Beech Mountain Hike

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While showing a visitor around the island and the park for the first time last week, I had the occasion to take a new (to me) hike – Beech Mountain.

We started out the day with this short and relatively easy hike located on “the quiet side” of the island.    It was a beautiful late September day, pleasantly cool; perfect for hiking uphill!   Here and there, the leaves were beginning to change their colors, as you can see from the picture below.

 

 

Beech mountain is one of the smaller peaks on this side of the island, but from the back side, it offers the best views of Long Pond and Mansell Mountain, as you make your ascension.

 

 

 

 

I don’t travel to this side of the island very often, and have been itching to try some of the hikes (of which there are many); so I was glad to get this opportunity.    At the top of Beech Mountain is a unique feature, a fire tower.   No longer used by the National Park Service, it still stands as a testament that forest fires can occur here with devastating results (see my  post on the “Great Fire of 1947).  The rock below and iron construction of this tower begged me to shoot it in black and white.

 

 

In addition to the fire tower, great views of the Atlantic, Cranberry Islands, and the Western Mountains abound.

 

 

There are numerous trails that intersect at the top of the mountain, and one could easily spend most of the day hiking them, but my guest and I had numerous destinations planned for the day; so off we went.   But this short 1.5 mile round trip hike was the perfect way to start our day.