Hiking / Walking – New England's Narrow Road

View from Pitcher Mountain

Here in New Hampshire we are having a gorgeous weather week with temps in the 80’s and 50’s (at night). With sunshine and low humidity, who could ask for more?

It’s a great week to get outside and hike, kayak, swim (take the dog) and pick local berries.

I am planning a trip to my favorite little mountain this week to see what I’ll find for blueberries. Pitcher Mountain is easy to climb and has fabulous panoramic views from the top. This time of year the place is loaded with blueberries – I just hope they are blue by now.

Roxy In the lake — Roxie wades in the lake to cool off

It is not necessary to get into the car and travel on a nice day. Sunny, warm days are perfect for walks and I currently live near a lake in a rural area. My landlady lets me take her dog Roxie with me, and we have loads of fun getting exercise together. On our way home I let Roxie take a dip, and she loves the water.

If we decide to go hiking, we have Mount Monadnock and Pack Monadnock (smaller) close by in the towns of Jaffrey and Peterborough in the southern area of the state. And if my son was younger we’d take another ride up to Ruggles Mine in Grafton. That is a cool place to visit and collect rocks.

Towers at mountaintop — At the Top of Pack Monadnock

Ever since I moved to this area of New Hampshire I’ve been driving over Temple Mountain and past Miller State Park where Pack Monadnock is located. It’s the smaller mountain with big, Mount Monadnock in the distance and I live so close that it was ridiculous not to hike the trails there.

Yesterday was sunny and gorgeous. With temps near 70 and clear skies, my teenage son and I drove about 10 minutes to the parking area of Pack Monadnock and then had to choose a trail to climb.
Knowing nothing except that there was a yellow trail – the Wapack Trail, and a blue trail, we chose the blue one and began our 1.4 mile trek to the top.

Now, 1.4 miles doesn’t sound like much, but to someone who doesn’t hike much, it turned out to be a strenuous little hike for me. All together it took us about 2 hours, with a short stop at the top. However, coming back down was not easy either as we chose the other trail – yellow – which turned out to be very rocky, but with great views of Mount Monadnock. The yellow trail seemed to be very well worn and I assume it is the most used. The blue trail was narrower and in the woods, without views. Next time I would hike the opposite way – go up on yellow and down on blue. Live and learn.

Don’t expect great views from the top either – unless you still have energy to climb the tower! There are probably great views from up there. There is a sign that points to “Boston views” and I got a photo, but the trees partially covered the view.
The top of Pack Monadnock has a road and parking area, with picnic tables and a bathroom, but it does not have a clear 360 degree view like other mountains I’ve climbed. One spot has a nice view of Mount Monadnock as you can see in my photo below. And you’ll get other views like this on the yellow trail. There is an Auto Road to the top so you don’t have to climb the trails, and it costs money to use it, but it was closed yesterday. Read more at the Miller State Park site.

Here are some of my photos of what you will see on the Pack Monadnock hike.