Issues → September/October 2008 → Features → Mount Monadnock Classic Stories from Yankee →
Monadnock: It's Never Lonely at the Top
by Christine Schultz
Yankee classic from August 1991
Those who first climbed Mount Monadnock for fun in the early 1800s probably went in search of those blueberries of which Thoreau wrote. Hikers today can still scale Monadnock's slopes and return with buckets brimming with berries. There may be easier places to find that azure fruit, but perhaps none so scenic as Monadnock. When you pause there in your picking to sample the harvest, you see below you New Hampshire's kingdom, and the burst of berry that moistens your mouth is somehow made sweeter.
Blueberries, though, are certainly not the mountain's only attraction. Mount Monadnock's reputation has risen higher than its elevation, but that doesn't stop southern New Hampshire from championing it as the region's claim to fame. And with good reason. Monadnock is considered the most climbed mountain in the world. (Until a few years ago, Mount Fuji had that distinction. But since the Japanese built a road to within a few hundred feet of the top, there's not much "climbing" necessary. It is still the world's most summited mountain, however!)
Its name, "the mountain that stands alone," has inspired a geological term. Numerous writers, such as Thoreau, Emerson, and Whittier, have rhapsodized over its beauty, and painters have coated enough canvas with the humpback form to build a tent big enough to cover it. Furthermore, the bare-topped Monadnock ranks as one of only 13 mountains listed in the National Register of Natural Landmarks. Its summit contains alpine vegetation similar to that on Mount Washington, which is twice as high. And Monadnock's summit is the only place where you can see all six New England states at one time, more than 100 miles in any direction.
Even given that, who'd have guessed that a 3,165-foot peak could draw so much attention to itself? But each year more than 125,000 people make the trek to the bare, rocky summit. Many come because it's so accessible (located just 65 miles northwest of Boston), so high above everything around it, yet so low that almost anyone can climb it. Most come at the same time and most travel the same trails. Mike Walsh, Monadnock State Park manager, estimates that five percent of each year's climbers come on the same day. The swell starts with the foliage flush the last weekend in September and the first in October. On Columbus Day weekend more than 6,000 people set out in search of Monadnock's summit, making it the second-most populous place in Cheshire County - for a day.
"Our mountain is a comfortable little mountain," Newton F. Tolman from nearby Nelson wrote in North of Monadnock, in spite of the impassioned attempts by so many New England writers to endow it with the awesome majesty of an alp. He s right. Monadnock is the people's mountain, and with a choice of six trailheads to start from and 36 maintained trails (totaling 40 miles), there's something for everyone. If you ask, the park rangers (a friendly bunch) will give you a map of the less-crowded trails.
Anyone in reasonably good shape and well-equipped can make the climb. Wear stiff sneakers or hiking boots and carry food, water, and a warm sweater for the summit. Make it easier on the next to come and on the rangers (who pack out an estimated 500 pounds of garbage each year) by taking all you have brought in back out with you.
The shortest way to go (and one of the most popular routes) is the White Dot Trail. It leaves from the park headquarters and makes a direct line to the top in 1.9 steep miles. William Royce laid out the trail in 1900 and is said to have ridden his horse to the summit on this trail. But no horses (or dogs) are allowed on the mountain these days -- you'll have to go by foot. Better allow three to four hours round-trip for the climb.
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