Little Monadnock Mountain

Little Monadnock Mountain at 1,883 feet sits in the shadow of its more famous neighbor, Grand Monadnock, but offers a rewarding summit experience with direct views of Monadnock's distinctive isolated summit profile along with sweeping vistas across the rolling hills of the Connecticut River valley and the distant Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. The trail departs from the Rhododendron State Park parking area and climbs steadily through hardwood forest before emerging onto the open ledge summit, where a broad granite dome provides sitting areas and unobstructed views in multiple directions. The route passes through the edge of the rhododendron grove in its lower section, and in July hikers may find themselves surrounded by blooming rhododendron at the start of the climb. The summit area hosts low-growing blueberry and sheep laurel, and in late August the blueberries are abundant and excellent. Grand Monadnock, visible clearly to the northeast, is the most climbed mountain in North America excluding Mount Fuji — a remarkable distinction for a 3,165-foot peak in rural New Hampshire. The Monadnock region has been a hiking and artistic destination since the early 19th century, attracting Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and numerous other New England Transcendentalists who wrote about the mountain's solitary presence above the surrounding agricultural landscape.