Hiking Mt. Monadnock

Mt. Monadnock is a moderately difficult hike well-suited for a day trip from Boston with rewarding panoramic views.

While there are multiple paths up the mountain, the most commonly traversed are the White Dot and White Cross trails, both of which are appropriately labeled with white markings on rocks along the trail. The hike is roughly two miles each way, but quickly ascends 2000 feet. As White Cross is easier to descend because of its gentler slope, a common route is going up on White Dot and coming down on White Cross.

The Hike

I went with my girlfriend on a hot summer day in July. The humidity at the base of the mountain magnified the heat, and the dense forest nullified any hopes of a breeze. (Our fault for hiking in a heatwave; I imagine the weather isn’t like this for most of the year.) On our way up, we passed by a deer who didn’t seem to care about people (it let us get within ten feet of it!). Some physicians I’ve been with would claim this behavior is a sign of a prion disease or rabies… but who knows.

This deer let us get super close! It was just chilling and didn’t care about people at all.

After an initial flat bit, the hike quickly transitioned to a steep incline as we scurried on top of large boulders. We appreciated having our hiking boots on, especially with the sharp rock edges. About an hour or so in we got our first view through the trees.

The views once you get above the tree line are fantastic.

It starts to get a lot breezier without the trees, which we enjoyed on that humid day. The hike flattened out for a while again before continuing with the brisk elevation gain. Some of the slopes felt like they were at a 30-45 degree incline, so for the last push up the summit we were using our hands quite a bit! It wasn’t helping that the rocks can get quite hot in the summer.

The views just get better as you ascend.

With frequent breaks, we were able to scale to the top in two hours. Make sure to bring some snacks or a nice packed lunch for the summit to enjoy while savoring the spectacular views; our sandwiches were a welcome break from the climb. Apparently on a clear enough day you can see Boston, though the humidity on our trip added some haziness to the horizon.

As the mountains surrounding Mt. Monadnock are not as tall, you get really wide reaching vistas.

We then made the journey back to the parking lot on the White Cross trail. Going down isn’t as satisfying once you dive back into the cover of the trees, but at a quick pace we returned in an hour and a half.

Getting There

Driving to Mt. Monadnock is fairly straightforward as there aren’t any rough gravel or stone paths, though the windy two lane roads gave me some headache as I got stuck behind a slow driver and there wasn’t much room to pass. You can reserve a parking spot in advance through their website, which is not a bad idea as apparently they turn away cars once the lot is full. Also note that the park rangers recommend bringing at least two liters of water per person on a hot summer day! We only brought three 24-ounce bottles (just over two liters for both of us) and would definitely have appreciated more water.