BobC
Active member
Reposting this trip report that was originally posted on another forum:
On this unseasonably warm and cloudy January day, eight hikers (one of them a canine) headed out on the northern end of the Wapack trail: HikerAmiga, AndyF, rocksnrolls, New Hampshire, Silentcal, Rolly & his dog Baxter, and myself. We hit the trail about 10:20. The temperature was about 45 degrees and would remain that way throughout the day. Within 10 minutes most of us were shedding a layer of clothing. The trail was a bit wet, and as we got to the steeper parts where there were many areas of large rock slabs, HikerAmiga pointed out that this mountain looked a lot like Mount Major. There were some fairly large patches of ice here and there, but nothing bad enough to require traction devices. We could always find dry spots near the edge of the trail or rocks sticking up out of the ice patches that we used for traction.
The trail to the summit of North Pack Monadnock is only 1.5 miles long, so even though we kept up a pretty slow pace (with me bringing up the rear as usual), we were at the summit at about 11:30. There's a really large cairn at the summit, and I wish I could have got my camera out in time to get a shot of Brian (New Hampshire) climbing to the top of it. The views from this summit are somewhat obscured by trees, and with the cloudiness of the day, there wasn't much in the way of views anyway. We stopped for a few minutes to rest up and have a snack, then continued on the Wapack trail over to Pack Monadnock, the southern peak. The trail continued to be wet with ice patches here and there. By the time we got to the summit of Pack Monadnock, it was so humid that you could see mist drifting around the fire tower. I was pretty surprised that as cloudy as it was all day, we never had a drop of rain.
The summit of Pack Monadnock is completely different than that of North Pack Monadnock. Since it's part of Miller State Park, it's a bit too civilized for me. There are picnic tables, a large shelter, outhouses, and an auto road that starts at route 101 and ends in a circular driveway that surrounds the fire tower. We spent a while resting and eating some more. Rocksnrolls had brought along some coconut macaroons from Dugan, who couldn't make it that day. Yum! Best coconut macaroons I've ever had - and I have a lot of experience eating cookies! Some of us climbed the fire tower, to experience the coldest conditions of the day - I wish I brought my hat and gloves up there because it was pretty windy! Even at the top of the tower, the views were pretty poor due to the clouds. The heavy cloud cover over Mount Monadnock made it look so flattened out that it looked more like a large plateau.
After we were all fed and rested, we continued on the Wapack trail down the other side of Pack Monadnock. This trail would prove to be a lot rockier than the trail up to North Pack. Still quite a few ice patches to contend with, but relatively easy going. If I did this traverse again, I would probably try out the Marion Davis trail from the summit of Pack Monadnock, which is supposed to be less rocky than the Wapack Trail, and comes out at the same place.
All in all, this was a good hike, except for the fact that we didn't have good views. It was good to meet several ROT folk, both old and new members. The only people I had hiked with before were HikerAmiga and AndyF. The pace we set was fairly slow, and including the many long rest breaks we took (more to chat than to rest), the whole hike took about 5 1/2 hours. This hike could have been done in much less time if we hadn't stopped so much, but I didn't regret it since it made the hike more enjoyable. Although I did feel a little bad because I think we killed rocksnrolls' idea to continue on to Temple Mountain, it was so late (around 3:45) by the time we got to the bottom of Pack Monadnock. Sorry Ron! But thanks to everyone for being patient on this hike and putting up with the slower members (or should I say slower member....that would be me ).
On this unseasonably warm and cloudy January day, eight hikers (one of them a canine) headed out on the northern end of the Wapack trail: HikerAmiga, AndyF, rocksnrolls, New Hampshire, Silentcal, Rolly & his dog Baxter, and myself. We hit the trail about 10:20. The temperature was about 45 degrees and would remain that way throughout the day. Within 10 minutes most of us were shedding a layer of clothing. The trail was a bit wet, and as we got to the steeper parts where there were many areas of large rock slabs, HikerAmiga pointed out that this mountain looked a lot like Mount Major. There were some fairly large patches of ice here and there, but nothing bad enough to require traction devices. We could always find dry spots near the edge of the trail or rocks sticking up out of the ice patches that we used for traction.
The trail to the summit of North Pack Monadnock is only 1.5 miles long, so even though we kept up a pretty slow pace (with me bringing up the rear as usual), we were at the summit at about 11:30. There's a really large cairn at the summit, and I wish I could have got my camera out in time to get a shot of Brian (New Hampshire) climbing to the top of it. The views from this summit are somewhat obscured by trees, and with the cloudiness of the day, there wasn't much in the way of views anyway. We stopped for a few minutes to rest up and have a snack, then continued on the Wapack trail over to Pack Monadnock, the southern peak. The trail continued to be wet with ice patches here and there. By the time we got to the summit of Pack Monadnock, it was so humid that you could see mist drifting around the fire tower. I was pretty surprised that as cloudy as it was all day, we never had a drop of rain.
The summit of Pack Monadnock is completely different than that of North Pack Monadnock. Since it's part of Miller State Park, it's a bit too civilized for me. There are picnic tables, a large shelter, outhouses, and an auto road that starts at route 101 and ends in a circular driveway that surrounds the fire tower. We spent a while resting and eating some more. Rocksnrolls had brought along some coconut macaroons from Dugan, who couldn't make it that day. Yum! Best coconut macaroons I've ever had - and I have a lot of experience eating cookies! Some of us climbed the fire tower, to experience the coldest conditions of the day - I wish I brought my hat and gloves up there because it was pretty windy! Even at the top of the tower, the views were pretty poor due to the clouds. The heavy cloud cover over Mount Monadnock made it look so flattened out that it looked more like a large plateau.
After we were all fed and rested, we continued on the Wapack trail down the other side of Pack Monadnock. This trail would prove to be a lot rockier than the trail up to North Pack. Still quite a few ice patches to contend with, but relatively easy going. If I did this traverse again, I would probably try out the Marion Davis trail from the summit of Pack Monadnock, which is supposed to be less rocky than the Wapack Trail, and comes out at the same place.
All in all, this was a good hike, except for the fact that we didn't have good views. It was good to meet several ROT folk, both old and new members. The only people I had hiked with before were HikerAmiga and AndyF. The pace we set was fairly slow, and including the many long rest breaks we took (more to chat than to rest), the whole hike took about 5 1/2 hours. This hike could have been done in much less time if we hadn't stopped so much, but I didn't regret it since it made the hike more enjoyable. Although I did feel a little bad because I think we killed rocksnrolls' idea to continue on to Temple Mountain, it was so late (around 3:45) by the time we got to the bottom of Pack Monadnock. Sorry Ron! But thanks to everyone for being patient on this hike and putting up with the slower members (or should I say slower member....that would be me ).
