Wandering Around Loon

Scenes from two recent local hikes: a snowshoe loop on ski trails at Loon Mountain resort, and a brook-whack up along Horner Brook on the SW side of Loon's South Peak. Stay safe!

LOON HIKE #1. View of Mt. Wolf and the Kinsmans from "Cruiser," a wide trail on South Peak.

Bird's eye view of Lincoln.

Steep pitch on Cruiser.

Top of the lift on South Peak.

Loon Pond, with the gondola lift summit in the background. This is a large and beautiful high-elevation pond, for many years accessed by the Loon Pond (hiking) Trail. In earlier days the peak was known as Loon Pond Mountain.

Downslope a bit I made a short bushwhack to Little Loon Pond, called a "rock-set gem" by an early AMC explorer. Cliffs on the north side drop right into the water.

Made probably my last snowshoe tracks of the season in 6-8" of new, wet snow on the upper slopes

Mts. Liberty, Flume and Whaleback loom to the north. Slides scar the headwall of the Clear Brook basin.

Mt. Washington gleams behind the Willey Range.

Had an unusual experience on the way down. Four guys emerged from the woods onto the ski trail and headed down on skis and snowboards. When I got down to where they had climbed up the steep embankment, I saw that these knuckleheads had left an open fire burning in the woods below.

It took many handfuls of snow to (mostly) douse the fire.

LOON HIKE #2. The East Branch was angry after 2 1/2" of rain the previous day.

View of Mt. Liberty, Big Coolidge and Whaleback from an old power line.

Neat moss patterns on this boulder.

The Loon Pond Mountain Cascades (so called by 1890s guidebook author Frank O. Carpenter) on Horner Brook were rocking. The old Loon Pond Trail passed near these.

Upper part of the cascades.

Possibly a piece of the old Loon Pond Trail. This section was abandoned in the 1950s.

A portal cascade.

Looking downstream.

Well upstream I came upon this unexpected 50-foot cascade and golden pool.

Zoom on the upper part of the cascade.

Looking down from the top.

Another possible bit of the old trail.

Horner Brook, high in the valley.

On the way down I came into a beautiful hidden valley...

...lined with tall, slender maple and ash.

Balanced boulder.

Springtime is beautiful in the hardwoods.