Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on June 13, 2009 via the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail
Before we started out hike today, we'd already seen lots of wildlife... a fox and white-tailed deer in Ashland, and then this mama black bear with her 2 cubs on the slopes of Cannon Mountain. With the naked eye, we didn't even know she had cubs. We could only see them with the million-x zoom on the camera.
Even the parking lot along the road to the Cog was filled with interesting flora and fauna. A Blackpoll Warbler sat right out on an empty branch and sang for us. We saw Bluets and American Speedwell along the edges of the parking lot.
Once we got into the lower forest, from the parking lot to Gem Pool, we saw many types of wildflowers... Canada Mayflowers, Clintonia, Bunchberry, Starflower, Painted Trillium, Wake Robin (deep red trillium?), Goldthread, and something that we think is Wild Sasparilla (see last picture below).
We stopped for a quick bit to eat and some pictures at Gem Pool.
After that, we started up the steeper portions of the trail, and onto the rock slabs. We crossed the brook at least three times. The water wasn't high and the crossings weren't difficult.
When we arrived at the hut, the clouds were menacing, but there was no sign of rain yet.
Today, we were not here to summit Mt Monroe or Mt Washington. We were here, with multiple heavy cameras and lenses, to practice taking pictures of alpine flowers. We headed down the Crawford Path (AT) towards the south. This took us around the east side of Mt Monroe to Monroe Flats. There were still a few snowfields around. It was gorgeous!
The Lapland Rosebay was already going by.
The Diapensia was covering the hillside and was very beautiful.
A group headed for Crawford Notch passed us as we were hunched over in the rocks. Again, the dark clouds were looming over Mt Washington.
The Alpine Azalea are almost too tiny even for our macro lens.
What will these be? We'll need to return soon to find out!
Here's a picture with all three of (what we consider) the most common alpine flowers - Diapensia, Lapland Rosebay and Alpine Azalea - all in one small space.
Another Blackpoll Warbler, this one well up on the mountain, sings for us!
We walked almost all the way around to the southern intersection of the Crawford Path with the Mt Monroe summit loop trail. We had a gorgeous view down the ridge of southern Presidentials. It was at this point that we met a section-hiker from Georgia. He had started in Gorham, NH and was headed to Connecticut. We chatted with him for quite awhile about what he'd seen already and what was in store for him. He was headed to Mizpah Spring Hut for the night.
Back at Lakes of the Clouds, Tim checks out the water.
This White-Throated Sparrow was really busy chasing a female around in the bushes.
On the way back down the trail, we took several side-trips to see the waterfalls above Gem Pool. We saw this gorgeous shrub of Rhodera perched up on the side of the cliff. The waterfalls themselves are always beautiful, but we fight to get a good picture every time.
We also caught this perfectly-timed picture of the Cog.
Back down below Gem Pool, this thrush stood still long enough for us to get a shot.
The woods down here are very warm and wet. Everything is green with moss.
The whole day was great. It took all Tim's willpower NOT to summit Mt Monroe. Valerie kept reminding him that we weren't here to peak-bag today. It sprinkled on us a couple times during the hike down, but never really opened up. We spent over two hours walking around the grounds at Lakes of the Clouds. By far, that's the longest we've ever lingered during any hike. It was lots of fun and now - after seeing the view down the ridge to the south, we're considering a southern Presi Traverse - just Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, Pierce... then continue down Crawford Path. This would be a great day above treeline if we can do it.