Monadnock-Skatutakee-Thumb: 3/15/2014

Trails used: (Monadnock) - Old Halfway House, White Arrow, Dublin (to junction of Smith Summit), Smith Summit, Ampitheatre (partial), Smith Bypass, Monta Rosa, Great Pasture, Mossy Brook, Cart Path

Mileage: 9.8 (total for all 3 hikes)

We pretty much decided on doing something in southern New Hampshire as we were pretty tired of dealing with snow, snow and more snow.  So after a bit of decision making, we decided on Mount Monadnock located in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.  Mount Monadnock,(there is also a Monadnock in Vermont on the west side of Colebrook, New Hampshire) stands at about an elevation of 3165'.  It's claim to fame is that it's the second most frequently climbed mountain in the world, after Mount Fuji in Japan. Today, we would be one of the few to be seen on the mountain, possibly because of the high winds which made it colder than it was down lower.  

The parking area off 124.  Old Toll Road and the starting point for the Old Halfway House Trail

The Old Halfway House Trail.  It was a mixture of hard pack snow and loose snow on top of that.  A mixture of snowshoer's and bare booters had made the trek before us, probably as early as Friday

Views from the site of the Half Way house, a homestead and later on a hotel until it burned down in 1954

We would ascend the White Arrow trail from here all the way to the summit

Greg looking up at a nice ice flow coming down the ledges we have to climb up...

...and then actually climbing up.

Once up above the ice, we came out into the open with some nice views towards Bald Rock

A nice panoramic view towards Monte Rosa

Another nice panoramic view of both Bald Rock and Monte Rosa

The summit starts to make an appearance. The snow was beginning to get soft and made for slow going over the glare ice

Brian's panoramic views from the summit

We only managed to stay on the summit for about 10 minutes due to the wind and cold.  So at this point, we decided to head back down.  We had also decided to try some different trails on our way out.  A mixture of trail finding and bushwhacking ensued.  We followed the Smith Summit trail down until we lost the tracks due to them being drifted in.  We bushwhacked down, through knee deep snow in spots, to the Ampitheatre Trail and then down to the Smith Bypass Trail, and then decided to go over to Monte Rosa, which has a metal weathervane on top.

We then took the Great Pasture Trail down to Mossy Brook Trail, and then the Cart Path back to the Old Halfway House Trail

Trails used: Harriskat, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

We decided to do a 2nd hike for the day as the hike up Monadnock was only about 5 miles in total, and did not take us that long to do.  So we decided on Skakutakee and Thumb Mountains in Hancock, New Hampshire. The trails for these hikes are maintained by the Harris Center for Conservation Educaion and are very nicely blazed and easy to follow. 

The starting area for the Harriskat Trail.  We would take this trail to the summit of Skakutakee Mountain

The trail up was an old snow shoe track, through mainly open woods.  It had warmed up through the day so the snow was very mushy in spots.  

The summit, marked by the cairns, got a thumbs down by Greg.  This was probably due to the nice snow/sleet/rain that hit us on the way up, giving us no views from this peak 

Here is said rain/sleet/snow.  

We would take the Thumbs Up Trail over to and up Thumb Mountain

Panoramic from some ledges just beyond the summit of Thumb Mountain

Views towards Skakutakee Mountain, with the Wapack Range in the background

Mount Monadnock, with more snow showers coming in

Thumb Mountain.  I don't get it....

We descended down the Thumbs Down Trail to make this a loop hike.  On the way out, we passed Jacks Pond

Warmer temperatures as the day wore on made this a nice hike.  Mother nature let us know that her leash on winter was still there, for the time being, but it's only a matter of time until the snow is gone and the real hiking begins.

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