Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1297975
AACREDITUNION.ORG | 23 Looming above a circle of impossibly quaint towns in the heart of New England, this National Natural Landmark occupies its own state park and is reputedly the world's most- ascended mountain after Japan's Mount Fuji. Mount Monadnock is also among the finest fall rite-of-passage climbs in one of the prettiest corners of the country. Just ask any New Hampshirite. Locals like Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne were all inspired by this prominent lone peak. So was Henry David Thoreau, who climbed it four times, journal in hand, waxing poetic about the mountain's "presence of some vast, titanic power." Today, about 125,000 folks tromp up Monadnock annually. Early autumn is the most vivid (and crowded) season to gape from its rocky summit among throngs of breathless fellow leaf peepers. Just don't underestimate the short but strenuous two- mile climb to the top — a frequently steep and rugged hike covering nearly 1,800 feet of elevation gain. Hulking above an ancient Permian ocean reef-turned- desert in the middle of nowhere (i.e. somewhere between El Paso and the rest of the planet), Guadalupe Peak is the "Top of Texas" — the state's highest point and the namesake of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, one of country's most isolated wilderness preserves. Aptly described by park personnel as "an island in the desert," this whole desolate area was once part of a vast inland sea which evaporated before several million years of geological wizardry ran its course. The end result: a forbidding yet oddly harmonious landscape of deep limestone canyons, desiccated dunes, riparian woodlands — and many of the highest hills in a huge, surprisingly mountainous state. Reaching the top of the tallest one here requires planning and a hardy commute to the park's Pine Springs Campground trailhead near the base of Guadalupe Peak. From there it's a quad- and lumbar-testing 4.25-mile trek to the summit along a steep, rocky, sun-baked trail riddled with switchbacks, 3,000 feet of elevation gain and routinely fierce winds that can push 80 mph at any time. The payoff: The Lone Star State's premier panorama — featuring the park's iconic neighboring limestone spire, El Capitan, to the south, New Mexico to the north, and endless, timeless Texas everywhere else. HIGH-ISH MOUNT MONADNOCK SUMMIT ELEVATION: 3,165 feet LOCATION: Southern New Hampshire — 75 miles from Boston OPTIMUM CLIMB TIME: Early October during peak fall foliage season HIGHER GUADALUPE PEAK SUMMIT ELEVATION: 8,749 feet LOCATION: West Texas — 115 miles from El Paso OPTIMUM CLIMB TIME: Mid-autumn, after the sizzling summer months and before the temperature really drops