1147. Packing North with Ted and Carolyn and Cliff - 2-4 miles
Peterborough, NH
Dec 2020

For much of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, New Hampshire has been the only other "local" state to which we Rhode Islanders have had continued access. Consequently, we have been looking for new uncrowded trails to hike up there that we haven't already done many times in the past. For example, we have had very little interest in climbing Mount Monadnock again, since we had already climbed that mountain literally dozens of times from all sides in all seasons, mostly in the 70's and 80's, so why would we want to climb that one yet again now, when $15 reservations are being required and it is still far too crowed?

Another good option, however, presented itself recently in the case of North Pack Monadnock. That mountain, too, we had climbed several times before, years ago while packing through on the Wapack Trail and such. Just recently, though, we noted that there were a couple of newer trails now showing up on maps as heading up the northeastern flank of the mountain from Old Mountain Road. The large parking lot for the northern end of the Wapack Trail had too many cars in it by our standards, but the small parking lot for the newer trails about a mile or so further east down the road was practically empty. So, we decided to go up the trails with Ted and Carolyn and didn't meet a single other hiker the whole way until we caught up with Cliff near the top, and continued with Cliff a short distance right to the summit! There at the summit was a very large cairn, and just to the south of it an appropriate sign for the trail we had just come up on, with a small sitting rock behind it. Sitting on that rock facing away from the large summit cairn and reaching down with left hand under the pointy part of the adjacent rock to carefully remove a 6" flat stone will hopefully reveal a small 1" travelin' light stone with the trail name on back, carved while sitting on this very spot!

Now, we realize that this hike may not be for everybody, and especially not for those who just seem to want to accumulate lots and lots of quick and easy stamps, sometimes perhaps to the point that more than half of their so-called "finds" might come just from "gathering-hopping"! However, we do know that there are at least a handful of true traditional letterboxers out there who still enjoy a nice quiet hike, so this one is for them. Hope you enjoy this lovely hike as much as we did with Ted and Carolyn and Cliff, or with whatever other company you might choose to keep! ;-)

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