Mt. Monadnock | New Hampshire

I realized that since coming to Boston, I have blogged very little about the city of Boston, ye, the state of Massachusetts. Instead, a good portion of my content has been excursions to Vermont and New Hampshire. Here is another one of those adventures from earlier this month.

Mt. Monadnock is one of the only geological points of interest in New England that I knew about prior to moving to New England. It has featured in the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and (quite curiously) H.P. Lovecraft. While internet sources disagree about precisely how many people climb Mt. Monadnock each year, it is generally agreed that it is one of the most summited mountains in the world, trailing Mt. Fuji.

We took the White Dot Trail up to the summit. It's a 3.8 mile loop with an elevation gain of 1771 ft, to the summit at 3165 ft. Mt. Monadnock is not a particularly tall mountain, but it is the most distinguished feature of the landscape by far.

I very wisely wore many layers and my fancy hiking boots. The hike begins with very modest uphills, and then very abruptly transitions to some steep scrambling over boulders. We kept a brisk pace because the clouds looked ominous and we definitely did not want to be caught in the rain during the ascent. I personally really enjoy scrambling and thrive on steep, steep uphills...but rain would have made the ascent very precarious. I'd say that this hike is one where good traction and ankle support are especially important.

We hiked up in short, fast bursts on major uphill sections, taking in the rolling New Hampshire valleys under threat of rainfall with each break. Because I use my iPhone for all my pictures and generally go nuts editing on VSCO, I am prone to sort of amateurish landscape photography. I'm also not used to taking pictures under such ominous clouds and mercurial sunshine (or lack thereof), so please forgive the visuals.

The second major snack break

There are two major stretches of steep scrambles, and at the end of the first was where we had a major snack break. This stretch of flat was perfect for boulder hopping, looking at all the trees growing between rocks, and stretching out. We rested a bit and then made our last push to the summit, which was a bit farther than we had initially thought.

Looking for stunted trees at the second major snack break

Lunch at the summit, which was ridiculously crowded but still very enjoyable. I can see why Mt. Monadnock is one of the most-climbed mountains in the world: it's very close to Boston, it's fairly accessible to novice hikers, and they pay-off is wonderful, both in the summit itself and the feeling of digging in to get there. I don't know if any of my photos can express how steep it was in some sections, but it took real effort, perhaps more than any of the hikes I've documented here so far.

Getting ready for the final push to the summit, which was farther than we thought

We didn't spend quite as much time at the summit as I had wanted, but it began to drizzle and we wanted to get some of the steep, scrambly descent behind us before it poured. It never did quite pour but the rocks were at some points completely covered with rain, and some of our party did slip. The descent is more anxiety-inducing, and my joints did take a beating...but luckily, I didn't fall.

Some trees on the way up. I tend to write before I edit photos, and am still not great at spacing things out. Here, the text describes the descent and I haven't even gotten to the summit pictures yet!

All in all, we left Boston at around 9 AM, stopped at McDonald's, got to the mountain and hiked up and down, went to Taco Bell, and returned to Boston at around 5 PM. I chipped in $7 for the rental car, bought hash browns for $1, bought a honeydew for $3 near Taco Bell, and mooched off some of the junk food that someone was too full to finish.

The summit

• Location: Mt. Monadnock, in Mt. Monadnock State Park in New Hampshire
• Distance/duration: 3.8 miles loop, about 2 hours to the summit
• Elevation gain: 1771 ft
• Difficulty: moderately strenuous thanks to the really steep, really fun scrambles; could be harder in rain or winter or hotter weather
• Points of interest: that sweet, sweet view
• Overall: this was a really fun, satisfying hike. The scrambling was tough, but entirely worth the pain. I can see why this place is so popular, but at the same time, the trail and summit are very crowded.

By the time I got around to editing the photos and finishing the honeydew (I froze some of it), I realized that my first year of medical school was just about over. How do I describe this first year? I can't articulate it well in this addendum to a blog post about hiking up a mountain, but here are a few thoughts about this year and the summer to come.

My first year of medical school was a lot of things. It was an affirmation in that I know more than I began that I am where I want to be doing exactly what I want to do. It was a challenge, academically and professionally, but I learn best in challenges and in failure. I made some good friends, and had more fun than I am used to having. I also found mentors: a resident who wants me to succeed, an assistant dean who let me cry in her office twice and then helped me find my courage again, a preceptor and role model who taught me not just about surgery and how to care for patients, but how to be more confident and capable.

I think I always had an impression of Boston being some kind of intellectual ivory tower of medicine, and it kind of is. However, our hospital is decidedly blue collar, safety net, and deeply concerned with the intersection of medicine and social good. I was lucky to have found and stayed on the same research project since the autumn, and will work harder at it this summer. It's about both medicine and social justice; orthopedic surgery and opioids. The opioid epidemic in New England (and the Rust Belt and Appalachia and small town America) runs deep. It's systemic and demands policy at all levels of government. It's a fight I have been waiting to enter.

As far as Lord of Three Realms goes, I have a few posts waiting in the wings. I also realized that I have half of my Germany posts from last summer yet to be written. I hadn't expected my blog to turn into New England day hike report central when I first started medical school, but I do have some hiking planned this summer, and I will take pictures and write about them. More recreational reading, and more excursions out of my culinary comfort zone (I have recipes to try).

Last thing: I'm thinking about working on the blog itself...like actually adding headings and categorizing things reasonably.

And that's it.

Snow in April in New Hampshire

It's not spring in Boston until the Red Sox home opener. Yesterday, Tom Brady threw the first pitch, and it's time for the good people of Boston to retire their Pats beanies until the autumn. Of course it was Tom Brady.

Our class had planned a trip to a cabin in New Hampshire for this past weekend. Forecasts originally declared mild springtime weather, which then changed to snow to the tune of 12-18" in the north. Well, snow did fall on Boston, but never stuck around. New Hampshire, however, was not spared. Out were the plans for a nice spring hike, and in were plans for skiing, snowshoeing, and sledding.

As usual, I have a lot of photos I wanted to share, but not a substantial amount of content to go with it. Instead, I'll do as I have done before and include an assortment of thoughts that I've had lately.

School

I'm having more difficulty with medical school this semester than last semester. I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm working harder and trying to figure out how to improve. On the clinical front, I'm more comfortable interviewing patients and just being in the hospital or in clinic.

I also recently shadowed OB/Gyn on their Labor & Delivery service and saw two births. I think I may enjoy OB/Gyn, but I wonder if that's only because I saw a C-section.

Research

I applied for a grant and I hope I get it. For the application, I had to update my CV, which had been untouched since I applied to medical school. Well, I went trawling through conference program books for all my college contributions and found that my lab in college had "posthumously" presented my project. I was given second authorship, which is the highest I've been yet, but...

...it isn't fair. I had sent my lab emails two months ago asking if anyone had taken up my personal project, and got a resounding NO, that they had abandoned it and that I need not follow up. Now I see they've published it, used my code without my permission for very similar project, and expected me not to notice.

I talked to one of the medical school faculty about it. I should be happy to be able to add things to my CV, but that project was my personal project, and that lab was my home away from home.

Winter

I still get excited for snow. I feel like I got a bit cheated out of my first true winter, but seeing all the snow in New Hampshire that Boston was spared of was very gratifying.

Raw denim, a 3 month update

Remember awhile ago I mentioned I bought my first pair of raw denim jeans? I'm still wearing them, and I'm still...not washing them. The fades are slow to come, the fabric is still stiff, and the men's fit is not very flattering, but I still like them quite a lot. I hang them up and freeze them from time to time. I wear them almost daily, and found that they are warm enough for almost any time and place I am. I should take progress pictures, but I'm simply too lazy.

Blogging

I've recently become disenchanted with some blogs that I used to enjoy, and have found it hard to either stop reading them, or find new ones to read. I doubt any of them read my blog here. Sometimes it's camping on the moral high ground. Sometimes it's sneering at the other girls, the other bloggers. Sometimes the writing is a sermon filled with errors in spelling and grammar and word choice about the vapidity of other bloggers. Sometimes the comment section is an echo chamber. Sometimes they are just mediocre when before, they were a revelation.

Snowshoeing

I would gladly snowshoe again. Next time, I'll look for a longer hike and maybe go off-trail. As snowy as my photos look, there was no wind: a very peaceful snowfall at least until the trees dumped what they collected on their boughs right onto my head.

Snowshoe ownership, even if they are cheap ones, is now a goal of mine.

Friends

I'm still friends with the same people since early in medical school and we're getting closer. What surprised me on this trip was that I'm getting better at taking opportunities to socialize and bond, and that I'm getting better at finding common ground and having fun. In the beginning, I felt like my classmates were unapproachable and unfriendly, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

New Hampshire

I've been on a few road trips since medical school began and the little magic of the New England countryside has still not gone. Lots of picture-perfect little towns, ponds, covered bridges, reeds, woods come straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The vastness of the American West of my childhood road trips seem completely alien. I sometimes imagine that I could live in rural New England...

...we find a supermarket and do our shopping. I am suddenly aware of the fact that we are likely the only Asians for at least...I'm not sure, but there are definitely no other people of color in the supermarket. The people are friendly and kind, and the cashier asks me where we've come from.

"Boston," I say. That's far, she says.

She welcomes us to New Hampshire. Every time I visit, I wonder a little more if I could call New England home.

From North Pack Monadnock to Pack Monadnock | New Hampshire

Back in August before our first day of real classes, I went on a hike in New Hampshire with our school's outdoors club. It was my first time seeing the great outdoors of New England, which is basically a jumble of granite, deciduous trees, and Algonquin place names.

Looking out over New Hampshire

This is New Hampshire from the summit of a monadnock, an isolated rock/hill/mountain common around these parts. They come to be when a harder rock endures erosion around it; because this is New Hampshire, these monadnocks are made of granite.

By the way, New Hampshire is called "The Granite State." It also has the most intense state motto ever: "Live Free or Die."

Entering Wapack National Wildlife Reserve

The drive up from Boston was only about an hour, and it amused me to think how quickly we crossed a state line. Because there were so many of us, we got there via yellow school bus, which are required by law to stop and open their doors at every railroad crossing. Incidentally, New Hampshire is full of railroad crossings, and charming images of saltbox houses and meadows and farms right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

We started at the head of Ted's Trail on Old Mountain Road at around 1300 ft above sea level and had a pretty easy stroll through private woods (presumably Ted's) to Wapack National Wildlife Refuge.

These low stone walls are a common sight in New England, and we encountered many during the hike. As I learned in my American Environmental and Cultural History class last year, these stones were uncovered not in the colonial times, but in the 1800s after a period of great deforestation and farm-raising. Previously buried stones surfaced and were made into useful little walls. Read more about them here.

Left: gaining a little altitude
Right: lots of rocks

I tried to identify the trees that I saw, but of course, many of them were unfamiliar to me. There was spruce, hemlock, and pine, but the majority of the trees we saw were deciduous: more birches than I'd ever seen before, and chestnut, ash, elm, and aspen. If some astute New Englander wants to nitpick, then I apologize. I'm from California and am new to this place and your trees.

Oh yes, and huge granite boulders everywhere.

The view from North Pack Monadnock

The trek up North Pack Monadnock was a good one; not strenuous, but enough to work up a sweat. I'll take a moment to brag that I was in the small group that led the pack and was completely stunned by the wide expanse of blue. The visibility was incredible, and the landscape filled with such an impossible variety of green and blue.

We ate lunch at the summit at 2278 ft and welcomed the light drizzle. I had this great buzz of excitement in the back of my head from this scenery: the rolling lowlands, the lush greens and blues, and the great clouds that seemed to pull the landscape ever faster to the horizon.

More landscape

We continued hiking on the Cliffs Trail, which essentially circled around to different vista points before merging with the Wapack Trail. Every turn was a new view, with ominous clouds casting intense shadows on the bucolic New Hampshire countryside, with the occasional white or red barn cutting through the green.

The first of many cairns, but the only one I took a photo of

We encountered some friendly hikers on the trail, reinforcing my impression of New Englanders as being an active, outdoorsy bunch. While I certainly don't think this compares to the truly wild beauty of the Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe, I needed this hike, and want to see much more of this part of the country.

LL, cairn, clouds, New Hampshire

With all these greens and blues, I do wonder what this place looks like in the autumn. I interviewed in Boston last September before most of the leaves started changing colors, and have yet to see what autumn really looks like around here.

Lots of granite everywhere

The next portion of our hike was on the Wapack Trail in the wildlife reserve. At about this time, I broke off with a few others and charged ahead to leave behind the pack. It sounds harsh, but a large, noisy group is difficult to enjoy the great outdoors with. That's juts my opinion.

One thing that I found interesting was that our hike bounced from private to public, briefly back to private, and then public land. It's a well-traveled route, but still seems unfamiliar. Most of the hiking I've done in California was completely contained on public land.

More walls

Not many photos at all of the hike between the mountains, but it was much the same. I wish I'd taken more photos, but I suppose I just forgot. The weather was pretty fickle, but fortunately not terribly hot. Thankfully, I got at least one spooky forest photo.

Blueberries, road into the state park, shrubbery, and granite

The final ascent up Pack Monadnock was harder than the first peak, and hot and sunny up at the top. Pack Monadnock, at 2290 ft, is at the northern edge of Miller State Park. It amused me that all the hiking we did took us through private property, a reserve, and barely into an official park. Anyhow, there was water at the top, as well as a weather station and fire lookout tower.

The weather station and fire tower

This was the hottest and sunniest part of the day. I had some energy left and went up the tower and around the summit looking for photo-ops (and fires). It looks like rain somewhere in Massachusetts.

The view from the fire tower on Pack Monadnock

Apparently, Boston is visible from here. I'm not too sure about that, but this is indeed looking south.

I forgot to mention that the trail is teeming with wild blueberry bushes. Many families park their cars at the summit of Pack Monadnock and go around with buckets to pick them. They were small, pretty sweet, but I didn't want too eat too many.

My favorite photo of the day. I'm 70% sure this is Mt. Monadnock (a bigger monadnock than either of that day's monadnocks)

I had some great conversation with my classmates on this hike, and am more excited than ever to hike and explore New England. I don't really know what I thought about New Hampshire before this trip, but I do hope to see more of it over the next four years.

Our route

In total, 5 miles and 1500 ft altitude gain (up a peak, back down, and up another). We embarrassingly got lost and looped back to our starting point in the first 1.5 hours of the hike so I'm not too sure about time, but we got in at around 10 AM and left before 4 PM IIRC. The end going up Pack Monadnock is fairly steep, but does not require scrambling.