Noonmark Mountain

This little gem is in the Eastern High Peaks area sandwiched between The Dix Mountain wilderness and Giant Mountain wilderness. We chose this hike because of the location of the trail in reference to Round pond. Short story - Almost a year ago while hiking back from Dix Mt., the Mountain Goat was enjoying himself by the water and caught a few newts (salamanders) and asked if he could bring them home. I gave in and said yes mainly because this was our first overnight trip and I really wanted him to enjoy it. Anyway, we took them home and bought a small aquarium and welcomed them into the family. They learned to eat turtle food rather quickly and actually grew a bit. Well, after seeing them in that small cage for so long, I convinced Brendan that they were probably not very happy in there and we decided to put them back right where we found them. So we had to hike past Round Pond and Noonmark was chosen. We released the newts on the way in, took some video and pictures and headed for the peak. It's a decent climb with some rock scrambling and steepness but not very long. The peak was totally engulfed in fog when we arrived, we stayed up there for over an hour waiting for it to break while the Goat and Cat built their own cairn. It never did, so we headed back down and of course when we got to the bottom, the skies cleared completely! So, no views from the top on this trip but plenty of views from the trail. I was trying out the macro mode on my new digital camera. Enjoy!

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Proudly displaying my VFTT patch while plotting our current position

Mountain Goat and Cat scrambling toward the top

Local toad

Local toadstool

Brian on the summit in the fog

The view from route 73 after we got down

August 2005

Well, it's a few weeks before our 4th annual overnight trip and we needed a warm up hike so we decided on Noonmark Mountain. The weather report was calling for clear skies and I really wanted to check out the view from the top since it was socked in 2 years ago. We got on trail at about 8 AM and made good time getting to the summit of this steep little peak. On the way in we saw many very small toads that must've recently hatched and we had to watch our step so as not to trample them.

Brendan at the familiar crossroads on the Bouquet River

Well, most of them were very small, this one was very big

Nearing the summit, we enjoyed some wild blueberries and even saw a small rabbit right next to the trail. I almost had the camera ready when he decided he had enough. When we reached the summit, we were not disappointed with the views.

The Mountain Goat enjoying the Great Range just prior to lunch.

Dix Mountain and the Bouquet River valley

While we were enjoying our lunch on the summit we heard a whistle but didn't see anyone. A moment later, a rock climber popped over the edge from the sheer south facing cliff. That was rather interesting and a first for us. We chatted with him while he set his anchors and coached his younger partners up the wall.

I snapped this just as he popped over the edge

Brendan reminiscing about a hot day on Giant 3 years ago (trip report)

Well, we had a great day on this little Mountain, the weather was really nice and the views were great. My legs feel good so I think one more warm up before our annual overnight should do it.

Brendan had to rebuild the Cairn that he made the last time.