"This was the first nice Saturday in months, so the mountain was predictably busy. Temperatures in the mid-70s and intermittent wind which kept most of the bugs at bay. There was a slight haze, but nothing nearly as bad as earlier in the month. We left the trailhead around 11am and started up the White Dot Trail. The trail starts off moderately-sloped for the first three-quarters of a mile, then becomes increasingly steep until culminating in ‘The Chute’ – a sheer rock slide that requires holding onto some overhangs and hoisting yourself onto the ledges. After this, the rest of the hike is fairly straightforward with only a couple steep rock slabs to traverse. The summit was packed, but we still managed to find a place to stop and eat. We took our time, enjoying a warm summit finally free of bugs (although there were some bees flying around). After a little over half an hour at the summit we began the descent down White Cross Trail. We flew down the mountain, returning to the trailhead just before 3pm." — JCalautti • Jun 21, 2025

"My first hike in winter conditions and first use of microspikes. Monadnock already had a base of a few inches of snow, but about 5 more inches fell the previous day. The Monadnock State Park Headquarters are open year-round, but in the winter you pay the entrance fee at the park store instead of at the front gate. I set off along the White Dot Trail just after 10am. The initial section of the trail was a compact mix of mud, ice, and snow so I bare-booted the first half-mile. I turned left onto the White Cross Trail and it was obvious I was the first hiker on this trail after the previous day's snow. I put on microspikes once the trail turned northbound and began climbing in elevation. There were some faint tracks from a few day's prior that served as a decent guide, but I was largely breaking in the trail (I probably should've brought snowshoes for some sections). This was a great trail to learn to trust microspikes as the few steep sections are not exposed. Unfortunately most of the stream crossings were not completely frozen over, so I did get unnecessarily wet a few times, but luckily the temperature was not so low that this caused a problem (high 20s - low 30s). I finally came ..." — JCalautti • Nov 29, 2024

"Super nice day for a hike, headed up the Marlboro trail. Some clouds caused a few nasty wind gusts when we summitted. Swung down to Monte Rosa and we knocked off the Marian trail for the red lining." — Alohabuffy • Nov 7, 2024

"If you do all this challenge in a day, you are a full-blown mountain goat. I did 2 and I'm exhausted. Up to Town, down white dot trail. This is not to be underestimated. Great trail. Great day." — puddlepirate • Oct 19, 2024

"Was super humid and misting, so that was humbling. Was fun even though we were fogged in. Took white dot up and white cross down. Very steep rock scrambles the whole way up. Descent was sketchy because of wet rocks and was steep." — meilijohnson • Aug 3, 2024

"Met up to do Mt monadnock, going up White Dot and down White Cross trail. The forecast looked very bad until a few days out and it ended being very misty during the hike. Very few views but a great hike anyway!" — noahthackeray • Aug 3, 2024

"A red-lining hike of Monadnock from the south. The entrance fee is $15 nowadays. Hiked up Halfway House Tr to White Arrow Tr to the summit. Beautiful views and few people out on a partly cloudy day. Lots of tadpoles in the pools along the summit. Came down Smith Summit Tr, an out and back over Rosa, then down Mt Rosa Tr, and down Royce Tr. Followed that up with a roadwalk along NH124. Many of the side trails are unmarked and just have to know where they are. " — newenglandwarrior • Jul 1, 2024

"Began at 10:45am. The base of the mountain was a little muddy, and fairly buggy, but nothing copious amounts of bugspray couldn't handle. White Dot starts off at a moderate incline until you pass Cascade Link, then the steep uphill and rock-scrambling begins. Luckily the trail was completely dry and devoid of any ice or snow, although it was very packed with people, especially as we neared the summit. From one of the outlooks on White Dot we were able to just barely see the Boston skyline above the southern Wapack Range. We reached the summit at 12:45 and made our way to Dublin Peak to cross off a Monadnock Subpeak. The trail to Dublin Peak was much quieter than the summit and was a great place to have lunch before continuing on to Town Line Peak via the Pumpelly Trail to cross off another Subpeak. We returned to the Monadnock State Park HQ via the Cascade Link which criss-crosses a stream. After rain I'm sure the water level is much higher, but on our hike it was fairly low and easily crossable. Returned to the car around 3:45pm." — JCalautti • Apr 27, 2024

"Beautiful fall morning hike. Straight shot up White Dot, spent 50% of the time climbing with hats and feet. Clear view at the top. Steep downhill climb taking White Cross. A little wet from the rain but easy to navigate." — HikingMomMC • Oct 4, 2023

"Headed up the Halfway House road, no sun today. Had to put the spikes on for the bottom half of the White Arrow trail. Its pretty much an icy mess. However the top half was ice and snow free. The usual 30 to 35 with gusts up to 40 mph wind at the summit. Avoided the icy mess going down by taking the Side Foot trail." — Alohabuffy • Feb 19, 2023