Mt. Monadnock via Marlboro & Dublin Trails (Monadnock State Park)

Mt. Monadnock via Marlboro & Dublin Trails (Monadnock State Park)

Hike Type: Loop

Distance: 7.30 miles

Elevation: 2,024 feet

Time: 3 hours, 2 minutes
Hiking Challenges: 52 Hike Challenge 2025, Monadnock Redliner (2x)

The Hike

I was back up in Boston for the weekend to help a friend with her wedding planning, and with a half day open I decided I'd head back up to my favorite mountain, Mt. Monadnock. It was in fact the 4th of July, so I wanted to get an early start and avoid the main trails at all costs, which is how I landed on doing a loop with the Marlboro and Dublin trails. I was up at 4:15am and out the door just before 4:40. I made it to the Leominster Cumberland Farms at 5:30, but they did not have any breakfast sandwiches, which made me sad. 

I drove the second hour over to the Dublin Trail trailhead, where I realized that I was not the only genius who was planning to hike the reputedly "third most climbed mountain in the world" on this holiday - the parking lot was almost full! Thankfully I had a spot AND there was a porta potty! The porta potty was in HORRIBLE shape, but better than having to take care of business in the woods! Skies were clear and temps were in the mid-50s with a breeze - it was lovely out. A few bugs were out, but none were being pests. I managed to rip my Smartwool sock when putting it on, which is truly fine, becuase I have been actively trying to wear these socks out for years so I could replace them with Darn Toughs. Soon enough, I was starting my hike/road walk down Old Troy Road!

[6:47am - Old Troy Road]

The road walk really wasn't too bad - it followed the dirt Old Troy Road, which was in better shape than I expected. I crossed paths with my first person du jour early on and passed some fresh oyster mushrooms on a tree before starting a longer, very gradual descent.

I passed a logging area around 0.9 miles, which is also where the mosquitos found me. I threw on some bug spray, hiking past a woodpecker, and then began to gradually ascend. I passed Hathersage Road at 1.0 miles, where there was a granite marking indicating the Dublin/Marlboro town line, and this is where Old Troy Road becomes maintained in winter again. There has been vast clearing along this stretch of the road, assumedly for housing. Three cars crossed paths with me in this stretch, and I found myself missing the wooded stretch of the road - I imagined that this area would be looking VERY different in 10ish years. 

[7:17am - Shaker Farm Road]

At 1.7 miles, I turned left onto Shaker Farm Road, where the Marlboro Trail trailhead is. I remember the drive to the Marlboro Trail being much rougher than the Dublin Trail, so I was curious how this stretch of the road would be. Initially, it hiked past someone's house, some wonderfully smelling flowers, and at 2.0 miles, turned a corner and became near impassible to cars with a steep incline, deep ruts, and low-hanging branches. There WERE tire tracks, implying some sorry human made the trek...

All that being to said, I was THRILLED to be back in the woods - you could have told me this was a trail and I would have 100% believed it! The trail began to rise, passed a couple of wet spots around 2.5 miles, passed a grassier, open area that looked like an old logging road, and landed at the unfortunately buggy Marlboro Trail at 2.8 miles!

[7:36am - Marlboro Trail]

Delighted to be officially on a trail, I followed the Marlboro Trail into the woods, mentally preparing to actually start climbing the mountain. The trail began on what felt like an old road and descended slightly while offering a wonderful breeze. I crossed person #2, who was trail running back to their car in the flat woods. I was power hiking through this stretch, since I had the wedding planning to get to in the afternoon. 

My power hiking slowed to a slower climb as the grade increased while the Marlboro Trail followed the conservation land boundary, marked by blue rings around trees. I was not my most prepared for this hike, as I took my first Gatorade break at a stone wall (I had one Gatorade and one Nalgene of Nuun, could be worse!). 

The Marlboro Trail paralleled a logged area full of young birches and then began to climb rock stairs. My tummy was in an unfortunately weird mood - felt like either hunger, a future code brown, or an unspecific anxiety... weird. I caught up to and passed a few people in the steepest spot of the trail as I myself questioned if I was going to live or not - the trail STEEPLY zig zagged up with some scrambles. Thankfully, some tree views began to form!

I was POURING sweat that was only actually doing its job when an occasional breeze would blow by. That first steep pitch led to the first open slab of the hike which featured zero views, but thankfully after a short dip in the woods open slab #2 had wonderful views to Gap Mountain and beyond.

[8:12am - Marlboro Trail/Marian Trail]

From here, we went back into some beautiful mossy woods, past some not-yet-ripe blueberries and late stage sheep laurel, and then to another slab with wonderful views. I crossed paths with a new person and soon made it to the junction with the Marian Trail, where I was feeling DEFEATED last time I tackled this mountain.

I scrambled past the weird, slanted rock and had a truly terrifying fart, which was a sign that the weird tummy feeling was in fact, a code brown, and the time was now. I bushwhacked a bit off trail, took care of business in a less-than-glamorous way, thanked the mountain for taking my abuse, and then got back to work - thankfully, there was a nice view!

The Marlboro Trail climbed steeply again in the woods before opening up and breaking treeline for the rest of the climb. I caught up to a duo having a tough time at the weird staircase-like scramble (the man of the mixed gender duo was literally pulling the woman up by her pack). After the scramble, I passed the duo and enjoyed the constant breeze (which became howling wind higher up) and the wonderful views - I always say the best views on Mt. Monadnock are of Mt. Monadnock. Sure, the vista is lovely, but the structure of the mountain is really incredible. 

From the scramble to the summit, I was basically playing a game of "choose your own adventure." I don't know if it was just a me problem or if it actually is difficult to stay on-trail while ascending Marlboro, but I was wandering like a newborn kitten - having a great time, though!

[8:40am - Jim's Junction]

I passed Jim's Junction and a flooded trailbed as I took at least 1,000 photos of the mountain. There were some white bog flowers that I tried to photograph as the wind pushed me around - I would guess it was around 25-30 mph. 

[8:49am - Mt. Monadnock Summit]

Soon enough I was up on top, found the two USGS discs that I know about, and noticed that someone graffitied the summit one, which is annoying. There were only a few other folks up top, which was surprising for July 4th, but it was still relatively early in the morning, so I was not complaining! The wind increased a bit to the point where if I opened my mouth it would fill my lungs, so I started my descent.

[8:51am - Dublin Trail]

The trail was much easier to follow in this direction. My stomach was feeling much better after my christening, but it made one of the most insane sounds I had ever heard on the initial descent. Thankfully, that was the end of it.

[9:00am - Dublin Trail/Jim's Junction]

I enjoyed a view of the Pumpelly Ridge and Dublin Lake after Jim's Junction and passed a hiker descending while on the phone. 

Further down, I took my phone out to make a note about how descending on Dublin Trail is so much better than descending on Marlboro Trail, but I immediately slipped and almost landed on my bum (thankfully, I caught myself). The descent continued down into a wonderfully smelling mossy woods as I crossed paths with another solo hiker and then a barefoot duo, traversed a murky spot, another duo, and nodded at yet another duo sitting on what I believe is Dublin Peak.

I crossed paths with a fun trio talking about how biblicly awful their bedhead was in a final scrambly section and decided I'd stop counting at this point, since the holiday crowds had officially arrived. I soon made it back into the hardwoods on a wonderufl walking break. I almost slipped on a muddy slab but caught myself with my poles - I was definitely redeeming myself after last hike's multiple falls.

The air was MUCH warmer down low and the Dublin Trail soon passed two "ACTIVE TIMBER HARVEST" signs and then crossed a new logging road. The logged area was massive, which was equally a bummer but also made me think how fun it would be to ski it... I started crossing paths with more families around 9:30 and then the Dublin Trail crossed over some dry drainages.

After a low point, the Dublin Trail crosses a stagnant creek on a footbridge, rises to a height-of-land after crossing an old logging road, descends along a rock wall, crosses a bridge, and soon returns back to the parking lot! I absolutely loved this hike, and the only bummer stretch was the middle third of the road walk, but doing it first made it a distant memory. 

[9:50am - End of Hike]

Back at the car, I noticed the parking lot was FULL now, with two cars waiting for spots to open up. I did a quick change before heading back to Boston for the wedding planning!

Back at the 

Step-by-Step

- Park at Dublin Trail trailhead.

- Turn right onto Old Troy Road and follow the road.

- At jct., turn left onto Shaker Farm Road.

- At Marlboro Trail Trailhead, turn left onto Marlboro Trail.

- Summit Mt. Monadnock.

- Follow signs for Dublin/Marlboro Trails.

- At Jim's Junction, turn right onto Dublin Trail.

- Follow Dublin Trail to car.

Map of Monadnock State Park

Photo Album