POLL: Best way to hike Mount Monadnock ?

[SLB]

Please vote on your favorite route to hike Mount Monadnock. This survey is very important.

 

[nartreb]

My vote wasn't correctly counted. I clicked all of them except "hired guide". That'd make a good dayhike.

 

[cbcbd]

I didn't see "on your knees", so I voted for something else

 

[Jasper]

I did not see the Spelman Trail on the list. This is my choice.

 

[RoySwkr]

I also declined to vote because several of the best choices (Marlboro, White Arrow, Smith Summit, etc.) aren't listed.

 

[DougPaul]

I didn't see "on your knees", so I voted for something else

I was going to say "on your feet".

Doug

 

[brianW]

"Harling to Cart to Parker" would be a little tricky since none of these trails intersect with each other.

I will listen to the voices in my head to select the best route for the day.

 

[Roxi]

The Pumpelly offers good value for the time spent on the hike against the round trip to the trailhead.

I'll second a motion for the Pumpelly trail (9 miles round trip), although anytime between Nov and March it can be covered with ice, particularly the steep section where it can become a frozen waterfall. Wear traction.

 

[Bob Kittredge]

Some of my favorites for a summer hike:

1. Marlboro
2. Pumpelly
3. Birchtoff/Spellman/Pumpelly
4. Old Halfway House/Cart Path/Mossy Brook/Great Pasture/Smith Summit/White Dot/Smith Connecting/Cliff Walk/Parker/Old Toll Road - This will take you over Monte Rosa, Monadnock itself and Bald Rock

In winter, some of these trails may be much harder to follow, in which case the White Dot, White Cross or Cascade Link/Red Spot/Pumpelly routes would be preferable.

 

[dms]

Love the Pumpelly, so many views and differing hiking terrain, plus it's only a bit over an hour from my house.

 

[smitty77]

White Dot, Cascade Link, Pumpelly, Smith Connector, Cliff Walk, Lost Farm, Parker - Nice little loop from one parking area.

Also, any route over Monte Rosa is nice if just for the solitude on less traveled trails.

Been on one short bushwhack which was nice until I stepped on a bees nest and ended up getting stung 20+ times. I haven't bushwhacked on that hill since.

Smitty

 

[Early Bird]

Monadock's Trails

I also declined to vote because several of the best choices (Marlboro, White Arrow, Smith Summit, etc.) aren't listed.

I'm with you. I like some of those back trails that take one by the old Halfway House ruins and close to the ancient house sites, wandering, but not lost around the many little connecting trails (Thoreau is one trail name I recall without looking at the map.), to the mine, and finally following White Arrow or Smith Summit to the top- plenty of history in that hill.

 

[Puma concolor]

One of the funniest sites I've ever had out on the trail was hiking Mount Monadnock in late winter or early spring one year in my jeans and sneakers (egads). I was heading up when down come two guys all decked out like they were on an Everest expedition. Every piece of gear you can think of. It was hilarious. Consequently, I've voted for "any route with hired guide."

 

[Quietman]

The Dublin Path is my favorite. Least crowded, easiest to reach for me, shady in the summer, view to the north is better than the southern view if I don't bother to join the crowds on the summit.

 

[Raymond]

The free one from the east, from the drained pond (Thorndyke?). I think it's Number 3 on Bob Kittredge's list above.

 

[MichaelJ]

Pumpelly, the whole way from Dublin Lake across the top of the ridge to the summit and back. Virtually nobody else takes the route, and it gives you a little of everything as you start out in farmland and stone-wall-crossed woods, rise up through varying woods, and eventually break treeline though still have some small copses to drop in and rise up out of before a wide, flat approach to the summit cone.

 

[Sheomet]

Marlboro is my personal favorite, I do like the White Dot even though almost everyone uses it.

 

[Mike P.]

In blueberry season - Marlboro
In Winter - old toll road & White Arrow
When I have only three hours or less - Dublin Path

I have not been up Pumpelly but if I had more time & wanted to make it a 1/2 day or longer that would be my choice

White Dot & White Cross options would be my least attractive alternative, except for the guide.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Pumpelly. Nice quiet trail.

 

[rocksnrolls]

Just about any trail on Monadnock has some good aspects to recommend it. I wouldn't do the White Cross/Dot trails except on a week day or weekend with lousy weather because I don't like crowds.