The Metacomet Monadnock Trail

The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, in New Hampshire, runs from the summit of Mount Monadnock to join with the New England Trail and is 18 miles long. This is a seldom used trail and will require care when following. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail was originally designed to connect the New England Trail so that one could hike all the way from the seacoast of Connecticut through New Hampshire. However the original plans fell through when New Hampshire did not agree to having a long distance trail run through it. 

Now, the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail is a standalone trail that acts as a bridge between the New England Trail and Mount Monadnock. Using this trail, hypothetically speaking, one could walk from the Seacoast of Connecticut to the summit of Mount Sunapee using a handful of trails to do so. 

Navigating The Trail  

The M-M is a white blazed trail that is one of the less traveled trails in New Hampshire. There is very little information on the M-M Trail besides what can be found on their website. The trail map available on their website is essentially a google map with a blue line running through it to represent the trail, and a few shorter spur trails which are not part of the M-M. To complete this hike, we chose to use the descriptions printed off of the website and Gaia GPS. The website breaks down the hike into eight sections with coinciding maps and we recommend printing these pages to have with you while doing the hike. Furthermore, we recommend carrying the  Southern New Hampshire Trail Map as well, so that you’re able to locate and navigate the Royce Trail and White Arrow Trail on Mount Monadnock.

There is active logging taking place as of this publication and a reroute around the logging is noted here. We found that hiking the trail northbound versus southbound is easier because the blazes going northbound are more obvious, as is the footpath. The most difficult sections of trail to follow were where it runs through the town of Troy, New Hampshire and where the active logging is taking place near Greenwoods Road. 

General Trail Information

Parking at the northern terminus of this trail will require a fee because you will want to park within the Monadnock State Park. Furthermore, if you are going to be camping on trail you’ll want to let the park know that you’re parking in the lot for more than one day so that they are not looking for you on trail at the end of the day. The southern terminus of this trail is on a dirt road. It has some parking a bit down the road from the trailhead but it is not well marked. There is no fee to park at the southern terminus. There are six side trails that you can take to get off trail along the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and all six of them also have parking.  

This trail does not have any designated camp or tent sites directly on the actual trail however there are some options for camping/tenting near the trail. There’s also a town stop option in Troy, New Hampshire where the trail runs right next to a nice convenience store, the perfect place to resupply or have a snack. There is a tentsite in Troy, New Hampshire which is ½ mile off trail. More information can be found here. The other option for camping is past the southern terminus on the New England Trail at Royalston Falls. Further information on camping at Royalston Falls can be found here. There is also additional information about facilities along the M-M found here.  

Water was abundant along this trail which runs over three distinct mountains, Monadnock, Gap, and Little Monadnock. With these three exceptions, the trail is mainly located in wilderness, along old logging and forest roads, and a small stretch of road walking. 

Overall Enjoyment

This trail is a wonderful traverse that deserves more praise and attention that it gets. Given the fact that it runs mainly through wilderness areas this trail is anything but flat. Gaining over 5,000’ of elevation when completed from south to north, be prepared to be doing some decent climbing over the course of the 20 miles. Additionally, the options to camp near the halfway point in Troy, New Hampshire makes this trail that much more appealing to us. As an early spring hike, this trail hits the sweet spot because it is tucked in southwestern New Hampshire and loses its snowpack much earlier than further northern trails. We hope that this trail will end up on your “to hike” list this spring and be sure to drop a comment about your own experiences along the M-M Trail below!