Arrived just before 9:00 am. Beautiful day. Virtually bug free. Pre-hurricane calm I suppose.
As soon as you take off, there is a fork in the trail. Left is the Metacomet/Monadnock Trail - Right is Gap Mountain. There is nothing to indicate this and if you look at the map at the Trailhead you would assume left was the way to go...Don't. Go right.
I would say follow the white blazes but the M/M Trail is blazed in white also. Once you've gone right then you can follow the white blazes. At about .2 miles you will cross a road in the woods. (an old abandoned logging road?) Cross it and stay on the trail.
Shortly after that you'll cross a stream.
and then follow a stone wall for a bit.
there are a couple of caves up on your left while you're following this stone wall.
At about 1/2 a mile there is a blue blazed trail that leads to East Hill Farm. As you near the summit, the North Trail is only wide enough for single file. It's pretty steep.
When you're almost at the top the area is covered with blueberry bushes. They're all gone by this time of year. But if you go up at the beginning of August you can return with a whole bunch.
Got to the summit, turned around and was greeted with a great view of Mt. Monadnock.
Sat for a bit - Had a snack - and headed down.
Alot steeper on the way down than the way up. Luckily I had Barbara as my "steady" thing to hold on to. Having her to steady me really helps on the descent.
Made up and down in about 3 hours. Pretty psyched that I tackled Gap Mt.
A few flat hikes before I try Monadnock.
