This past week we hiked Mt. Monadnock.
Bill and Becky picked Deb and I up at our house at about 2:30pm on Friday afternoon in preparation of staying the night at Becky's brother Duffy's house in Hinsdale, New Hampshire before our hike on Saturday morning.
We traveled north through Springfield, and continued on over the New Hampshire state border, chatting almost the entire way, enjoying each others company. Eventually we made it to Keene, NH where we planned to meet Duffy and his wife Linda at Papagallos Restaurant for dinner. Introductions were all around. We finished up our dinner and then drove over to Duffy and Linda's house, watched a little tv, and then climbed into bed.
Because of the rainy weather during the night, we decided to wait till mid morning to head out so that the sun could dry the trail out as much as possible. After a few cups of coffee, with a shot or two of Bailey's of course, and a little breakfast, we thanked Duffy for his hospitality and headed for the base of the mountain.
We arrived at the base of the mountain at about 10:30am, mounted our backpacks, water jugs, and cameras, and planned on hiking the White Dot Trail to the top.
Here we are, below, at the half-way point.
After we climbed above the tree line, we took a good break and snapped the following shots.
We continued on to the top and then celebrated with another "feet around the world" shot.
And again, celebrations all around with us at the summit.
We eventually made it back down the mountain while following the White Cross Trail.
After spending some time at the Mt. Monadnock gift shop, we changed out of our wet shirts and socks and leasurly headed back south toward home to find something to eat. We ended up at a very casual restaurant called the Four Leaf Clover in Bernardston, Massachusetts. Very highly recommended.
ok, folks... Lets do it again next week.
Next we do Mt. Washington!
Joe
