Monadnock Main Trails Continuous Hike -Planning

[surf88]

I hike Monadnock quite a bit and have now redlined all of the trails on the current official map plus most of the abandoned trails that were on a very old map that a park employee shared with me, after I took an oath not to blog about them . Looking for a new Monadnock challenge, I would like to attempt to hike all of the trails listed as "Main Trails" on the current map in one shot. I plan on doing this alone and spotting a bike to transport between the Marlboro and Dublin Trail trailheads. Also I have a relative that lives close to the state park now so that I can get a ride back to my car at the Pumpelly trail head.

The following link is to my tentative route. I would love any feedback or suggestions.
Monadnock Main Trail Red Line in a Day pdf

 

[bignslow]

I'm curious; what is the total distance and gain for this adventure (bike and car distance excluded)?

I had considered doing something similar, but instead doing it as the four compass points, starting at the white arrow, then going down/up dublin, pumpelly, white dot, finishing by going back down white arrow to the car (I think that was ~20 miles with 6k' of gain, but I don't exactly remember).

 

[carla]

Looking at the map reminds of those old "Family Circus" cartoons where a dotted line shows the kids' trails all over the house and neighborhood. In other words it looks a bit manic, crazy, AND fun!

--Carla

 

[jrbren]

I do not know if there is a rigid definition for "main trail", but I would bend that part to include cliff walk. It seemed just as "main" as the others to me (they all seem to be heavily traveled) and had some of the nicest stretches on the mountain. It would be easy to include with your route. Sounds like fun, enjoy, its your quest.

 

[surf88]

I do not know if there is a rigid definition for "main trail", but I would bend that part to include cliff walk. It seemed just as "main" as the others to me (they all seem to be heavily traveled) and had some of the nicest stretches on the mountain. It would be easy to include with your route. Sounds like fun, enjoy, its your quest.

I'm using the state park's official map's definition of "Main Trails" According to there map Cliff walk is a "foot path" but I agree it seems like it should be considered a main trail and I think its a good idea to add it instead of back tracking. Thanks.

bignslow


I'm curious; what is the total distance and gain for this adventure (bike and car distance excluded)?

I had considered doing something similar, but instead doing it as the four compass points, starting at the white arrow, then going down/up dublin, pumpelly, white dot, finishing by going back down white arrow to the car (I think that was ~20 miles with 6k' of gain, but I don't exactly remember).

I think it will be easier and more fun just to go out and do it and run my gps tracker than actually sit down and figure it out.

 

[Snowflea]

This sounds like a lot of fun, and I wish you well.

In 2003 I completed a similar feat on Mt Moosilauke dubbed "The Moose" (a Dartmouth Outing Club invention and naming IIRC). It was in the neighborhood of 40 miles, required summitting 3 times and a some trails done twice. Like Monadnock, Moosilauke has some old trails, too, but I did only the official ones.

Have often thought about attempting all the trails on Chocorua in a day but have yet to do it. Then there's always the RMC 100 - all the Randolph Mtn Club maintained trails - nonstop! Thinking that one would definitely take longer than a day!!

Anyway, let us know how it goes on Monadnock!

 

[hiker0200]

Good luck with that quest! It seems doable if one is used to a lot of reverse gain . I don't think I could do that; heck, the (only) 400 ft. of reverse gain from the Mt. Clay Loop to the Jewell Trail kicked my butt!

I've thought about starting something similar for the Pawtuckaway SP trails. Didn't think about redlining 'em in one day until I read this post, though. Perhaps in the future... .

 

[sdways01]

As someone else that has redlined Monadnock (I only counted it if I did it while going up the mtn), this is an interesting idea. I've started keeping track of redlining in winter and also in the dark (sunrises and sunsets). I typically just try to pick routes that avoid as many hikers as possible, but have also tried to come up with long routes that start and stop at the same trail head but overlap trails as little as possible. You can get in some pretty good distance without using the same trails twice (or much) if you do the right loop.

 

[Mike P.]

I was passed yesterday by a guy who seemed like he was training for such a trip. I was about 1/3 or so up the White Cross as he came down. He then passed me in the last PUD just below the summit.

 

[bignslow]

I'm curious; what is the total distance and gain for this adventure (bike and car distance excluded)?

I had considered doing something similar, but instead doing it as the four compass points, starting at the white arrow, then going down/up dublin, pumpelly, white dot, finishing by going back down white arrow to the car (I think that was ~20 miles with 6k' of gain, but I don't exactly remember).

Pulled the trigger on this hike (the four corners) on Saturday (20.5 miles, 6800' gain, 7:24):
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/782635782

 

[duane]

Wow! That's quite an accomplishment! Nice going bignslow.