Saturday, May 18
To be candid, this section of the trail exceeded our expectations if not abilities to some extent. The trail guide listed this hike as 5.4 miles long. From the elevation profile, I estimated our vertical feet to be about 1500', however, it actually exceeded 1600'. The elevation profile had me fooled a little because the one for the south section uses a different scale that the one for the north section In any event, those numbers calculate out to a hiking time of 3:30. The fact that it took us 3:55 was due in part to the ruggedness of the terrain. It was rough going at times, especially coming down. In many ways, this hike was very similar to hiking Mt. Monadnock: some steep sections with large granite rocks to navigate around including "steps" up to 4 feet high (that means going down on your butt). Cassandra was right in stating that some of the steps were almost as tall as she is.
Only Nathaniel sustained a minor injury on the journey (skinned knee). A couple of hiking dogs we encountered fared much worse, one with porcupine needles in him and another with an injury that caused him to howl in pain and requiring him to be carried off the mountain.
The weather was perfect and we started hiking (fortunately) at 12:32pm. If we would have started later as originally planned, we really would have got off the mountain late. Travel time to the Miller State Park parking area was nearly an hour.
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| Here's the elevation profile for today's hike. We started on the left and traversed both North Pack and Pack Monadnock mountains. |
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| Six hikers today: Me, Nathaniel, Alex, Dominic, Cassandra, and my friend Ed. |
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| Once again, there were gorgeous views all along the trail. Today, we had the bonus of altitude. Nathaniel said he wanted to get some exercise, but this may have been more than he bargained for. |
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| This was on the way up. Tough, but not too bad because you can actually see earth between the rocks. Cassandra's in blue near the top. |
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| A panorama to the west. It was easy to see mountains in Vermont today. |
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| Whew... we made it to the first summit. This cairn marks to top of North Pack. |
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| Dominic gets a break to show off his new walking skills. His new hat kept getting in his eyes, so he managed without. |
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| A good section of the hike was in the Wapack National Wildlife Refuge. No hunters need apply. |
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| In a view to the south we see the ridge to the next peak and a sea of green beyond. |
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| Finally, a break. In season, you can drive to the top of Pack Monadnock. Today however you had to walk. At the top, there are picnic tables to enjoy rest and snacks. |
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| There was a cool fire tower here, too. We didn't climb it. We were high enough. |
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| A family of happy (if not tired) hikers. |
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| This was on the way down. No earth between these rocks. Nathaniel is using the trees to help as he steps carefully. Ed is below (white shirt and hat). |
A great day to be sure, but a dip in the spa was an essential post-hike ritual. Just one more hike to go (1A) until I earn another patch.
