rocksnrolls
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2005
- Messages
- 371
- Reaction score
- 47
Well, this past weekend was nothing like I had thought it would be. Saturday was to be the Moose Mash - 2nd Attempt and Sunday I planned to join Dugan and cantdog on a section or two of the Metacomet-Monadnock Tr. Mother Nature had other ideas and Friday's storm led to the cancellation of both hikes 
Even my alternate plan to head over to Greylock with Lattinhill and Truffles didn't pan out.
Saturday I mostly spent lazily lounging around the house. Did a little shovelling and spent just over an hour snowshoeing up and exploring a hill in a nearby tree farm. That definitly wasn't enough (especially since I hadn't hiked at all the previous weekend) and I spent much of the evening trying to decide what to do Sunday.
Eventually I decided it was a good day for the short drive up to Monadnock. I was hoping to get in some redlining. Plan A was to park by the Toll Rd lot and hit the Hedgehog Tr to Bald Rock, head up to the summit and then over to the marion Tr and Cart path. When I arrived at the unplowed parking lot I resorted to plan B - head over to the main parking area to try for Hedgehog via Lost Farm Tr with the hope of hitting the Old Ski Tr on the descent.
Things looked good at first. I enjoyed chatting with one of the Rangers, getting some info on what conditions I might expect on my proposed route, and ran into Giggy who was getting set to return home after an early day on the mountain.
I put on my snowshoes right away and after accidentally heading off on a road that leads west from the western parking lot, I doubled back over to the start of the Parker Tr. There was a decent snowpack that was unfortunately peppered with post holes from this point and all the way up Lost Farm. Seems it gets a good amount of traffic in the winter. When I topped out onto the Cliff Walk I noticed there was no sign anyone had been westbound on this trail recently and the only tracks I saw headed in the direction I was going.
Now, to get to the Hedgehog Tr, I could go two ways: either follow the Cliff Walk to Bald Rock and hope to spot the trail from there; or I could take one of the earlier spoke trails down to the Halfway House site and try to get the Hedgehog Tr off the Side Foot. I came to the first spoke trail, Thoreau Tr and spotted a clear track from someone who had climbed that trail recently. Deciding this was a good sign, I followed this gently slopping trail until I reached the open area where the hotel once stood.
Heading out the Side Foot Tr I wasn't happy to see that the only tracks on it headed up the Doo Drop Tr. Well, I figured I might as well try to break trail up the Side Foot Tr and locate the Hedgehog Tr from there. It looked simple enough at first, but there were no blazes to be seen and I soon realized that I wasn't on any kind of trail any more I knew that the White Arrow Tr was a short distance to the west, so I 'whacked my way through the trees (and across a small pond) over to it. The White Arrow was well broken in and as I climbed I hoped to spot the Amphitheater Tr and to head over to Bald Rock in search of the ellusive Hedgehog Tr. Well, I never did see the Amphithteatre Tr and was soon coming out above treeline. At this point I figured I might as well just head to the summit and leave the hedgehog for another day.
The climb to the summit was pretty tough. I had to switch to crampons above treeline as it was quite icy in spots. From the look of things everyone before me had done the same. At one outlook spot the tracks diverged and I followed a single pair that seemed to head straight for the summit. It was a struggle to get up this way, but not too hard. The previous hiker had kicked in some good steps and I took full advantage of them. Feeling a little like an Everest climber (OK, very little ) I was soon pulling myself up over the side - right in front of the summit. The wind was ripping pretty good so I tagged the highpoint and high-tailed it over to the White Cross Tr. I hadn't seen anyone all day until I neared the summit. On the summit I saw a few people and on the way down the White Cross I met about a dozen more. As was to be expected.
The hike down White Cross is quite nice, a few little steep sections to keep you on your toes and lots of ice. The tread was very well-packed and easy to walk on. It was interesting to note the various divergent tracks people had left at the various tricky spots along the way. I kept my crampons on until I reached the Spruce Link and then barebooted the rest of the way.
Well, not what I had expected to do this weekend and a little frustrating having to change and rechange my plans so many times, but in retrospect a very enjoyable hike. While I may not have added any trails to my nearly-complete redlining of this wonderful mountain, it was cool to have finally summited it in winter and that last climb up to the summit was a thrill.
Even my alternate plan to head over to Greylock with Lattinhill and Truffles didn't pan out. Saturday I mostly spent lazily lounging around the house. Did a little shovelling and spent just over an hour snowshoeing up and exploring a hill in a nearby tree farm. That definitly wasn't enough (especially since I hadn't hiked at all the previous weekend) and I spent much of the evening trying to decide what to do Sunday.
Eventually I decided it was a good day for the short drive up to Monadnock. I was hoping to get in some redlining. Plan A was to park by the Toll Rd lot and hit the Hedgehog Tr to Bald Rock, head up to the summit and then over to the marion Tr and Cart path. When I arrived at the unplowed parking lot I resorted to plan B - head over to the main parking area to try for Hedgehog via Lost Farm Tr with the hope of hitting the Old Ski Tr on the descent.
Things looked good at first. I enjoyed chatting with one of the Rangers, getting some info on what conditions I might expect on my proposed route, and ran into Giggy who was getting set to return home after an early day on the mountain.
I put on my snowshoes right away and after accidentally heading off on a road that leads west from the western parking lot, I doubled back over to the start of the Parker Tr. There was a decent snowpack that was unfortunately peppered with post holes from this point and all the way up Lost Farm. Seems it gets a good amount of traffic in the winter. When I topped out onto the Cliff Walk I noticed there was no sign anyone had been westbound on this trail recently and the only tracks I saw headed in the direction I was going.
Now, to get to the Hedgehog Tr, I could go two ways: either follow the Cliff Walk to Bald Rock and hope to spot the trail from there; or I could take one of the earlier spoke trails down to the Halfway House site and try to get the Hedgehog Tr off the Side Foot. I came to the first spoke trail, Thoreau Tr and spotted a clear track from someone who had climbed that trail recently. Deciding this was a good sign, I followed this gently slopping trail until I reached the open area where the hotel once stood.
Heading out the Side Foot Tr I wasn't happy to see that the only tracks on it headed up the Doo Drop Tr. Well, I figured I might as well try to break trail up the Side Foot Tr and locate the Hedgehog Tr from there. It looked simple enough at first, but there were no blazes to be seen and I soon realized that I wasn't on any kind of trail any more
I knew that the White Arrow Tr was a short distance to the west, so I 'whacked my way through the trees (and across a small pond) over to it. The White Arrow was well broken in and as I climbed I hoped to spot the Amphitheater Tr and to head over to Bald Rock in search of the ellusive Hedgehog Tr. Well, I never did see the Amphithteatre Tr and was soon coming out above treeline. At this point I figured I might as well just head to the summit and leave the hedgehog for another day. The climb to the summit was pretty tough. I had to switch to crampons above treeline as it was quite icy in spots. From the look of things everyone before me had done the same. At one outlook spot the tracks diverged and I followed a single pair that seemed to head straight for the summit. It was a struggle to get up this way, but not too hard. The previous hiker had kicked in some good steps and I took full advantage of them. Feeling a little like an Everest climber (OK, very little
) I was soon pulling myself up over the side - right in front of the summit. The wind was ripping pretty good so I tagged the highpoint and high-tailed it over to the White Cross Tr. I hadn't seen anyone all day until I neared the summit. On the summit I saw a few people and on the way down the White Cross I met about a dozen more. As was to be expected. The hike down White Cross is quite nice, a few little steep sections to keep you on your toes and lots of ice. The tread was very well-packed and easy to walk on. It was interesting to note the various divergent tracks people had left at the various tricky spots along the way. I kept my crampons on until I reached the Spruce Link and then barebooted the rest of the way.
Well, not what I had expected to do this weekend and a little frustrating having to change and rechange my plans so many times, but in retrospect a very enjoyable hike. While I may not have added any trails to my nearly-complete redlining of this wonderful mountain, it was cool to have finally summited it in winter and that last climb up to the summit was a thrill.
