Hiked On August 22, 2025

Legend has it that Mount Monadnock is the second-most climbed mountain in the world after Mt. Fuji.  It tracks.  Like Fuji it is relatively close to major population centers.  It is easy to get to.  It is hard...but not too hard.  Why the heck would you not climb it?  This is what we did a few weeks ago.  I have climbed it many times, actually.  It is a wonder that I cannot find a record of it on this blog!

The usual first-time hike up is on the "White Dot" trail, which is kind of too bad.  There is nothing wrong with going that way.  It's just...well...it is steep and crowded.  Knowing that there will be plenty of people at the top, why not take a less traveled route?  On this day we went up "Old Halfway House" to "Monte Rosa Trail" then down "White Arrow".  Our reasoning has already been mentioned.  Also, it is the first hike of our new project.  After "section hiking" the Mid State Trail, we have decided to hike the Metacomet-Monadnock/New England Trail.  This project will be a bit longer...and it will take us right past my house.  So that is fun.  Anyway, the "M&M" starts with the White Arrow, so that is where we started, too.

Actually we started White Arrow at the top.  First we went to take a look at Monte Rosa.  It is a trail that Allison and I had climbed before. Old Halfway House trail started from the parking lot at a moderate steepness.  After a while it split to create the top of our "lollipop loop" for the day. We took the Monte Rosa trail to our left and things got steeper. We would take White Arrow down to that same intersection on our way back.

The smaller peak is more lightly climbed and is worth a visit.  The view of Monadnock is lovely.  It also creates a sense of remoteness that is in short supply on this mountain.  While there we met a couple of other hikers.  Both of them were very chatty and wanted to let us know how much they loved the mountain.  That was good to hear.  All natural places need their passionate lovers these days.

In my previous post I compared Mount Williams in Massachusetts to Mount Monadnock and said Williams is harder.  In the case of our hike today (see my note at the end), it was definitely true.  However, every hike is strenuous in some way.  There are steep parts and challenging bits.  Monte Rosa/Monadnock is no slouch in either department so we took care in our ascent. Emerging onto our first peak of the day we were rewarded with a most excellent view.

The hike between peaks is relatively straightforward, though the scrambles begin in earnest shortly after leaving Monte Rosa. Stay patient.  You will get there.  As we went, we saw more people converging from different directions.  This is normal.  Then we hit the peak and saw the usual 360 views one can catch there on a good day.  Usually windy, things were relatively calm so we sat and enjoyed our lunch before heading back.

It can be a bit confusing finding the right trail back.  There are plenty of options and they do not all go to the same parking lot!  Most of the main trails have names that are symbols--White Dot, White Cross, White Arrow, etc--look for those symbols! We all know people who didn't and had to climb back up to the top to get back down to their cars.

I do not have a lot of pictures of the first part of the hike down.  White Arrow is very tricky in places.  There are scrambles and vertigo-inducing moments.  This, sadly (or not sadly, depending on your tolerance for these things), is true for most of the trails.  Be prepared!  We made it.  So can you.  One advantage of the slow pace and the need to problem-solve is that you are exercising your brain.  Also, you save on water. It is good to save on water...right?

There isn't much more to add.  Once we got to the split between White Arrow and Monte Rosa we were ready to get down so, like many people before us, we got on to the Halfway House Road (a literal access road) and strolled down in relative comfort.  In a couple of weeks we will be back to snag a little part of the M&M trail that we missed and keep heading on south to the ocean.

Note: There are harder and easier ways up Monadnock and it is worth doing some research.  One of the steepest and least interesting (in my opinion) loops is achieved by taking "White Dot" up and "White Cross" down.  These trail heads are right by the bathrooms at the main parking lot.  Plenty of people take this way not knowing what they are getting into. They may not even know they have options. It is rough!  It is also crowded and--while plenty of people are enjoying themselves--there will be a number of people--not all of them children--experiencing their own drama. 

I have done White Dot to White Cross at least three times and I bet there are a few more times that I don't remember. When I want to challenge myself in that way I climb taller, less crowded peaks.  When I want to experience this incomparable mountain, I find different ways. For an early explore of this mountain, I recommend "Birchtoft-to-Red Dot" or just take the Dublin Trail.  They will also kick your butt, but you will have a better time.  Or just do Monte Rosa, have a picnic, and go down....

Hiked On August 16, 2025

If you want to be no fun at parties when the topic of hiking in the Berkshires comes up, you can mention the fun fact that Mount Greylock--the shining star of Berkshire County and the highest point in Massachusetts--is actually part of the Taconic Range  and not in the Berkshires at all. The same can be said for the entire "Greylock Range," including Saddle Ball, Prospect, Fitch and Williams, among others.  The tallest point in the actual Berkshire Range (also the Hoosic Range) is Crum Hill, which is mostly in Franklin County...and you can't climb it because of a wind farm at the top.

There...party buzz killed.  You are welcome.  We went up Mount Williams recently to get in shape for Mount Monadnock after that long hiatus from "serious" hiking which I have mentioned in earlier posts.  It was a fabulous climb.  However, at almost seven miles and around 2,400 feet of elevation gain (as an out-and-back)...we should have reversed the mountains! It may not be as legendary as Monadnock, but Williams hits harder.

In any case, it was a great hike.  The weather was beautiful and--while hot--not as bad as most of the summer has been.  There were a bunch of Appalachian Trail through-hikers heading north which kept us on our toes.  Most of them were friendly.  A few were trying to eat up the miles to Katahdin and shot past as if we were trees in the way.  That was fine, too.  We weren't there to hang out with them either. 

The only thing to say about the start of the hike is that there is a gun range nearby!  The first mile or so is flat...but there can be gunfire...very, very close gunfire. We kept moving, of course, and I suspect that--knowing that they are adjacent to a state park--they have kept the guns pointed away from us.

After the gun range, the trail began to climb.  There were a few actual switchbacks which is a rarity in New England but much appreciated both by us and the cruising through-hikers.  The incline was steady and moderately steep with no real scrambles or hazards.  Then, after another mile, the trail opened up to a view of Williamstown and Williams College in the distance. Yes, they are all named after the same person.  Ephraim Williams was a militia colonel and landowner who died during the French and Indian War.  The war was part of a larger series of conflicts somewhat confusingly named the French and Indian Wars (note the "s").  He died in Lake George, New York in 1755 near the close of the entire series.  

Along the way we met a fellow hiker and his dog. He mentioned that while he was researching this hike, a great deal of the reports stopped at the overlook.  We concluded that probably there were a substantial number of people who thought it was the top!  In actuality there is an intersection right at the view.  Straight-on leads to Mount Prospect.  A turn left (and down) leads to the actual peak of Williams still over a mile away.  This final stage is a mixed experience.  The forest is pretty.  However the trail undulates at the moment when our legs were getting tired.  Of course, it undulated on the return trip too! Near the peak, one crosses the access road to Mount Greylock, itself.  It can be a strangely dispiriting experience to be reminded that your six-plus mile hike could have been under one mile.

Still, the "hard way" was the best way this particular day. Mount Williams is worth the time and effort.  Yes, the title of Massachusetts' fourth-tallest is a somewhat unimpressive one.  However, it is a workout and an adventure.  With great nature and good views.

I am just starting to see the change of colors on the mountain this week.  It comes off as a spectrum of green, mostly.  However, recently it has been a fairly uniform wall, like a hedge that has grown well out of proportion.  Now it is noticeably more diverse. Up on the ledge the various hardwoods are slowly turning to their cold-weather state. The fluffy darker pines continue as if nothing is happening.

​No doubt species will have something to do with what our impending palette will be.  I suspect there are roughly equal numbers of sugar and red maples, for example.  There are also oak and ash.  Maybe there are a few birches too.  Each will have its own way of going about the change of seasons.  Also, some are on rock shelves that I can see from the porch. For others the soil or water may be more plentiful.  I know from my own explorations that there are a few small drainage streams wending their way to the Millers.  Their mini-biomes seem rich to my untrained eye. 

Anyway, I have noticed the trees noticing the beginning of the transitional season of fall. The weather is colder, too...just a little.  It even rained this week!  Most of the grasses are still very dead.  Yet one can have hope for August and September.  It has been nice not to mow...but only in a way.  I am very busy with church and family and don't mind dropping a task.  That said, it does feel strange.  The earth is changing in ways that seem obvious to some and less to others.

During the heat wave and drought, I put together a new composter.  The house came with one of those black vertical barrels featuring a small door at the bottom.  The critters figured it out well before I got here.  I "upgraded" to a rotating one, which may buy me some time.  Realistically, though, it is also a stopgap.  In the end I will be building a keyhole garden...hopefully in September.  Then I will fill it with leaves, vegetable bits, and finished compost over the winter. Then I will plant it out in the spring. 

This makes sense to me. Both the old and the new composters I have now are built for the suburbs. I don't really live there anymore. You have to accept that there is more wildlife than domestic and they will have their way. I would have just gone straight to some other plan but I don't have the time. The problem is that there are still stumps to pull where the keyhole bed will go.  One can only move so fast...

Thinking about compost has been a good exercise.  The magic of transforming "waste" into "fertility" preaches without my help.  I feel it.  The old and battered and used gets--not discarded but--stored in a sort of dark, warm sabbath container.  Then out of that rolling barrel--or bin or dirt pile--something new comes of it.  That new thing, though is very different.  A handful of finished compost derived from pounds of kitchen scraps, leaves, and newspaper is more altered than a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon a butterfly.  I think compost is a better metaphor for the transformation many of us look for.  We settle for butterfly. Who doesn't celebrate when we manage it! Still, compost is the harbinger of the new thing.  We change not so much to alter ourselves but to alter the world, right?

Anyway, that is all for now.  I am looking forward to the changes, seasonal, agricultural, and otherwise. Who know what will come of us or the world?  We shall see.  Let's do our best to make the location wherever we end up into a fertile place.

Hiked On August 8, 2025

We managed to get out on a hot Friday for a warm-up hike over Mount Toby in Sunderland, MA.  Every state seems to have a Mount Toby so it is worthwhile noting the address.

We have been trying to get back up to "hiking shape" lately.  Allison has been wrapping up her doctoral work.  I have been getting settled in my new congregation.  We both engaged in an elaborate move. I put in a small garden and have been stretching myself with a great deal of "new owner" activities that have left me a tad fragile. Normally we are climbing 4,000 footers this time of year.  However, we aren't really ready for that just yet.  This hike--a 6 mile loop with a short spur that ends with a brisk climb totaling around 1,000 feet of elevation--was designed to get us moving once again.

Readers of this weblog will know that we already climbed a couple of local mountains across the street from our house. This time we drove 15 minutes to the Mount Toby State Forest.  Yes, this is part of why we moved west to Franklin County.  We--and especially I--have spent a lot of time out here in nature.  Now the commute is so much easier to manage.  It was a little eerie, in fact, to hop in the car with our gear, not stop for snacks, and end up at the trailhead in the amount of time it took to drink my first cup of coffee.

There are a number of places to park along the perimeter of the State Forest.  There is a veritable nest of trails, many of which intersect with a road. We chose one of the longer approaches for the reasons I already mentioned.  We needed the practice! On All Trails our route is labeled as "Mount Toby via Sugar Farms to Summit to Tower Loop".  It may go without saying that those are the trail names...but I said it anyway.  We went counter-clockwise to hit the mountain last.  Going the other way, I suspect, would have been a bit easier.  My legs were pretty tired by the time I hit the foot of the main ascent.  If that thing was just a little taller we would be having a different sort of conversation.

The highlight of the long approach was the spur off Sugar Farms Trail to the "Caves".  They weren't actually all that cave-like.  However...they were massive holes in the ground and that was fun.  We spent some time there exploring and then moved on.  The trail up to that point was fairly accessible and the caves seemed to be a popular picnic spot.  There were a few other groups there and evidence of at least one more.  The caves themselves seemed best not to mess with.

Things remained flat for quite a while after returning to the main trail.  We passed through a forest of mixed trees and vegetation.  In many places the canopy was rather thin, particularly where maples dominated.  There we found a number of grassy areas which created multiple pleasing layers of green.

Heading up was--as I mentioned before--a bit of a chore for me.  Al sprinted ahead shouting warnings and encouragement as I grappled with the steepest parts.  I kept going by reminding myself that I was the one who chose the route for the day.  Also, I remembered that we have some bigger plans soon.  With this in mind, powering through was the only choice!  My personal philosophy is that all hikes are hard.  It depends on the day and the body whether we breeze through whatever challenge faces us.  Still, it was a good, solid test for things to come.  It could, for someone else, be an ultimate goal to work up to!  That is also fine. It is a lovely way to spend the day.

We didn't see anyone along our long, looping approach.  However, there were a few groups at the top, happily lining up to get the view from the fire tower.  The tower is the only panoramic view.  However, the general forest walk was also pretty. We went down the way they came along a relatively short--maybe around 2 miles--relatively gentle service road.  That was nice, too, though the gravel fill used to top the dirt road was slippery in places.  There were a number of other side-trails each promising a different distraction.  However, those will be for another day.

​ We hit the car with little trouble.  I suggest finding your own route to the top.  Bring plenty of water and snacks.

Earlier I mentioned two other hikes in the area.  ​Here are my posts for Mount Tom and The Seven Sisters.  These are both old posts from my "How It Began" series.

Today the air is a little better than it has been.  I can look up to the ledges on Rattlesnake Mountain and the haze is less obvious.  Still, you can tell there are forest fires in Canada. It feels like an annual event.  The local government reminds us that breathing is a risk right now.  We do it anyway. Yesterday every other person I saw looked like they had just wrapped up an hour-long crying jag. Thank you, particulates! Conservatives seem to think that by making Climate Change illegal it will go away.  Thoughts and prayers can't change the weather no matter how hard one tries.

There is plenty of evidence this summer of nature's presence intersecting with ours. A couple days ago an adult black bear walked by the back deck and out to the front driveway before heading north toward the mountain. I think we were just part of its commute.  The bear was massive. We had to delay dinner as Allison waited in the car until it had moved on. 

It has been a long time since I saw one.  I am not sure I have ever seen a bear in this particular context.  We live on a fairly dense street.  However, it is a dead end and there is forest all around us.  Hiking in Maine and New Hampshire we see them but not as close.  We stay away from them and they from us. We definitely do not feed them!  A bear that sees people as sources of food does not fear humanity. Then they are a danger and sometimes have to be relocated or killed. It is another sad story of human encroachment and human ignorance when it comes to the natural world.  The cops said we only have to call them if they get into the garbage. Otherwise, we are all trying our best in the space we have been given.

In other news, I managed to do something to my back on the journey to getting a new fridge.  As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, we got the smallest full-sized refrigerator we could find.  This necessitated removing the outside door to get it into our  vintage 1970's pocket-kitchen.  Our house has good bones but the idea that people would socialize where the food is made was foreign to the builders.  The kitchen was definitely an after-thought. One theory is that they had servants when the house was built in the 1890's. Anyway, I blame the door for a certain awkwardness in my moving about this week. We have a composter that needs assembly...but it will have to wait.

Yesterday As a rehab walk, I braved the hideous air and went over to Energy Park to check out the native plant garden.  It is a short stroll from my office.  I am still thinking meadow thoughts for next year and find it helpful to see some actual plants in the ground.  One can only get so far with the description on the tag; "heavy spreader, reaches 3'-6' tall." The park has a little exhibit that helps explain what I am looking at as well. This weekend we managed to get to the "Bridge of Flowers" which is rehabbing as well.  They had labels, too.  It was our first drive west of Greenfield since we moved.

​Other than that, there are small tasks that I think I can handle.  The yard-demolition continues.  When I can manage it, I cut vines here and there. Some of them are like tree trunks themselves.  It has been a long time since an attempt was made.

There is not much more to say.  Life in summer moves fast then it moves slow, even if you aren't on vacation.  Hopefully next week I will be able to report on a hike or two.  However...I do hear the heat is coming back...