Mt. Monadnock and PumpkinFest

Every year in late September something awesome happens in New England. A shift of seasons so dramatic you can literally see the difference from one day to the next. It is the one time a year nature changes faster than the world surrounding it. It starts subtle at first: a cool breeze at night, the honks of squadrons of geese in the distance, a slight yellowing of the leaves, the smell of wood stoves filling the crisp air. And then almost overnight it spreads like a wildfire across the northern United States. Trees erupt in bright yellows, and reds, and oranges, and everything in-between as autumn moves like a fiery wave across New England. Farms everywhere are filled with pumpkin's and corn mazes, and store shelves are lined with cider every-things. The entire season takes on a feeling like no other, every town center is besieged with festivals and fairs while neighborhoods are dotted with jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows and plastic spider webs. And wile Fall happens everywhere in some degree, in no place is it more prevalent than New England. Ask anyone what area of the country they associate fall with the most and almost unanimously they will say New England. But sadly, as with most things, it goes as quickly as it came. By Halloween the yellows and reds start to fade to brown, the grinning faces of pumpkins shrivel up, and the rustling of leaves is silenced by a blanket of snow. But for those 6 or 7 weeks in late September to early November we are treated to a colorful, amazing encore of the light seasons before being plunged into darkness until spring shows its face. And that's where we are now, so hopefully you all got the opportunity to soak in everything fall has to offer, no matter how hokey some of it may seem.

This fall has been quite busy for me, as my lack of posts in the past few weeks has indicated, but I have had the opportunity to go on several Fall hikes. From Mt. Monadnock and PumpkinFest, to a hike in the Berkshires I've logged quite a bit of miles on the boots.

Mt. Monadnock is a great, short, rewarding hike in southern New Hampshire and if you haven't had the chance to summit it before, I suggest you do so. It's become somewhat of a tradition to hike Monadnock the weekend of Keene's PumpkinFest and for the first time in a few years I was able to do just that. I headed up to Jaffrey, NH early on Saturday morning, solo, to hike Monadnock before meeting up with some friends at PumpkinFest that afternoon. Monadnock is one of the world's most hiked mountains, and on PumpkinFest weekend the number of hikers increases tenfold. I found myself weaving in and out of slobs and sandal wearers for the majority of the two mile trek up to the summit, making it to the top in 57 minutes. Not to brag or anything. I ate lunch next to a pack of wild 10 year olds who had caught an illusive caterpillar and ripped up half of the grass on the summit to feed to it. I took the white cross trail down the mountain to complete the 4 mile round trip. Great fall hike, even better fall beer and festivities afterwards. Cheers!

P.S. This years PumpkinFest broke the world record for most Jack-o-Lanterns consecutively lit with a grand total of 30,581.

Mileage: 4 Miles

Giant Cairn.

PumpkinFest circa 2010.

Checking out the Jack-o-Lanterns.

Pumpkin Noir.

Keene town square.