Location: Miller State Park, east of Peterborough, New Hampshire
Access: From Peterborough, drive east on Hwy 101 to the signed parking lot on the north side of the road, near the Temple Mt Ski Area
Trail: 840' elevation gain over 1.4 miles to the summit of Pack Monadnock on the Wapack Trail, continuing to North Pack Monadnock in 2.3 additional miles, but we didn't hike that portion. 

November 23, 1996
It was breaktime from my second year of college, and I flew out to New Hampshire to visit Mom in Manchester. November is a pretty bad time of year to visit the northeast if you like outdoor activity, above-freezing temperatures and more than 6 hours of daylight per day. Nevertheless, cabin fever in Mom's small apartment drove us out into the wilds of the White Mts, where her upstairs neighbor, Bill, had clued us into Pack Monadnock, and showed us maps of it on Mom's kitchen table the evening before. We left early in the day to be sure of finishing before dark, and drove north to Peterborough, then east to the parking lot. I was a little dissappointed to learn that a road led to the summit, but given that the road was closed for the winter and not passable by car, anyway, it was as if the road didn't exist, anyway. I always hate to hike up a summit only to find that another guy drove his car to the top, but this wasn't a possibility on this day. 

Nikki, our cocker spaniel from the days when we lived in Texas, was with us, imminently prepared with a tremendously thick winter coat. We kept her leashed as we headed up the trail, primarily because it was so icy and slippery. Nothing like losing your dog down the side of the mountain. At one point, she did start to slide off the trail towards the precipice, but I pulled her back by the leash. Drama on the mountain. 

Despite slow trail conditions, we reached the summit, the shelter and the parking lot up top in a little over an hour. There were a few radio towers, which seemed to take away a little of that wilderness experience. I stood at the top, lookig out over miles and miles of forested, frosted mountains, and wished it were summer, resolving at that point to come again in August and enjoy these mountains in short sleeves.

     Nikki and I at the summit.