We finally did it. Since the weather suddenly became cool again, we hiked the Dublin Trail up to the very rocky and exposed roof of Mount Monadnock (3,165 ft). Surprisingly Monadnock is the most or second most hiked mountain in the world, depending on who you talk to. Its name is also a physical descriptor, meaning an isolated, hard rock peak that stands alone after all the softer rock has worn away. (Outside of the US, they’re called inselbergs.) Standing nearly 1,000 ft higher than any other mountain for 30 miles, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both wrote about Mount Monadnock.
We went 1614 ft almost straight up, going over exposed tree roots, hopping over cute streams, and scrambling up and down multiple boulder fields within the forest, until at last we got above tree line and it was just one large slab of stone to clamber over after another.
It took us two and a half hours to hike up and another hour and a half to get back down. We saw a few locals full-on billy-goat their way to and from the summit, but we chose the slow and steady route to accommodate Jeff’s dodgy ankle and my banged up shoulder and wrist, acquired at a slick spot on the way up. Our knees were speaking loud and clear by the time we reached the truck again.
I’m perpetually impressed by the tenacity of nature and of a plant’s determination to grow. My favorite find this trip was a strip of Three-Toothed Cinquefoil wayyyyy up near the top, settled happily into a seam.
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