Springtime on Monadnock

This past Saturday called for clear skies and warm weather. Combined with a free Saturday for the two of us, my father and I decided to shoot up to Mt. Monadnock for a casual hike up the hill. We took a different route than I have explored previously, starting up the southerly Parker trail, then heading along the Cliff walk toward the summit. This is a far cry from the busy frontside trails, that were no doubt littered with people that day. On whole, I think we encountered maybe a half dozen folks on the trail. One even commented that he frequently sees no one hiking up Parker, despite it commenting "it's hard to be alone in New Hampshire."  Mostly, it was just us and the reptiles. 

The trail starts out as a nice wind through the woods, with some more open pine groves as the elevation gains. Cliff walk slowly opens up toward the tree line, and the views are as expected, especially on a perfect day like we had. We stopped at Bald Rock for a snack and to enjoy the sunshine before making the final ascent toward Monadnock. As expected given it's proximity to civilization, and the relatively easy ascent, the summit was crowded with folks. Everyone from boy scouts and AMC groups, to college students, to several people I have no doubt were experiencing their first summits were out at the top. We found a lee area to hide from the cool prevailing wind and take a quick break and once again enjoy the great views on this almost cloudless day.

Monadnock from Bald Rock

Did I mention the views were good?

We opted for a quick-er descent down the White Cross trail, which, unlike our time on Parker, was most certainly not isolated. The front side trails are quite rocky, much to the chagrin of my dad, but nevertheless enjoyable. If you're looking for a quick ascent/descent, these are probably your bet. Be sure to stop and look at the quartz veins that somehow formed through the granite. I'm always amazed at the geological phenomena that developed over time in this rock. It's as if someone injected crystal into the granite all over Monadnock - fascinating stuff. At the bottom of the hill, we took a few minutes and poked around the base lodge looking at some Monadnock history and wildlife information, which was quite educational.

A perfect day with no agenda, no timeline, no goals - just a casual stroll up a hill. To top it off, Heather had prepped some delicious pork chops and yams for us to throw on the grill when we returned. Hard to complain with a full belly and tired legs. We'll count this as an early dad's day present for the father and father-to-be. 

Baxter State Park

Since we first started adventuring in the outdoors over a decade ago, my father has been sharing his dreams of traveling to Baxter State Park in order to climb Mt. Katahdin. We've attempted to put this together a few times over the past few years but due to commitments, vacation schedules, and other such life events, it never came to fruition. As luck would have it, this year we had a perfect window with my brother Will home from the west coast, my dad on summer break from teaching (lucky), and my research being at a forgiving position. With the good fortune in hand, we made the trek up north to Millinocket, ME for a weekend of wilderness fun.

Ginger wanted to come with.

Of the group, I was the only one who had ever traveled to Baxter, though my experience was quite limited. My sole visit to the park came the morning before a wedding - turns out a friend of Heather's grew up in Millinocket and she and her husband decided to get married on the lake which shares the same name. Heather and I unknowingly strolled into the park around 9:30 with hopes of climbing to Chimney Pond, only to be informed that the line for the waiting list started about 4 hours previously. Shaking off the blow from the man at the desk, we decided to do a quick day hike around Kidney Pond and up Sentinel Mountain, which turned out to be the perfect amount of time before having to don our monkey suits and join in the evenings events.

Going on this previous experience, I was keen to get reservations at a camp ground that would enable our trio to climb the mountain. We reserved a spot of Abol only to find out later that Abol trail had closed for the season (this was a blessing in disguise, from what I've gathered since visiting the park.) Thus, we opted to get a sunrise start and head to Roaring Brook campground, with the intent of ascending the ridge and hiking the famous Knife's Edge.

Our home for the weekend.

Our original intent was to climb the Helon Taylor trail to Pomola, then cross the Knife's Edge and descend via the Saddle trail, however, the man in the information cabin suggested a different route - to Chimney Pond, then up Dudley to Pomola and descending the Saddle and out through Chimney Pond again. Given this was as much beta as we were going to get, we opted to trust the kind man and altered our plans accordingly.

The hike in to Chimney Pond is worth the trip alone. It's a steady climb of ~1500ft, but there are several vistas along the way with classic views of the mountain and the surrounding area. In addition, Chimney Pond itself is a natural masterpiece, with sharply rising cliff faces surrounding the mountain water. As someone continually amazed by the beauty of nature, I had no trouble soaking in what Baxter had to offer.

Chimney Pond

After a brief stop for a mid-morning snack, we headed out to take on Dudley. Looking at the map, I had a feeling this trail would be tough - it covers some substantial vertical in a short distance. Certainly we had our work cut out for us to get to Pomola peak. What we later came to realize is that the bulk of the Dudley trail is small boulder problems, aptly described as "four wheel drive" hiking by a passerby. We spent the next few hours scrambling on all fours through the fields of stone.

View from the early part of Dudley

Dad showing the boulders he means business.

Dudley spits out to the top of Pomola peak - the eastern peak of Mt. Katahdin. From here, the Knife's Edge continues west to Baxter Peak, the true summit. The peak boasts views of the eastern side of Mt. Katahdin with Chimney Pond below, as well as an endless sight toward the north, east and south of Baxter, Millenocket and beyond. We gladly took our time to rest up here, have some lunch, and talk to the folks coming the opposite direction along the Knife's Edge. 

The original hiking crew atop Pomola.

Baxter Peak

 While we had originally planned to hike the Knife's Edge from this point, our time was running short on the day and with everyone feeling the climb a bit, we made the decision to descend via the Helon Taylor trail out to Roaring Brook. Talking with a few folks who had come the other direction confirmed our decision - the Knife's Edge would have been at least a two hour affair for our group, and we we'd have quite the distance to cover even after we finished. We enjoyed a casual, albeit lengthy, runout down the Taylor trail capping off a day of fun and some challenging hiking.

Will and Dad, looking North on our way down.

Not bad for an old guy.

It was great to be able to get out with my dad and brother, the two people with whom I started adventuring into the backcountry. Even though real life has prevented the three of us from sharing in our love of the outdoors as much as we'd like, we are lucky to have chances like this one to see new places and take on new challenges. Needless to say, Baxter and Katahdin were an experience worth the trip and then some. I'm already thinking about getting back up to explore the area more and tackle the remainder of the mountain

Will capturing some nature on the way out. 

For those who are thinking about the trip, some notes we learned while we were up there:
1. Hiking from Roaring Brook to Chimney and across the Knife's Edge is a long day. We weren't moving very fast, but even those who did probably had an 8 hour day at the least. If you go up or down Helon Taylor in one direction this makes it a bit shorter, time-wise. Probably the easiest route is to head up Helon and down Saddle, or the opposite.
2. If you're looking for an adventure, Cathedral and Dudley are both "all-terrain" trails that will have you scrambling and perhaps climbing at points. Cathedral is up only, so if you want to do both, make sure to head up that direction.
3. The best bet is to stay at Roaring Brook (or hike in to Chimney Pond a day early), but if you can't just make sure you get past the main gate by 6:00AM and you should be able to secure parking. The roads are slow, so be sure to budget time accordingly.