some new info about some mountains in China (see the "busiest summit" thread on the General discussion board). Tai Shan, for example, has a claimed 1.5 to 2 million visitors per year (though I dont' know how many take the cable car).