It was a lovely day for a hike. We had intended on taking the
Wapack Trail to the summit of
Pack Monadnock today, but realized that we had our dog TJ with us (no, he wasn't named after my Jeep), and a moment's thought regarding his feet and the fact that he was as out of shape as the rest of us, and we opted to walk the road.
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| Looking up the summit road from the seasonal gate. |
The summit road is actually quite a nice little road. Personally, I think it would make for a great venue for an amateur hillclimb contest. With a number of S curves, one serious hairpin curve and massive elevation changes in many cases mid turn it would represent a pretty enjoyable competition.
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| Uphill S complex looking east |
Motorsport potential aside, the summit road runs 1.3 miles from the parking lot to the summit. Quite steep in places, even this short walk presented some challenge as TJ was getting tired (as were we all, frankly) and would sit down in every pile of snow on the side of the road that we came across. An Alaskan Husky and Australian Shepherd cross, TJ is very much a snow dog and with all that long hair of his, he was not only getting tired, but quite warm as well.
The walk up took right around an hour (we were clearly not in a hurry) and we stayed at the summit for awhile enjoying the company of some fellow hikers and taking pictures of the views from the top. A small snack for a little bit of energy and we made our way back down, once again taking the summit road.
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| The hairpin turn viewed from above (looking east) |
The whole trip took less than three hours, from parking, to the summit and back to the Jeep. A good hike and a lot of fun for the family on a nice Sunday afternoon.
