Time for another hike. Awestruck has some requirements for her hikes: it has to be a 4000-footer, it has to have views, and the weather has to be nice. Which I’m totally down with. Beth is pretty go with the flow. Mt. Monroe definitely has views and the forecast was good, so Mt. Monroe was the plan.

Amusingly, we are all friends who met at the gym. Friday night was a tough work out. Saturday was a special workout at the track, that was double the normal workout. Someone at that workout remarked that Sunday was definitely going to be recovery day. Ummm, or we would hike a mountain, whichever.

This would be my second time on Mt. Monroe, with hopefully better weather. The first time was largely in clouds and spritz. The plan was to go up and down Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail (ART). I’ve done the trail before on my previous Monroe hike as well as on the way up to Mt. Washington. However, a section of the trail has been re-routed. Near the beginning of the trail, it used to go along the Ammonoosuc River, but has eroded to the point it needed to be re-routed.

This photo from my hike in 2022 shows a rickety bridge that is the trail alongside the river. There were several parts that were sketchy, eroded, and very narrow even back then.

We decided to park at the Cog Hiker parking. It’s a tiny bit shorter, you can use the facilities at the Cog station, and most importantly the lot doesn’t fill as fast as the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trailhead parking. So we parked (there was plenty of parking when we arrived around 8:30 AM.

We headed out on the trail from the cog station to connect up Ammo. Pretty quickly we came to a junction that actually backtracked on Ammo to get to the re-route. It was a bit confusing, though the old trail was definitely brushed in, so we were pretty sure that was not the way to go. If you come from the actual ART trailhead, it will be very obvious where to go.

It was apparently hot guy morning. For some reason we kept seeing some very attractive men on the trail. We weren’t complaining.

I had told the ladies the first two miles or so are enjoyable, then the trail kicks in and gets steep at the Gem Pool.

The Gem Pool

The trail after the Gem Pool

Several times we leapfrogged with a really nice family from Quebec and I was finally able to use some of my French, “bonne randonnee”.

There are lots of water crossings, but like I said last time, they’re all very do-able, even for me who is not a fan of water crossings.

Then there are several scrambles. They definitely aren’t my favorite, but I knew I had done them before (both up and down), so I could do them now.

Amusingly, my hiking buddies like to take pictures of me struggling. Apparently, even in the same places.

On the left, this hike. On the right (in the mist), the last time I hiked Monroe. Same exact spot on the trail.

As we hike, I’m slower and the ladies would sometimes get ahead of me. I had to ask them not to get too far ahead because I wanted to hear Awestruck’s exclamations when she sees things. True to her trail name, she can often be heard saying “OH MY GOD YOU GUYS” whenever there is a good view. I LOVE hearing her reactions to the trail, so I wanted to be close enough to hear her.

On one part of the trail, it was wide-ish with some short rocks to step up and some taller ones. As we were heading up, there were a few people coming down. It was wide enough for everyone to pass, aka not have to step aside for someone else. For some reason Awestruck stepped up on a smaller rock, and as she was about to go up a taller rock, she lost her balance. I know the feeling, and sometimes your brain tricks you that you’re going to fall backwards. I was right behind her and she yelled out “HELP! PUSH MY BUTT OR SOMETHING!”. Meanwhile, if she had just stepped back it was just a six inch drop and she would have been fine. At the same moment, a guy was coming down and his head was close to level with her butt. I looked at her, then made eye contact with him, he blushed, and I burst out laughing. It was seriously one of the funniest moments on a hike. “PUSH MY BUTT!”

Almost to the hut. You can see Beth heading into the short trees (always a sign you’re close) with the summit of Monroe on the right. Just up to the left is the hut.

We stopped in at the hut for lunch and a bathroom break. I brought out a surprise for the ladies which was a thermos with ICE inside! I also took over duties for the Bartender and brought nips. Since we were at the hut, we had use of cups. Beth had brought fresh blueberries. So we ended up with some fancy summit shots!

Noroc! (Cheers in Moldovan)

During our lunch break, we got the most exciting text. The Bartender delivered her beautiful baby girl! Just before we had met in the morning for the drive up, The Bartender had texted that she was heading to the hospital. Such wonderful news! We cheers her and sent a “Happy Birthday” video!

We left the hut and took a very small detour to see the namesake from the Lakes of the Clouds hut.

Then we headed to the summit

Awestruck’s 14th 4000-footer. Beth isn’t strictly keeping track, so who knows. 🙂 My second time on Monroe, and my 67th 4000-footer summit.

One of my favorite views, with the hut and the lakes, and Washington looming over it all.

According to my phone and the iNaturalist app, this is Alpine Avens and Stitchwort. I love the alpine zone flowers.

With that, it was time to descend. I was a bit grumpy and tired, which I guess is normal for the descent. I banged my knee on a rock at one point. It was concerning how quickly and how much it swelled up. I also had a small cut. We stopped at the Gem Pool for a nice break while I tended to it. Some hand santizer and inspection and the break seemed to help. The swelling went down enough that I didn’t think I needed to wrap it or anything.

• Distance: 6.6 miles
• Elevation Gain: 2,661 feet (1.8 times the Empire State Building)
• Total time: 9 hours, 32 minutes
• Moving time: 6 hours, 13 minutes

“I think we smell pretty good” – Beth, in the car, on the way to post-hike dinner.