Orange NH Outing

Today we hiked Mount Cardigan again, the west side trail.  We took an hour to go up and an hour to go down and spent an hour relaxing and eating lunch at the top.  The weather was perfect on the top, sunny but enough haze not to be too hot and a nice breeze so no bugs.  It was over 80 by the time we got down from the summit so we were enjoying the cool breeze.  The panoramic views were hazy but cleared up as the hour went by.  At the beginning you could barely see a few windmills but as we relaxed, more and more came into view. These were off in the distance on the smaller hills or mountains. I get disoriented on the top and I'm never sure which direction I am viewing. Cardigan is at 3100 feet and has great views.

This is a popular hike in the summer and we saw families and groups of young people and a few couples more our age (one from Lincoln, MA and one from Toronto, Canada). We overheard three young men talking about hang gliding -not something I'd attempt! There were quite a few cars in the parking lot of the state park but we didn't see many of them as there are many spots to linger at the top and more trails from the summit.  During the week in August you find many tourists but there will be more in the Fall.

We watched two broad-winged hawks soaring above us near the summit

There were only five of us and one small dog, Casey who is a nice jack russell terrier dog and very friendly.!

Pictures coming soon for this hike and the one last week

Views etc.