Mt. Monadnock made difficult.

On Monday I took a trip to Mt. Monadnock. I've gone hiking here many many times (this is the second time this year), but I've never started from any trailhead other than the state park HQ.

I began at the Dublin Lake trailhead, north of Monadnock. It is 4.4 miles on the Pumpelly trail from the trailhead to the summit. After I reached the top, I went down the entire White Cross trail and across (mostly back up) the east face of the mountain on the Cascade Link, which then rejoined Pumpelly 3 miles from the trailhead.

My goal, since I was hiking solo, was to see how fast I could complete the loop. These are my results:

Distance: 10.28 mi
Time: 3h 50min
Elevation gain ~2500 ft
Pace: 2.67 mph

Some pictures:

a typical shot of the Pumpelly trail


a view of the summit with some hikers


a summit view of the Pumpelly trail extending from Dublin Lake on the left, all the way up the northern ridge of Monadnock

someone's home beside the Cascade Link trail