You Are Here: Monadnock Sunapee Greenway

Today was forecast to be picture perfect, and it was. Absolutely ideal hiking weather. Laura and I headed out for a roughly 9 mile out and back on the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway. Having done the summit to Mt Sunapee via Solitude Trail previously and needing Andrew Brook Trail for redlining, I decided to access the Greenway from this access point. We headed out early thinking the small parking area for Andrew Brook Trail would be busy and were surprised to find no other cars there when we arrived.. however in the 15 minutes it took us to gear up, the lot filled up, so we timed it just right. The air was crisp and thankfully most of the day was bug free which was a blessing. Andrew Brook Trail is 2 miles up to Lake Solitude from Mountain Road in Newbury. It is pretty steep, and really rather rocky. The trail was still wet and muddy from all the previous rains (including the day before) which slowed us down as we made sure our footing was good with each step. Not long after the climb begins there were some beautiful cascades on actual Andrew Brook, and we crossed it at least 5 or 6 times during the ascent. None of the crossings were a problem for us today. The biggest issue was mud, which we were able to skooch around with care. We reached Lake Solitude and had a snack break. I was surprised to see a wooden cross in a tree alongside the water. As well as an old firepit directly next to a sign saying "No Fires". Humans! Following the trail around the lake, we met up with the intersection of Solitude Trail and the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway and continued onto the Greenway. The trail follows right alongside the lake, and was much more technical than I imagined, but very beautiful. Once the trail leaves the lake and begins across the ridge towards Lucia's Lookout, I had imagined it would be like the terrain I experienced coming in from Pillsbury State Park.. a lovely rolling moderate ridge walk through pine forest.. while there was some of that, it was also nothing like what I expected. It was up and down and up and down... and up and down.. you get the idea. It started with an incredibly mossy wonderland which gave way to open slab with some amazing views before becoming more of a "bushwalk" (as I called it growing up in Australia). While the ups and downs were not long, they were steep and technical. Some of the rock was mossy and wet which made it very slippery. There was a lot of mud in between and wet roots. Just a lot of obstacles that really slowed us down and honestly, exhausted us completely. It reminded me of Pumpelly Trail on Mt Monadnock. It also felt like it was neverending! After just over 5 miles, we reached Lucia's Lookout and had some lunch. The thought of having to return back over all those ups and downs was something we couldn't really fathom, especially the steep descent on Andrew Book Trail on what would surely be very fatigued legs. I knew if we continued towards Pillsbury State Park we could make a much easier descent on mostly snowmobile trails. I called my husband who had been playing golf and bless his soul, he drove 2 hours to come meet us. We continued on the Greenway for about half a mile with a pretty steep little descent, and then at the junction with Five Summers Trail, took that for just over half a mile until it turns onto and becomes snowmobile trail. From here is just over 3 miles back to the Pillsbury State Park campground.. and while it does have a few little ups and downs, the terrain is much more easygoing. The trail was a little overgrown in places as snowmobile trails often are in the off season, which was fine, the hardest thing was between the turn onto the snowmo corridor and roughly North Pond it was really, really wet and muddy in places. Unavoidable at times. We still were thrilled to not be doing that technical hike back and were able to make really good time to the campground, where we met my husband who drove us back to the car on Mountain Road. It was exhausting, but a gorgeous day to be outside. My Suunto died after just over 7 miles, so I had to record the remaining 2 on my phone.

Strava Activity Part 1

Strava Activity Part 2