I don’t think I’ve ever shown much of what our landscape looks like in November. Some people think there’s nothing worth seeing at this time of year; that everything is either brown or white, but that simply isn’t true and I hope the following photos will prove it. I don’t usually do too much landscape photography because I find it much harder than any other kind and because I’m not that good at it, but I probably can’t lose by starting off with Mount Monadnock. A three year old couldn’t mess up a photo of this mountain from this spot.
3,165 ft. high Mount Monadnock has bald granite on its summit because a fire set in 1800 to clear the lower slopes for pasture got away from the settlers and burned every tree on its summit. Between 1810 and 1820 local farmers thought that wolves were living in the blowdowns left from the first fire, so they set fire to the mountain again. This fire raged for weeks, burning so long and so hot that it even burned the soil, which the wind and rain eventually removed, leaving the bare granite that we see today.
Monadnock is the most climbed mountain in the United States and the second most climbed in the world after Mount Fiji in Japan. It’s not unusual to find standing room only on the summit on a fall weekend, but on this morning it looked like one climber had the whole thing to himself. I’d bet that it was pretty cold up there and that probably kept people away. It won’t be long before it’s covered by many feet of snow.
Something that really says New Hampshire to me is a field surrounded by stone walls. The stones were found when the field was being cleared and to get rid of them the farmers put them along the edges of the field. Stone walls built in this way are among the earliest and most common, and are called thrown or tossed walls since that’s how the stones were put there. Since forests were being cleared rapidly wood for fencing was in short supply and stone walls eventually replaced the earlier wooden fencing. If the field was used as pasture wooden rails were often added to the tops of stone walls to keep animals from jumping over them.
Laid walls took more care and time to build and were often used for show along the front of a house or other places that were seen by the public. They are more orderly than dumped or thrown walls and show the skill of the builder.
This wall had a gate with granite gate posts. You don’t see these very often.
I’ve been walking in these forests almost since I learned how, so I can’t think of this state without thinking of them. New Hampshire has 4.8 million acres of forest so the woods become a big part of life here. Big open spaces are rare and often have cows in them.
I should have said that I’ve been following trails and old logging roads through these forests since I learned to walk. Though I’ve done it in the past just walking into these woods with no trail to follow is a very foolish thing to do. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department handles between 150 to 200 search and rescues each year, and many are lost and / or injured. Besides, I love walking the old forgotten roads because there is often a lot of history to be found along them. Stone walls and cellar holes tell an interesting story.
If there’s one thing New Hampshire has plenty of it is water, and even in a drought most of the streams run. The water is clean and clear and many people still fill bottles with it at local springs. I like to just sit and listen to streams chuckle and giggle as they play and splash among the moss covered stones. At times nature is like a little child and this to me, is that child’s laughter.
The Ashuelot River is also fairly clean now but it wasn’t always that way. I can remember when it ran all colors of the rainbow, depending on what color dyes the woolen mills happened to be using on any given day. To now see people catching trout in this river and bald eagles nesting along its course seems truly miraculous to me.
I like going to see parts of the Ashuelot River that aren’t that familiar to me like this section up in Gilsum, which is north of Keene. I particularly like this stretch because of its wildness. Major floods tore through here a few years ago and scrubbed the river banks clean of soil right down to the bedrock in places. A steel suspension bridge that crossed near this spot was torn loose and wrapped around trees and boulders like it was made of aluminum foil and pieces of it can still be found bent around various immoveable objects to this day.
But enough about flooding; I prefer the placid waters of our many lakes and ponds. I was thinking as I started putting this post together that I can’t think of a single town in this region that doesn’t have a lake or pond, and most have both. The pond pictured is Wilson Pond in Swanzey last Saturday at sunset.
Other things we seem to have a great abundance of, at least in this part of New Hampshire, are hills. In fact Keene sits in a kind of bowl and no matter which direction you choose to leave it by, you have to climb a hill. So of course I wanted to show you hills, but I found that photos of hills in November aren’t very exciting. On this day though the setting sun in the previous photo turned the sky a peachy color and the hills a deep indigo blue, improving their appearance considerably I thought.
As the sun continued to set the color of the sky became richer and deeper. I was driving home at the time and had to keep stopping to take another photo because we don’t see skies like this every day. It was so beautiful that I spent more time just sitting and staring than I did taking photos. This kind of beauty isn’t just seen; it’s felt as well, as if you are bathing in it, and I don’t see how anyone could have room for anything but peace in their hearts after witnessing such a display.
Just to see if I could do it all of the photos in this post were taken in one day, and what a day it was. But as every day must this one had to end, and I just happened to be near a stream when the light began to fade. I expected the pink and orange reflected sky but I didn’t expect the beautiful blues. A perfect end to a perfect day.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. ~Tecumseh, Shawnee
Thanks for coming by. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, or just a plain old good day if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.
For someone who doesn’t do landscapes you did a brilliant job. The last photo was spectacular. Thank you for this virtual tour, I enjoyed it very much.
You’re welcome, and thank you. Having beautiful landscapes to begin with helps a lot!
What a beautiful post, Allen…thank you for sharing your New Hampshire treasures with us. 🙂
You’re welcome Scott, and thank you. It was my pleasure.
Who says you don’t do well with landscapes, my friend! This says it all!!!
“This kind of beauty isn’t just seen; it’s felt as well, as if you are bathing in it, and I don’t see how anyone could have room for anything but peace in their hearts after witnessing such a display.”
Thanks Martha! I have a harder time “seeing” landscapes than I do smaller subjects, I think.
We have those same granite gate posts in the UK – but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with the actual wooden posts in place and for a long time I wasn’t even sure what the holes were for! And that is an impressive statistic for Mt Monadnock being the second most climbed mountain. D
Thanks Dave. That’s interesting about your having the same type of gate posts. I’d guess that the early settlers simply did here what was done at home then. They’re very old and many have been lost to time so we don’t see then very often. I’m sure the wooden parts are newer replacements.
Yes, the top of Mount Monadnock on weekends is like a Manhattan sidewalk, there are so many people on it. That’s why I don’t climb it!
Your photos gave me a real since of place! Thanks for sharing.
Oops, make that, “sense of place”
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
You’re welcome, and thank you!
This time of year has it’s very own kind of beauty and I love the colors and contests that will soon disappear under a coat of white.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks Montucky! Yes, I like to get out and see the blue hills and greens of the moss before it snows. It won’t be long now! Have a great Thanksgiving!
What a gorgeous day you had. We saw that sunset, too, but there were too many trees to take good shots. I didn’t know the history of Mt. Monadnock as to why it is bare, thanks for including that in your post. Your photos are all so wonderful! Hope your Thanksgiving is a good one.
Thank you Eliza. From what I read in the comments a lot of people saw that sunset over both days last weekend.
I hope you’ll have a great Thanksgiving as well!
Mt. Monadnock is certainly a craggy old fellow with a lot of character. I love that picture of the stream rushing through the forest.
Thanks! Yes, Monadnock is rounder than the newer mountains out west, too.
If you like forest streams you’d love it here!
I very much enjoyed this scenic tour. It it always useful to have some feeling of what the countryside is like when you read a blog post.
Thank you. I agree and I should really make an effort to show more of it. For some reason it always seems too hard to me.
Today’s results looked good to me.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Allen. This is a beautiful post full of lovely scenery. I was amazed at that granite gatepost! I wonder how long it took to cut those holes through that great slab of rock; so neatly too! The last shot of the reflected sunset sky is perfect.
Thanks very much Clare. I’m glad you liked these photos of the area.
Granite is tough stuff and I cant imagine how long it would take to cut those holes with a hammer and chisel, but somebody worked hard. It’s a common stone here though and you see everything built from it. It’s been used since the early settlers came over. Many grinding wheels for grist mills have certainly been made from it.
The sky was so beautiful that night. I think any photo of it would have been near perfect!
You are too modest I think. You have an artist’s eye.
Thank you!
This post is perfection, Allen! I did not know that Mount Monadnock once had trees on top. I hiked to the top once, in 2009. Did you take the sunset pics on Sunday, 11/22? It was the best sunset I have seen in over 20 years of watching sunsets from my house. Wish I could post one of the pictures I took here for you to see.
Thank you Paula! You’re the second one who says the sunset was great on Sunday but I missed it. These shots were taken on the day before, 11/21.
I wish you could post your photos too, I’d like to see them. You can always email them to me!
Will do.
Happy Thanksgiving!
You’ve sent us all a great present with the wonderful photos of the scenery there in new Hampshire, so I’ll be giving thanks to having blogging friends such as yourself who make my life better by following their blogs.
Much of what you wrote about New Hampshire would apply to Michigan, minus the rocks and hills. Forests we have, lots of rivers and streams as well as ponds, lakes, and marshes. But, you describe it much better than I can.
Thanks Jerry! Blogging is a great thing, isn’t it? I’ve learned a lot about Michigan that I never knew from reading your blog. It’s a beautiful place and you’re lucky to live there!
I love your Ashuelot photo. I have an Appalachian Mountain Club river guide that someone gave me shortly after I moved to NH from Florida in the early 80s. It’s a marvel to read descriptions of some of the rivers that were polluted back then and compare the waterways to how they look now.
Thank you Ellen. I’d like to see that Appalachian Mountain Club river guide. The Ashuelot was very polluted when I was a boy and the smell of it in summer was something I doubt I’ll ever forget. It’s great to see it so clean now!
I really enjoyed seeing a day in your countryside. Amelia
Thank you Amelia, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Like many folks, I have been taking photos of the sky reflecting in water for as long as I can recall. Your last photo captures the essence of the sunset beautifully. The high contrast with the trees is stunning.
Happy healthy Thanksgiving!
Thank you Deborah. I don’t take a lot of sky reflection photos but maybe I should take more because people seem to really like them.
I hope you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving too!
Lots of painting opportunities is what I see – as a person who likes to paint. Jealous, lol! Great shots. xo Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you. Yes, we see quite a few painters here set up outside, especially near Mount Monadnock. There must have been many thousands of paintings of that mountain done. I think you’d love it here!
I sure can see how it would be hard to stay home, living where you do. Beautiful and enjoyable.
Thank you. I don’t spend much time inside!
Buffy’s having aging problems that are keeping me closer to home. Our yard isn’t a manicured one and has enough to keep me interested.
I see many reasons for giving thanks, not the least being your twice-weekly posts that bring so much knowledge and beauty to my inbox. Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving.
You’re welcome and thank you Jean. I’m glad that you’re enjoying the blog and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
I am grateful, with you, for this beautiful land in which we dwell. Your quote by Tecumseh puts it nicely. Thank you once again for sharing with us, Allen.
You’re welcome and thank you Rich. It’s hard not to be grateful when you see what we are lucky enough to see each day. I think Tecumseh knew that, too.
Don’t know if I will ever make it there but this post certainly builds a desire. Thank You for sharing…
Thanks Grampy. If you ever do make it out here I hope you’ll let me know so I can show you around!
The sheer number of stone walls in New Hampshire is mind-boggling to me. Every settler must have had a hand in stacking rocks in some way. There must be lots of stories there. The photos are always intriguing.
Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful and warm.
Thank you Judy. I agree, I think everyone with two hands was stacking rocks for a while here. It’s hard to find a piece of land without a stone wall on it.
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving too!
Stunning pictures, especially the last. Sunday we had a spectacular sunset here in NJ, was that your day as well? I was so glad to hear the story of Mt. Monadnock. I didn’t think it was tall enough to be above tree line, so I’d wondered about its baldness.
Thank you Sara. That sunset was on Saturday 11/21, just a day ahead of yours. I wonder if there was dust in the atmosphere or something.
The forest on the top of Monadnock was once all spruce right to the summit. You can still see spruce trees along the trails here and there.
I could identify almost every location from your images. What a great way to spend the day. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.
Thanks Laura. I saw the sunset over by the airport. I’m sure you know where the rest were taken. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
What a wonderful post, all shot in one day too. I loved the little streams purling down the hillside with your poetic comment. Your final pictures showed the artist in you, so enjoyable to look at.
Thanks very much Susan. Landscape photography is much easier when you have beautiful scenery and sunsets as subjects.
Great pictures, liked the scenery, looks familiar. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you Bob. I hope you and the family have a great Thanksgiving as well!