Mount Monadnock

Allegedly the second-most-climbed mountain in the world (after Mt. Fuji in Japan), this 3,166-foot peak in southwestern New Hampshire has drawn attention for years because of its relative isolation. (The word "monadnock" in geology has come to mean an isolated rocky hill rising above a plain.)

Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, among others, have climbed and written about Grand Monadnock, as it is sometimes called to differentiate it from nearby peaks with Monadnock in their names. Today it is criss-crossed by well-maintained walking trails, and an estimated 125,000 people a year make it to the top.

The mountain is in the 5,000-plus-acre Monadnock State Park[?], which includes many well-used peaks and trails.