North Pack Monadnock or North Pack Monadnock Mountain is a

monadnock An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

in south-central

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, at the northern end of the

Wapack Range The Wapack Range, sometimes referred to as the Pack Monadnock Range, is a range of mountains in south-central New Hampshire and adjacent Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. The range is considered very scenic and rugged with many ba ...

of mountains. It lies within Greenfield and

Temple, New Hampshire Temple is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,382 at the 2020 census. It is home to Temple Mountain State Reservation, formerly the Temple Mountain Ski Area. History The area was first called "Pete ...

; the

Wapack Trail The Wapack Trail is one of the oldest public, interstate hiking trails in the United States. Opened in 1923, it follows the Wapack Range north-south for , between Mount Watatic in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and North Pack Monadnock mountain in ...

traverses the mountain. Ledges on the summit offer long views north to the White Mountains and west to

Mount Monadnock Mount Monadnock, or Grand Monadnock, is a mountain in the towns of Jaffrey and Dublin, New Hampshire. It is the most prominent mountain peak in southern New Hampshire and is the highest point in Cheshire County. It lies southwest of Concord a ...

Pack Monadnock Mountain Pack Monadnock or Pack Monadnock Mountain , is the highest peak of the Wapack Range of mountains and the highest point in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. The mountain, a monadnock, is located in south-central New Hampshire within the towns ...

is directly to the south along the Wapack ridgeline. The upper elevations of the mountain are within Miller State Park. The east side of the mountain drains into the

Souhegan River The Souhegan River is a tributary of the Merrimack River in the northeastern United States. It is long, with a drainage area of , and flows north and east through southern New Hampshire to the Merrimack River. The river begins in New Ipswich, Ne ...

watershed, thence into the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...

and

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

; the west side drains into the

Contoocook River The Contoocook River () is a river in New Hampshire. It flows from Contoocook Lake on the Jaffrey/ Rindge border to Penacook (just north of Concord), where it empties into the Merrimack River. It is one of only a few rivers in New Hampshire that ...

, thence into the Merrimack River.

Etyomology

"Monadnock" is derived from the

Abenaki language Abenaki (''Eastern: Alənαpαtəwéwαkan, Western: Alnôbaôdwawôgan'') is an endangered Algonquian language of Quebec and the northern states of New England. The language has Eastern and Western forms which differ in vocabulary and phonolog ...

, and indicates a mountain surrounded by relatively flat terrain. According to local tradition, the word "pack" is an Abenaki word for "little". Thus "Pack Monadnock" (Little Monadnock) refers to its relationship to the higher Mount Monadnock, , to the west. It should not be confused with the similarly named peak

Little Monadnock Mountain Little Monadnock Mountain, , is located in the towns of Fitzwilliam and Troy, New Hampshire. Most of the mountain is located within Rhododendron State Park; there are scenic vistas from ledges just below the summit. The 110 mile Metacomet-Mo ...

, to the west.

References

* ''Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide'' (1999). Boston: The

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Ma ...

External links

Friends of the Wapack
{{Mountains of New Hampshire Mountains of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Mountains of New Hampshire Greenfield, New Hampshire Temple, New Hampshire Pack Monadnock, North