Last weekend, Hans and I decided to scale Mt Monadnock.  Though not very physically taxing, it was a tricky hike – it’s a very rocky, scramble-y trail and it was quite wet from the morning’s rain. 

We could see fairly early on that it was going to be an overcast day – lots of fog and precipitation.   But it was actually quite warm; I ended up taking off my base layer and hiking in just my rain jacket.

This is what much of the trail looked like once we started gaining elevation – very tricky to navigate in the wet weather! (This is also what I meant by “scramble-y”)  We managed it fairly easily, though we kept to a relaxed pace and focused on our footing.

On the Pumpelly trail (a ridge to the peak) where people raved about the views.  It was a great day for hiking, but perhaps not the best day for panoramic landscapes.

And once we summitted, the real fog set it.   We actually lost the trail for a bit near the top – but we were close enough that we figured going up would get us where we wanted to go.  (It did.)

After the fog settled in, the wind kicked in, too.

And the sun and fog started playing peek-a-boo with us!  One of us would see the fog clear out, yell to the other, who would grab their camera, and race to a good viewpoint…

Only to see the fog roll back in before we could get any pictures! This happened two or three times.

Then, as we reached the last viewpoint on the descent, the fog started to clear out just as we go there.

It was polite enough to wait for me to grab my camera and speed out to a good vantage point.

And finally lifted long enough to let me capture the spectacular sights.  It was a gorgeous day to be on a mountain, that was for sure.

The last picture before I put my camera away and concentrated on getting down the slippery rock trails.  Rain clouds were just starting to roll in – we got rained on a bit on the last half hour of our hike or so.

You wouldn’t think hiking in the rain and fog would be as much fun as hiking in the sunshine – but it is! It’s very different and completely fantastic. After all, nearly any day is a good day to be on top of a mountain.