W1/HA-118 Little Monadnock

It was the last day of the year where I had both nice weather and access to a car, so I took advantage of it to get two more peaks. First up was Little Monadnock, the last of the peaks with "Monadnock" in their name. The best trailhead seemed to be Rhododendron State Park, so I drove over. The main parking lot was gated and unplowed, but there was plenty of space to park outside the gate.

One of the rhododendrons in the grove.

The trail passes through part of the grove before a well-signed junction turns off to the summit. The trail was well packed, and I had no trouble following it. The first part of the trail is fairly flat, winding through the woods. It then climbs up to the ridge, where it intersects with the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. Turn left here, and continue up to the summit.

Well marked summit.

You'll know you're there when you get to the big summit sign. Since I hadn't seen anyone else, I just set up in the clearing, strapping my pole to the sign post. It was still early enough that I got some good EU DX on 20m. It was also much warmer sitting on top, so I spent more time than I had on other activations. I even tried 17m, where I worked some more Europeans.

Mt Monadnock in the distance.

The cell service was good on top. Once I started to get cold, I packed up and headed back down, retracing my steps. I passed a few people heading up, and was soon back at the car. There was plenty of daylight left, so I headed over to Gap Mountain.

Trailhead: Rhododendron State Park
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the trail into the grove, then turn right onto the summit trail. Left on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail once on the ridge.
Red Tape: None.

The woods feel so open in the winter.