View Full Version : The Trail North of the New England Trail: access to Mount Monadnock
Has anyone hiked the trail between the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail and the New England Trail? Is it reasonably well blazed? Is it a nice walk? I am close to finished hiking the New England Trail, hiked the Monadnock-Sunapee Trail a few years ago, and am curious about connecting them...
Slo-go'en
04-04-2017, 15:05
There does not seem to be a way to connect the end of the NET to Monadnock, at best it would be a round about road walk.
There does not seem to be a way to connect the end of the NET to Monadnock, at best it would be a round about road walk.Wrong. The old Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, that was the basis of the NET, continued from the NH border to the top of Monandnock. IIRC, the NH section was a mix of dirt roads and trail with a short paved roadwalk thrown in. I actually hadn't realized that the NH section had been removed when they designated the NET--but I'll bet dollars to donuts that one or more Republican legislators from NH wanted it removed.
I don't know if the old trail is still blazed, but I'll bet you can find it. If you want to hike this section (I recall it being pretty pleasant--you go over little Monandnock, which was sort of fun, and there was some very pleasant walking on forest roads), your best bet would be to find an old map or guide book. I still have my old MM Trail guide from the Berkshire AMC. And it looks like it's still available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=metacomet-monadnock
Thank you burger! I just ordered it. Sounds like it might be a little-travelled jewel. Thru hiking from sunapee to the Long Island sound would be a sweet trip. I know I shouldn't whine about my average three days at a time woods experience, but the long trip is always calling!
And you, mr. slo go en, can make it up to me by giving me a shuttle ride!
I'm hiking the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway this spring, and I was looking at extending the trip on the Metacomet-Monadnock trail. Lots of good info out there if you google it. Here's a good link to start at: https://amcberkshire.org/mmguide
Slo-go'en
04-04-2017, 20:00
And you, mr. slo go en, can make it up to me by giving me a shuttle ride!
I stand corrected. I'd shuttle you if I wasn't a 4 hour ride north of there.
...thanks for the tip. I got the MM trail guide, and it does have quite good maps of the NH section right through Monadnock. Looks like hiking Little Monadnock on the way is a treat. I will scan and post a gps synched map from the NH/MA border to Monadnock on Maprika next week when I have a chance...
39105
Well, after getting the 2005 edition of the Metacomet-Monadnock and comparing it to some more recent shared hiker tracks, it looks like the old guidebook just doesn't match up any more... so I've attached a frankenstein composite of maps to show the NET north of Lake Wyola, right across the NH border and through to Monadnock. I hope it is of some use to others. I've also uploaded it to the phone ap Maprika, where it is GPS synchronized... If anyone uses this, please let me know so I'll know how dependable it is when I actually hike that section!
I hiked the section between the NET MA/NH border and Mt Monadnock in Fall 2015. It was very well blazed (White Blazes), and well maintained. Lots of info including a great interactive map is here: https://nhmmtrail.org/get-on-the-trail/map
Unfortunately, I believe there is no sanctioned camping on the trail, despite there being plenty of good places to practice LNT "stealth" camping.
I hiked the section between the NET MA/NH border and Mt Monadnock in Fall 2015. It was very well blazed (White Blazes), and well maintained. Lots of info including a great interactive map is here: https://nhmmtrail.org/get-on-the-trail/map
Unfortunately, I believe there is no sanctioned camping on the trail, despite there being plenty of good places to practice LNT "stealth" camping.
thank you so much... that is a great map.