Monadnock - Sunapee Greenway thru hike

[Slo-go'en]

Just got home from a 3 night/4 day thru hike of the Monadnock - Sunapee Greenway. As the name implies, this 48 mile trail starts at the summit of Mount Monadnock and ends at the summit of Mount Sunapee. If you add on the approach trails, it's 54 miles parking lot to parking lot. The trail is located in the SW part of New Hampshire. Mount Monadnock is the third most climbed mountain the world. (and you haven't climbed it yet?!)

What a great hike! If you don't have the time to thru hike New England, this trail gives you the full VT/NH/ME experience in only 54 miles. It's even well blazed with standard issue AT white blazes :) Judging from the shelter registers, Rafe and I were the 2nd and 3d to thru hike the trail this year, and #1 was just a day ahead of us doing a yo-yo. We only saw three other hikers, a group of young woman going south (we were NOBO) and I think they were only out for an overnight.

There are four very nice and clean shelters and one tent platform along the way. Since much of the trail traverses private land, you must camp at the designated sites and no campfires are allowed. About 1/3d the trail is on old woods roads (usually snow mobile trail), 1/3d rural dirt roads (with just a little paved road thrown in) and 1/3d foot trail. All in all the trail is pretty easy, but there are plenty of rock scrambles and steep (but short) climbs/decents along the way to make sure you know your hiking in NH and give you the opportunity to do some fancy foot work. The last 10 miles to Sunapee is a lot like the trail in Maine with a number of great views. You walk through several quaint and picturesque New Hampshire towns and even walk up a few driveways past peoples homes.

Rafe and I met up at Sunapee where we left one car and drove the other car to Monadnock. This is about the only practical way to thru hike this trail, but one could come up with some alternative methods. There's no public transportation and its a long way around between end points by car. Ideally you'd want to do this hike in the fall during foliage season. It would be spectacular. It might also be a bit busier then what we experienced, especially if your there on a weekend. We crossed a couple of very large blueberry patches (like acres big) which would be ripe for picking around the end of July. Picking blueberrys could slow you down :)

But be sure you have nice weather for the start and end days. We hiked up Monadonck in a cold, light rain and were lucky not to get hurt. It's a steep climb over slick, exposed granite ledges with poor footing when it's wet. The stiff wind at the summit didn't help. Our second day was still a little wet, but it finally cleared up late in the afternoon and our last 2 days had fantastic weather.

[psyculman]

Thanks for the report, always have wanted to do that, you put up some valuable information.

[1azarus]

++++I love that trail -- always glad to hear about it being hiked. don't forget it has blueberry fields that go on for miles when planning your hike...

[1azarus]

well, I mean when others are planning their hikes!

[iAmKrzys]

Did you use official trail map? I was in the area last year and I saw some info on-line about the trail at http://www.msgtc.org/, so I actually hiked two tiny sections of the trail and put it on OpenStreetMap: http://waymarkedtrails.org/en/relation/3888871#

[Slo-go'en]

Did you use official trail map? I was in the area last year and I saw some info on-line about the trail at http://www.msgtc.org/, so I actually hiked two tiny sections of the trail and put it on OpenStreetMap: http://waymarkedtrails.org/en/relation/3888871#

Yes. Spending the $15 for the official map and guide was money well spent and helps support the trail. The information presented on the MSGTC web site is pretty sparse, probably to encourage you to buy the guide.

[eblanche]

Nice! I'll be on the trail this weekend heading North from Monadnock. How are the water sources? I would assume plentiful but have heard/read mixed reports depending on time of year.

Where did you park at Monadnock? I have left my car in the main parking lot before but when I asked the people in the store, they wanted me to pay the $5 or however much it is now for each day my car was going to be there. I understand why they "charge" a fee and always pay up but that doesn't make sense when I won't be using the facilities at all other than the day I drop my car off.

Thanks

[Slo-go'en]

With all the rain recently there will be no problem finding water. However, the shelters are "dry". You should have the guide so you'll know where to fill up with water just before getting to the shelter. If you don't have a guide you can get one at the park camp store.

We parked in the main lot at Monadnock, basically in front of the camp store. They charged us a single day use fee of $5 per person, so it was $10 to park for the whole time we were gone. Although there are other places you could park, they are not secure and could result in either the car being towed, broken into or a S+R effort started. Be sure to tell them you will be gone a few days and when you expect to be back.

If you locate a car at Sunapee, there is no charge. They told me to park in "LOT 2", which is where staff parks so is reasonably secure.

Enjoy the hike!

[1azarus]

I've put the official trailmaps on a free app called maprika. Get the app and do a search. The app synchronizes maps with google so they are gps correct and work without cell reception.

[eblanche]

I've put the official trailmaps on a free app called maprika. Get the app and do a search. The app synchronizes maps with google so they are gps correct and work without cell reception.

Just Dl'ed all the maps. Thanks a lot!

[Treebeard89]

I literally just finished this with my brother! We started on Wednesday 6/10 and finished Saturday 6/13. We had a blast. We weren't too good at writing in every trail register. Ticks were BAD on the southern part of the trail so go prepared for that and don't forget your DEET. I'd love to do this trail again in the fall. The southern part also had a decent amount of dirt road walks and logging roads but they were still enjoyable. The trail is well marked. There is a general store in Washington NH where you can get a real meal. Map is decent, although I found a few errors which I can't remember at the moment.

[steveinct]

I am thinking about doing a NOBO end to end in September. Would you guys mind putting your itinerary in this thread? While studying the guide, it seems to set up well for a 5 day but then I feel like the days will be too short (but maybe not). I would love to know how people are braking it up if they do it in 3 or 4 days. Also, it would be great to hear if you would have made certain days longer or shorter now that you have completed the trail. Thanks in advance! I am getting psyched up about this trip!

[Slo-go'en]

Day 1: Monadnock SP parking lot, up White Dot trail to summit. Camped at Spilitor shelter. About 9 miles.

Would have been easier if the climb up Monadnock hadn't been in a cold rain. If it had been a nice day, we would have spent time at the summit instead of getting the heck off of it as quickly as possible. It also took a while to drive from Sunapee back to Monadnock, along with a detour to Jaffery for breakfast. But this allowed the heavy morning rain to tapper off a bit before we started our accent.

Day 2: Crider Shelter. 11.9 miles.

Pretty easy with mostly woods or dirt road walking. I would have preferred to go to Fox Creek tent platform for a 18.7 mile day, but we got a late start due to waiting for the early morning rain to mostly stop. The weather was also looking iffy for the evening, but as it turns out it cleared out around dusk.

Day 3: Max Israel shelter. 19.4 miles.

This was our longest and most difficult day, but with a late lunch at the Washington General store it wasn't too bad. This day had the most climbs, but their all just short 200-300 foot vertical grunts. This was a long day with an early start and a late finish, but we took some long breaks at the peaks with views and of course, lunch at the store.

Day 4: hike out to Sunapee parking lot. 13.4 miles to get to the car.

If we had gotten to Fox Creek on day 2, we could have made Moose Lookout shelter on day 3 and had a much shorter hike out on day 4.

[steveinct]

Awesome! I think I might work with your itinerary and probably try to make it to Fox Creek & Moose Lookout as you suggested. The nice part of that would be the option of cutting day three back and staying at Max if I am feeling toasted.

[eblanche]

Ticks were BAD on the southern part of the trail so go prepared for that and don't forget your DEET.

That's good to know. Worth it to bring bug head net?

Thanks

[Slo-go'en]

That's good to know. Worth it to bring bug head net? Thanks

Misquetos were a bit annoying, but no black flies to speak of last week. I used a bug bivy in the shelter to keep the sketers from buzzing around my head and my partner used his tent near the shelter.

I hike in long pants which I treated with Permethrin (along with my pack) just before leaving so I found no ticks on me. My partner who hiked in shorts and did not treat any clothes found two on him one day. There is one area where you hike through some overgrown trail (where all the blueberry bushes are) which is the problem area.

[steveinct]

Which bug bivy do you use in the shelters? I was thinking about grabbing one for this trip instead of sleeping in my tent.

[Slo-go'en]

Which bug bivy do you use in the shelters? I was thinking about grabbing one for this trip instead of sleeping in my tent.

I have a OR (Outdoor Research) bug bivy. Don't know if it has a specific model name. I pair it with a SMD Gatewood cape just in case I need rain protection too. The combo actually weighs more then my tent, but the tent I can't use in shelters. If your doing this hike in the fall, I doubt you'd need the bug bivy.

[steveinct]

Interesting. That makes me feel like I might as well just tent if I am not going to save much weight. That leads me to another question. I just cracked my MSG trail guide and it says nothing about tenting at the shelter sites. Is that allowed? Is there space for it? I hadn't even thought about that since I am used to the AT where there have always been tenting areas near the shelters in the areas I have been.

[Slo-go'en]

Fox creek has one big tent platform. The shelter sites did have room for tents, but not great ones, with the possible exception of the George Washington shelter. We didn't stay there so I didn't take a good luck at the area.

[steveinct]

Thank you for all your help Slo-go'en!

[eblanche]

Finished up my hike yesterday! Started late afternoon on Friday.

Day 1 - Spiltoir Shelter - ~8 miles

Day 2 - General Washington Shelter ~25 miles

Day 3 - Sunapee Lodge finishing up ~19 miles


I had a blast! Like previously mentioned, bring a lot of Deet (pref 100). With a little bit of Deet the bugs were not too bad. There is not much room at Gen. Washington Shelter but enough for tent. I would say there were a lot of road walks. Some were enjoyable and others were just long and boring lol.

I will def be back to enjoy the Sunapee Ridge and Mt. when it is not 50* rain and howling wind with little to zero views/visibility. The first two days of perfect sunny weather made up for it though.

[Slo-go'en]

Finished up my hike yesterday! Started late afternoon on Friday.

I will def be back to enjoy the Sunapee Ridge and Mt. when it is not 50* rain and howling wind with little to zero views/visibility. The first two days of perfect sunny weather made up for it though.

That must have been a heck of hike out yesterday in that storm, plus you missed all the good views :(

[eblanche]

Yes, I had great views out to about 30-40 feet then it looked like gray wind. I am very impressed in the amount of views this little trail provides. I'm sure Lake Solitude is gorgeous when it is nice out.

I did a blog post/journal entry about the trip if anyone wants to read/view some pics. No pictures from day three because of the weather and I didn't want to get my phone wet or run down the battery (phone died completely several minutes into the car ride back to my car). http://ericadventurehike.blogspot.com/2015/06/monadnock-sunapeegreenway-6-26-2015to-6.html and more pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/eric.christopher.16/media_set?set=a.10153483013541719.1073741861.58978 6718&type=1

[TrailManny]

We are meeting a friend from Maine for a quick overnight in the area. We are only looking to hike about 5 miles in to our campsite. What would you suggest?

Many years ago we climbed Mt. Monodnack on a Columbus Day weekend. What a zoo! It sounds like the rest of the trail is very quiet.

Cheers,

TrailManny

[Slo-go'en]

We are meeting a friend from Maine for a quick overnight in the area. We are only looking to hike about 5 miles in to our campsite. What would you suggest?

There are several possibilities, but without a trail map or guide to reference, you'd have no idea what I was talking about. The section between Sunapee and the town of Washington is the nicer section with a couple of shelters. I guess the easiest thing to do would be to go to Sunapee and hike south until you get to the first shelter, which would be Moose Lookout. That's like a 8.3 mile hike with the climb up Sunapee, but is fairly easy once you do get to the top of Sunapee and there are a bunch of good views along the way.

[eblanche]

We are meeting a friend from Maine for a quick overnight in the area. We are only looking to hike about 5 miles in to our campsite. What would you suggest?

Many years ago we climbed Mt. Monodnack on a Columbus Day weekend. What a zoo! It sounds like the rest of the trail is very quiet.

Cheers,

TrailManny

I would rec either start from Sunapee and head south or start from Monadnock and head north. First shelter from Monadnock is around 8 miles. If not either of those, my favorite part of the trail is probably the Andorra forest. If you could do a few miles over by the cascades, that would be nice. Not sure where the roads are for that. I don't have the map right in front of me.

[TrailManny]

Thanks for the advice. The trip may be postponed a week, so I have more time to plan. Does anyone have knowledge of Pillsbury State Park. I was thinking of a loop trip up Bear Pond Trail to the MSGT and camp at the Steve Galpin Shelter. We would check out the Lucias Lookout and return on the Five Summers Trail.

Are there tent sites at the shelter? Water Source?

All the best,

TrailManny

[Snowleopard]

That's good to know. Worth it to bring bug head net?

Thanks
I live fairly close to Monadnock at an elevation similar to a lot of the trail. Some summers the mosquitoes are horrible in the woods here. We've had a couple summers lately where the black flies lasted all summer!!! (: Bring a head net and deet. Also, as slo-go- en says, long pants treated with permethrin for ticks; Lyme disease is probably present. I carry a long sleeve shirt (and often wear it) and a headnet on my little local hikes. Sept or Oct would be great, with no bugs.

[eblanche]

long pants treated with permethrin for ticks; Lyme disease is probably present
Absolutely agree with you here. I found myself constantly checking my legs and all over. At one time I looked down and saw one tick on each of my legs right above the knee in the exact position. I got both in time before they bit though.

I USED 100% DEET and did not think the bugs were too bad. While stationary they were annoying but the deet took care of most of them. YMMV