Mt. Monadnock

I was going to do a 4000 footer today, either Garfield or Willey, but then I woke up at 8 am, not feeling inspired for a 10 mile hike. So, I went for Monadnock. I was going to do it last Friday - I have 5 Fridays in a row off (!) but then I woke up with a migraine last week, and didn't do anything. Part way through the day on Friday I thought about how I often get migraines when I'm sick, and had a little freak out. Fortunately my city now has free covid tests for anyone who wants, you just have to make an appointment - so I called and got one that day! The test itself was a little uncomfortable - they do shove a swab further into your nose than I knew they could put one. The woman who did the test was really nice, we counted down together from 12 as she twisted the thing, and I only teared up at 2 -1, and then it was fine. It all kind of ruined my weekend because I was sick Friday and Saturday, and then paranoid Sunday. But I got a negative test result on Monday, so all is good.

The one bad thing that happened is that I lost my map for Monadnock, so I had to go to the main park to get a new one. You have to make a reservation now, which is a little strange, and prepay. I hate the two trails that go from the parking lot there because they're so crowded, but when I looked at the map there were a few other ways to go that were a little longer, but I thought would be more peaceful, and they were!

From Park Headquarters I took the Parker Trail to Lost Farm Trail to Cliff Walk which goes over Bald Rock. Then I took Smith Connector to Ampitheather to the White Arrow Trail the rest of the way up. Definitely enjoyed! Good route up if you have to park at Headquarters. One of the guys going down said that he hiked it on Labor Day weekend and hardly saw anyone on it. Before I hit the White Arrow Trail, I saw two separate people going down, two dads going up with their tween sons, and a fast girl hiking with her parents, who had to stop at every trailhead. The White Arrow got busy, and then the top was packed. That place is always busy - once I hiked up with a meet up group for super moon on a Monday at Midnight, and there were a ton of people up there!

I decided to do a circle back, just to see how it went, and did Pumpelly to Red Spot (which was pretty hard, eventually I gave up trying to do my parkour moves, and slid down on my butt) to Cascade Link to White Dot. From when I turned off on Red Spot until I got to White Dot, I saw two guys going up, and that was it. It was a Friday, so less traffic than tomorrow I guess. Anyhow, as I was walking into the end, with my feet killing me, this trail runner flew past me. I have no idea how they do it!

I have 10 days at work until the furloughs go into effect. A few people shifted their furloughs a little, so they could be in for part of July, but for the most part we will be down to 10 people for the month. It will be weird.