A LOOK BACK AT THE 2015 HIKING YEAR: JULY TO DECEMBER

Continuing our retrospective on a great year of hiking...

The tallest of The Pleiades (the Seven Cascades) on Mount Moosilauke's Gorge Brook.

Cascades on Coppermine Brook, above Bridal Veil Falls, seen on a bushwhack down the Coppermine valley from the Kinsman Ridge Trail at Coppermine Col.

Bald Peak and North Kinsman on a fine summer day.

A peaceful scene at Little East Pond, looking across at Scar Ridge.

Stark Falls, on the brook of that name in Kinsman Notch.

My brother Drew in the birches along the Firewarden's Trail on Mount Hale.

The view up the long Little River valley from an off-trail ledge on the west ridge of Mount Hale.

Norcross and Nancy Ponds and the Sandwich Range from a ledge on Mount Nancy.

Ridges sweep down off Scar Ridge in this view from the shoulder of East Osceola.

An amber pool on Whitewall Brook in the wild country above Zealand Falls Hut.

Changeable skies seen from the South Peak of Mount Moosilauke.

A private crag on Mount Flume.

The Pemigewasset Wilderness from Mount Liberty.

The beautiful ridge ramble along the Hancock Loop Trail.

Part of the Sentinel Range seen from the shore of Copperas Pond on the first evening of a short September getaway to the Adirondacks.

The drained pond at Marcy Dam, looking towards Mount Colden.

Lake Colden, Flowed Lands and distant ranges from the spectacular summit of Mount Colden.

Two hikers takes it all in - what a day in the 'dacks! Slide-scarred Wright Peak in the background.

Rhododendron Pond and Dix Mountain, on a bushwhack loop in the lower reaches of the Dix Mountain Wilderness.

Spotted Mountain, Hough Peak and Dix Mountain from one of many open ledgy knobs in this interesting area,

John "1HappyHiker" Compton takes in the panorama from the impressive Kilburn Slide in the Sentinel Range Wilderness.

Whiteface Mountain from a beaver meadow at the base of Kilburn Mountain.

Back in the Whites...a jumble of peaks looking south from South Twin Mountain.

The talus slopes of Zealand Mountain seen from South Twin, beyond the Little River valley.

Chris Whiton gets the shot of a small gorge on Hellgate Brook in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.

Bondcliff dominates the view from the westernmost and widest slide on West Bond.

Chris works his way up the slide (sometimes called the "V-Guitar Slide" for its appearance when seen from Bondcliff) for even wider views.

Fine fall colors along Franconia Brook deep in the Pemi.

A gorgeous maple glade on the lower eastern slope of Owl's Head.

The Bonds viewed from one of several talus slopes on the eastern flank of Owl's Head.

Peering into the Redrock Brook valley from another talus slope.

Mts. Flume and Liberty and the "Owl's Head" from Henry's Ledge.

From Henry's Ledge, a commanding view down the East Branch valley towards Scar Ridge.

Birch Island Brook Falls in its autumn garb.

Foliage and Bondcliff at Black Pond.

 Garfield Pond on a gorgeous October day.

 

There are few vistas in the Whites that can compare with the Pemi view from Mount Garfield.

A local denizen paid a brief surprise visit.

My brother and I had beautiful Thirteen Falls, eight miles into the Pemi, to ourselves on a late October day.

We saw some neat logging artifacts at J.E. Henry's Camp 12.

Thom Davis enjoys the Sandwich Range view from Mount Paugus on the 27th annual White Mountain Cropwalk hike for hunger.

Thom signs in at the true summit of Mount Paugus after a short but thick bushwhack. Roger Doucette and Gary Tompkins look on.

Dave Stinson takes a break after removing a blowdown on the Passaconaway Cutoff.

The impressive cone of Mount Passaconaway seen from an outcrop near the summit of Square Ledge.

A huge granite slab on the west slope of Mount Chocorua overlooks the remote Paugus Brook valley.

Mount Carrigain and Carrigain Notch, looking north from Birch Hill.

Twilight reflections of Mount Passaconaway and Potash Mountain at Church Pond.

The Chocorua Lake vista of Mounts Whiteface, Passaconaway and Paugus.

A bushwhack from the Bolles Trail in the Paugus Brook valley brought me to this remarkable overhanging ledge on the eastern side of Mount Paugus.

The view of Mount Chocorua from below "the roof."

Northwestern view from a complex of ledges and crevices on a knob above Champney Falls, near an area dubbed "Hobbitland" by rock climbers.

Mount Chocorua from an old slide patch in the Chocorua River valley.

One of several cascades found while bushwhacking along a western branch of the Chocorua River.

Bald Mountain's unique view of Mount Chocorua, the Three Sisters and Carter Ledge.

A sweeping view of the Sandwich Range from a western ledge on Chocorua's south ridge.

Late day light on Chocorua's cone, viewed from the mountain's "south peak."

Looking north from Chocorua's summit on a brisk late fall day.

The southern view from Chocorua.

Heron Pond in the Chocorua Conservation Lands, on Thanksgiving Day.

Sandwich Dome and the two Black Mountains from Bald Knob on Acteon Ridge.

Ledge slab and gnarled oaks on the south spur of Bald Knob.

A small gorge on Slide Brook known as "The V" by earlier Waterville Valley trampers.

A fresh slide on South Tripyramid, unleashed by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

One of a half-dozen fine cascades on the Cascades Path in Waterville Valley.

The guardian of Snows Mountain.

One of several fine cascades admired while bushwhacking up the Cold River on the south side of Sandwich Dome.

The Algonquin Trail's Black Mountain rises beyond a remote beaver pond.

The mass of Sandwich Dome seen from a ledge above the beaver pond in the large trailless area on the south side of the mountain.

A couple of cold nights in an unusually warm December formed ice flows on the upper Fletcher's Cascades in Waterville Valley. Happy trails to all in 2016!