Copy/Repost Hike

It was an absolutely wonderful, fun and carefree day for the five us hiking the challenging, 9-mile Pumpelly Trail on Mount Monadnock!  Although the weather was predicted to be mostly cloudy, it actually turned out to be mostly sunny with some clouds, making for excellent hiking conditions and breathtaking views all around us.  The hike is a stenuous one, mainly because of its length (it's the longest trail up the Mount by far) and one long, very steep stretch of the trail.  Also, there's a lot of climbing over exposed and sometimes, short, steep stretches on the massively exposed summit area.  Although we didn't encounter too many people on the trail (except for hop-scotching with one family with cute rug-rats!), the summit of the Mount was a bit crowded, as it tends to be on a good day - after all, it's the second most hiked mountain in the world (after Mount Fujiyama in Japan)!  The views from the top were staggeringly beautiful - and Jeff made a good attempt to identify the numerous distant peaks to the north and east, including Mount Ascutney and the White Mountains.  Our nice, restful lunch stop was followed by the long descent - and the panoramic views were even more breathtaking and awesome on the way down!  After the long, 7-hour hike we finally reached the trailhead at about 5 pm and had a much-deserved rest over a little tail-gating with cider, beers and munchies.  What a great adventure with great guys - Ricardo, Russ, Jeff and Mark!  Ed   

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