| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Monadnock, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pumpelly Trail, Cascade Link, Spellman Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, October 9, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Roadside parking along paved Lake Rd. There were a lot of cars already at 9am. Make sure to obey the parking signs. It should never "overflow" you may just need to walk a ways along the road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Pretty trivial but there is a small hop across crossing at the start of what I believe was Spellman Trail (maybe Cascade Link?) that is atop a falls where you wouldn't want to lose your footing. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
As the guidebook says, Pumpelly Trail is not really blazed, at least not down low; easy to follow but sometimes it feels like there's more of congruent herd paths rather than one clear trail. Above treeline, it's marked with occasional blaze and cairns. Coming off the summit, other than an initial arrow or sign pointing you in the right direction, it's not marked for a short ways and could be very difficult to follow. Trail signs are intact but note that there is not a sign but just trail names painted on ledge at the jct of Spellman and Pumpelly Trails. Cascade Link is marked with yellow disks and I think regularly so; not hard to follow. Spellman Trail I believe was blazed in white. Could be a little tricky to know which way to go at times along the ledge. There's a leaner/widow maker about a half hr into Pumpelly Trail and another bent over tree or two on another trail I believe but by and large the trails were clear of blowdowns. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pets are prohibited on Mt Monadnock. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
We found a pair of hiking poles on the short section of Cascade Link in between Spellman and Red Spot Trail. We left them there for fear that someone left them there while using the bathroom or something but in retrospect, something likely mistakenly left them there and we should have brought them down. |
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 | Comments: |
A nice, cool, sunny day for an SNH redline for me and another 52WAV for the CCC. We ascended Pumpelly, then took Cascade Link down to Red Spot Trail, then back up to Spellman which we took back to Pumpelly which we took to the summit. We followed Pumpelly Trail all the way down but be sure not to make an erroneous left hand turn that takes you to a driveway shown on Gaia which you could take back down to the road but shouldn't. Pumpelly Trail starts off gradual and then gets steeper as it climbs the NE ridge of the mountain. Overall, I wouldn't describe the trail as steep, though there certainly are steep, rugged, and some scrambly pitches. The trails were very muddy and wet at times and Cascade Link had some water flowing down it as a brook follows then seems to cross it; very beautiful. I wouldn't describe the trails as hard to follow but note that Pumpelly Trail isn't blazed much and is hard to follow down from the summit for a was as no cairns or blaze are visible for a bit, and Spellman Trail can be a little tricky to follow around the scrambles. The hardest scrambles were on Spellman Trail (though overall not as rough a trail as I thought it would be; the steep part felt like it was over pretty quick) and some tricky spots on Pumpelly, namely between Spellman and Red Spot I believe where there was a difficult pitch with some very slick quartz that people were sliding down not realizing how slick it would be. There was also a bit of a bottleneck here as people were really taking their time. Pumpelly Trail was not crazy crowded, but the summit was. Gaia had us at a little over 9mi and about 2200ft of gain.
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney and the CCC |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-10-10 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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