Monadnock Bound!
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
In some new shoes.
Chinese Philosopher
Mount Monadnock, here we come!
Bobby, my Boston bestie, says he wants to climb this great New England peak, in nearby New Hampshire.
I have done a fair number of the White Mountains (New Hampshire) and Green Mountains (Vermont), but I have never been up Monadnock.
So I am extremely pumped!
Bobby wanted to break in some new hiking shoes.
So we began our training with a walk around Spot Pond, near where we grew up in Melrose, Massachusetts.
Mount Monadnock is a monadnock: “a huge chunk of erosion-resistant rock that remains above broad, flat land worn away by water, wind and glaciers”.
According to this super-groovy book.
Here we are during the pregame warmup.
Note the new shoes.
And Gigi photobombing us.
(Photo courtesy of Lovely Laura).
Spot Pond was originally known as Spots Pond, named because of its many spots (islands).
Here is one of the spots.
The pond is a reservoir for the area’s drinking water.
It is now used as a backup, as the water for local communities is pumped from Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts.
Spot Pond is very clean. And very cold.
They knew early on that Spot Pond Brook had a serious drainage problem.
I can attest to this. Our house at 33 Converse Lane in Melrose, in the valley below the pond, was flooded repeatedly.
I remember going down into the basement one spring morning to see our dog, Shady Lady, swimming in the frigid snow runoff.
Sunday was a beautiful day for a hike. Sunny as hell.
In the mid-30s. Just a slight breeze.
The month of March in New England
is very different from the month of March in England.
New England.
England.
Sunday’s jaunt was just the first of many. Hopefully we will be ready for Monadnock by late summer or early fall.
Our high school classmate Sharon would like to join us for the assault on the summit.
She would make a worthy Aramis to our Athos and Porthos!
Her basecamp in Munsonville, New Hampshire, is only a few miles from Monadnock State Park.
It would provide the perfect staging area for our mission.
A little hydrotherapy would be an excellent postgame activity.
As well as a festivity!
Granite Lake, here we come!
Bobby’s new shoes held up well.
As did my friend.
Bring on the mountain, Baby!
