Black Mountain

Sharing a favorite hike with a friend.

After the passage of Tropical Storm Debby (which fortunately only brought us a few hours of heavy rain), the weather turned sunny and dry. Perfect for a hike! I selected Black Mountain, one of my favorite go-to hikes, to share with a friend who is still discovering the many hiking opportunities of the Upper Valley and New Hampshire. Although the sky was partly cloudy, Black Mountain’s relatively low elevation allowed us outstanding views across the Upper Valley (to the west) and into the White Mountains (to the east). And I re-discovered the “tipping rock” I’d seen on my first visit here in October 2010 (10/10/10). Check out the gallery!

The ‘teetering rock’, on Black Mountain, with Mount Moosilauke in the background.

Hike stats:
Distance: 3.75mi (6.0 km), including a side trip to the historic Lime Kiln.
Time: 2h56 (including a long rest on the summit)
Elevation gain: 1,599′ (487m)

Trailhead at lower left, summit at right. Out and back;
on the way out, we made a side-trip to the Lime Kiln on the dirt road

Black Mountain in the clouds

A day for “inner views.”

It had been two weeks since I had a chance to get out hiking. The weather forecast was not promising – morning fog, clouds all day – but it’s always nice to get outside. I picked Black Mountain, a place I’ve been many times because it has a great view of Mount Moosilauke. Not today!

Black Mountain

A snowy day on Black Mountain.

Black Mountain is one of my favorite places to hike – it has a great view, it’s not a long hike, it’s not a long drive, and it is small enough to stay below the clouds on most cloudy days. Indeed, I was just here last month. Today, however, there was a crunchy base of snow about 2-4″ thick, and a fresh dusting of powder about 1/2″–2″ on top. Read on!

Black Mountain

Grand views for a short hike.

Yesterday was a brilliant sunny day – a nice late-fall day when it should be an early winter day – so it seemed like another great opportunity to get outside. A short drive brought me to the small town of Benton, just west of Moosilauke, and the steep climb to the rocky ridge known as Black Mountain. From its granite ridgeline there is an expansive view across a nearly roadless wilderness to Mount Moosilauke. In the photo below, Moosilauke’s extended north-south ridge is at center, with the Kinsman range at far left and Mount Lafayette’s white-capped peak peeking out behind the Kinsmans.

Views of Mount Moosilauke from Black Mountain summit.

You’ll see it far better in a full-screen version, in the photo gallery… where I include three or four more photos.

Hike stats:
distance: 5.6 km
gain: 473m
time: 2h 0m

Black Mountain

On ten-ten-ten we climbed this mountain near Moosilauke.

Black Mountain is a nice little peak in the midst of a broad valley to the west of Mount Moosilauke. On this special day – 10/10/10 – we scrambled up and were treated with a gorgeous view of the Connecticut River valley and The Mountain and a distant peek at the Franconia Ridge.

Black Mountain. Andy, Daddy, John, and Mara sit atop a glacial erratic on the summit of Black Mountain.

See photo gallery for more!

This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2021, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.