Monadnock via Dublin trail?

[poison ivy]

Has anyone hiked Monadnock via the Dublin trail recently? I'm curious to know if Old Troy Road is passable to the trailhead (the southern NH guidebook indicates it can be impassable in the spring.) I have a Honda civic that I'm hoping to drive down there, so I don't have particularly high clearance.

- Ivy

 

[erugs]

I can't say for absolute sure, but I believe it is good all the way through now. I come in from the other direction and can tell you that the road was recently graded. And because the new Dublin Trail trailhead is closer to the southern end of the road I think it will receive more attention than before. I'm sure the homeowners (especially owners of the grand horse farm) will be pushing for that. I don't know if the new section of trail is officially open yet, but we followed it out on our way down two weeks ago. Trail work was still ongoing, and a "tent city" for workers was in place. I'm curious about how the road walk would be if I went one way on the Dublin Trail and the other way on the Marlborough Trail. Anyone done it?

 

[poison ivy]

Thank you so much Ellen!

- Ivy

 

[Andrew]

The road is in excellent shape from both directions at this point, even after last weekends heavy rain.

The new parking area is not too much farther west of the old one, maybe 0.4 miles. The walk from Marlboro trailhead to the new Dublin trailhead is over 2.5 miles and very scenic- although I only often "car-hike" that section.

It does not look like the old trail will be closed in time for Memorial Day weekend. Still a few finishing touches needed on the relocation, but it is now easily hiked and followed.

Black Flies are pretty thick right now especially as the relocation is always near a stream. On Wednesday they were so thick that when I was speaking with colleagues, I could not help but breath 'em in.

 

[poison ivy]

Thanks Andrew!

- Ivy

 

[Raymond]

My son and I climbed the Dublin Trail last Saturday, June 16. I was originally looking to hike the Birchtoft Trail, but the trailhead was closed. In fact, I didn’t even see the place I usually park, that little lot right by the road. Did they destroy it, along with the pond that was drained when we last hiked there two years ago, or what?

I drove on up to Dublin, missed Lake Road the first time by, then tried to take Charcoal Road down to Old Troy Road. There’s a bridge out, however, so access is blocked from that side. We returned to Lake Road, passed the Pumpelly Trail head (too many cars), then found the Dublin Trail head. It was the same old trail I climbed back in ’93, I’m pretty sure, unless they’ve unearthed a lot of roots in building the supposedly new trail.

During our descent, I did see that there was a new trail forking off to the left/south, but when we drove out that way to get back to Jaffrey, I couldn’t even figure out where the new trailhead was supposed to be. There were two areas that looked like possible parking lots, but the first was festooned with ‘‘No Parking’’ signs, and the second was blocked by a large berm or mound of dirt, so I have no idea what’s going on with the new Dublin Trail. There were plenty of cars at the old trailhead, where we parked; none anywhere south of it.

It was just as well we didn’t hike the Pumpelly Trail; as it was, we were caught in a thunderstorm right by the Dublin/Marlboro junction. There was a bolt of lightning that looked like it hit in the woods behind us, so we crouched on some spongy soil under some low trees and ate our sandwiches, then hustled to the top after several minutes had gone by without any more rumbles. We were spritzed on a bit, spent about one minute on top (still lots of people sitting on the summit — and I thought we were nuts), then pelted by a hard rain during our descent to treeline. It was amazing how quickly puddles and mud formed. Despite the constant thunder by this time, and all during the hike back to the car, there was a surprising number of people not at all deterred from heading up. I didn’t hear of any deaths, so I guess it worked out for them.

 

[grouseking]

caught in a thunderstorm right by the Dublin/Marlboro junction. There was a bolt of lightning that looked like it hit in the woods behind us, so we crouched on some spongy soil under some low trees and ate our sandwiches, then hustled to the top after several minutes had gone by without any more rumbles. We were spritzed on a bit, spent about one minute on top (still lots of people sitting on the summit — and I thought we were nuts), then pelted by a hard rain during our descent to treeline. It was amazing how quickly puddles and mud formed. Despite the constant thunder by this time, and all during the hike back to the car, there was a surprising number of people not at all deterred from heading up. I didn’t hear of any deaths, so I guess it worked out for them.

::shakes head:: People are crazy.

 

[erugs]

People are ignorant, too. I remember seeing a trio on the Pumpelly Trail a few years back. A storm was coming in, we were going down. They were going up. The child was obviously afraid of the approaching storm and the "mother" chided: "Don't be afraid, it's only thunder." Their male companion championed on ahead.

Lessons are sometimes enforced the hard way. I've learned mine about "only thunder" and talking on the telephone. The line was struck and I went down, but I'm still here to talk about it, though never will talk on the phone during a storm again.

 

[Mike P.]

I'm planning on being there in Mid-July, I'll inform everyone what I find. Suspect some will be there before then too.