Cold Hollow/Monadnock on 4th Nov. & Kearsage/Cardigan on 5th nov.

Day 1 : 4th Nov.

Cold Hollow is a niece easy bwk. Approached it from the north side. As per Papa Bear, parked car at locked gate of logging rd just before bridge over Rattling Brook (west side). Walked up logging rd to height of land at about 1750’. Beyond this point there is a cabin on your right 150 yrds or so beyond height of land about here & on left a skid road on south side of brook. This skid rd brings you towards this col but about 2/3 of way up I veered west to reach 994 meters false pk (slope a bit steep but nothing difficult, surprisingly very open and no ledges or blowdowns) & then went south to reach 3327’ true pk . Very open woods all the way. Took me 2h10 to reach canister from highway. Only 3 other entries in register since Papa Bear & Onestep signed in on Aug. 2005. Decided to follow south ridge for return. Again very open woods with however 2 small 15-20’ ledges. Few inches of snow on ground. Heard geeses, surely canadian ones, flying just over my head near summit. Too bad I couldn’t see them being under tree coverage. Took me 1h30 from canister to reach my car. Near knob very open with over 100 yrds of visibility in all direction now that the leaves are all fallen. Also no need for compass on such a clear fall day as I could see highway down below to south east. If one wanted to do my loop in a reverse direction, it is not obvious to aim for the knob at the southern end of the ridge line, as you have no visual of it from the logging rd. I would suggest to walk about 15 min. up the logging rd which will bring you to about 1840’ just after a yellow DANGER diamond shaped sign on your left (west side). It’s the 2nd yellow danger sign for truckers after ATV trail signs encountered on left barely 3 -4 min. from locked gate. At this 1840’ point I would take a mag. NW bearing to knob. Alternatively you may choose to start your bwk up a skid rd at 1730’ but woods are so open that either way are good & easy. Drove off for Monadnock at 10h40.

Monadnock is something else. A superb 360° views mountain with a bare rocky summit. Reached summit at 16h00 via White Dot trail, 58 min. after leaving parking lot. Met on the way hords of hikers going down. Shortly after leaving parking two youngsters about 12 yrs old warned me, after staring at my salt & pepper beard, « Mister it’s a long way up ». Now that’s the type of compassionate hikers I would like to accompany me in the mountains 20 yrs from now. Was alone on summit, somewhat chilly with slight wind & rapidly falling daylight. Decided to take white cross trail for return, sure to be back by 16h50, thus shortly before night fall; but things didn’t quite go as expected. Approx. 1/3 of way down caught up to couple in their late 60’s. Woman was very very tired, descending rocky trail essentially on her buttock. No headlamps, no water, no food, no extra clothing. DISASTER! Felt obliged to help them out. Half hour later a park ranger arrived, sweeping the rear. After a very long 2½ hrs with numerous rest stops, food & drink, we managed to bring couple to the safety of their car. Then drove off for Winslow State Park which was closed but gate remains always open. So no 3$ fee here. Took a well deserved dinner & crashed in early in back of my minivan.



Day 2 : 5th Nov.

Up at 04h00 & off for Kearsage with headlamp at 04h15 on 1.1 m. long Winslow red-blazed trail, very easy to follow even by night. Was on bare rocky 360° views summit 42 min. later. Checked out tower but wooden steps too slippery to climb safely. Many communication antennas & buildings on top. Sat in wooden chair carved out from tree trunk and admired for 15 min. or so the twinkling lights of nearby towns with their folks all warm & secure down below. Took Barlow trail for way down, a very enjoyable trail for return as you follow open ridge on top & then gradually descend off ridge with numerous view points. Daylight appeared as I was about ½ way down. Contrary to Monadnock which had absolutely no snow or ice on its summit & minimally so on upper section of trails, there was here numerous patches of ice, nothing overly vicious to require crampons but just enough to force you to slow down and be cautious especially on the way down. Was back to my car in 50 min. at 06h12. Noticed another car in parking. Afterall was not the only early bird in these woods. Eat breakfast & drove off for Cardigan via I-89.

Headed off for Cardigan on orange-blazed West Ridge Trail by 08h00. Was at the summit tower 38 min. later. Met on my way 2 early morning hikers returning to parking. Too early to turn back, so I decided to go for Firescrew pk, about ½ m. to the north. The descent into the col is very steep. With ice & snow had to be very careful. Cairn-blazed open ridge walk to summit of Firescrew pk is very fun with superb views to north, west & east as well as nice view back towards Cardigan. Saw 2 people walking near tower. Seemed like ants from my view point. Was back in no time on Cardigan summit. Then decided to return via South Ridge Trail. Due to snow couldn’t pick out white blazes on rocks to indicate me which direction to go. So headed SE & quickly saw green roof of fire warden’s cabin. Knew trail was there. Then headed for South pk and then returned to parking via red-blazed South Ridge trail. Met a few hikers on the way. Was back at 10h32, 2½ hrs after leaving parking and arrived in Montréal by 14h40. Really enjoyed my wk. Was nice to have easy hiking conditions for a change & with nice sunny relatively warm weather on top of that. Can’t wait to go back.

Good work Pierre. But your route (the part in the van, not in the woods) is a little puzzling, no? From Cold Hollow to Monadnock is worse than when I did Hanover -> Grass -> Ascutney. Especially with Cardigan and Kearsage practically in the middle. Which brings up the obvious question - why didn't you bag Grass and Ascutney on the way down to Monadnock? Wouldn't be more that an hour or two each.

Good to know you can climb the east side of Cold Hollow right to the peak. I thought that might be rather cliffy. Wasn't the Moose path down that long ridge just wonderful?

Oncoman,

Thank you for the trip report. I finally made it up to Cold Hollow on June 26th. Since ridgelines are easier to follow on the ascent rather than descent, I ended up following Papa Bear's route to the summit. The initial logging road took a few passes to find, since from Route 109 it looks like an anonymous gated logging road just to the west of a brook you can't see from the road, even when you're crossing over it. Nevertheless, following this logging road into the woods, I went as far as drawing level with the ridge's southern nob before starting my bushwhack. It was often kind of steep going as I ascended to the ridge, but at least the woods were open. Once there, the woods continued to be open as I walked along the ridge for a mile up to the summit. It was a lovely walk too, going by all the mature deciduous trees, the land dropping off sharply on both sides. Approaching the final stretch, there's even some patches of mature spruce trees to navigate, but nothing too bad. Once on the summit, it took me about five minutes to locate the correct highpoint, since I had initially passed by it. It was certainly interesting to read the comments of all the people who preceded me, especially those who had been on the summit several times. Needless to say, the jar is still in really good shape.

For my descent, rather than take the steepest route back down to the road (which also seemed to entail passing through a band of spruce trees), I backtracked down the ridge until off the summit cone and past the stands of spruce trees. Finally turning left, once off the ridge, it was really steep for much of the way back down to the road. But once there, it was an easy walk back to the car.

Overall, it wasn't too bad of a bushwhack. I know this peak gets a fair amount of acclaim for how open it's woods are, which, while true, is actually fairly typical for Vermont. Plus, unless you get on the ridge early on, it is actually much steeper going than many other peaks in the state. For my money, the easiest 3k bushwhack I've encountered remains the highpoint in the Hoosac Range. But, this opinion in no way detracts from the fact that Cold Hollow is still a pleasant bushwhack.