This mountain has been the albatross of my life since the 7th grade. (Long story short, my 7th grade class went to climb it. My group was too slow and we had to turn back 20 minutes from the top. How embarrassing!) When I told my Mom that I was going to climb Mt. Monadnock all by myself, she got kind of nervous. Something about climbing a mountain by myself in unpredictable fall weather... can you tell we watch a lot of CSI in my house?
After making sure I had a lunch, extra fleece, a hat, mittens and my cell phone, my Mom finally let me drive the family car up to New Hampshire (3 hours away). I was pretty psyched for the climb, until I pulled into Monadnock State Park... right behind SIX (6) BUSES FULL OF KIDS. (shit.) That's approximately 300 screaming 8th graders. From Massachusetts. With that accent.
I did eventually make it to the top (the kids set me back by stopping repeatedly in the middle of the trail... usually as I was right behind them). Unfortunately, the second I got to the top (where you can see all six New England states), the clouds rolled in... and it started to rain.
This was taken right when I got to the top.
Five minutes later...
Having forgotten the extra fleece, hat and mittens in the car, I started to make my way down. Thankfully the kids were too busy playing at the summit to realize the weather that had just rolled in. I got my first peaceful moments of the entire day... and a few better shots.
The only excitement of the day came when some girl sprained her ankle on the way up... and they actually called Mountain Rescue. This happened as I was starting my way down, the rescue team was just starting up the mountain as I was walking into the parking lot... 1 and 1/2 hours later.
(Oh, and I accidentally stumbled on the EMS factory store. I found out that if you show them your student ID you get 15% off!)
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