MARCH 12 - Mount Monadnock

Successfully summited Monadnock yesterday with Mandy, Ben, and Beth! We started around 11:30 with a cloudy sky, and fairly warm temps. Down to 2 layers by the first 1/5 mile. We took the white dot to Cascade link and up the Red Spot trail, which meets up with Pummelly to the summit. Trail was mostly packed snow, although Red Spot was slightly less traveled and if you stepped off the main pack you could sink to your knees or more in the snow! Red Spot was a really nice trail, we hiked next to a bubbling stream most of the way up, and lots of great views to the valley below! As we reached tree line it got icier and windier! Glad to have my microspikes today! I took them off as we reached the rock near the top, where the wind has blown all the snow off, just leaving pockets of ice here and there. We didn't stay long at the top. It was beautiful but VERY windy! The clouds broke just as we left the summit, and we enjoyed a few seconds of bright blue sky :) before starting our descent down the White Dot trail. A slippery hike down! We made it back to the main parking lot in just under 4 hrs. A great hike!