My Heroic Expedition to Cardigan Mountain

Location of Cardigan Mountain

There are two types of location, absolute location and relative location. Absolute location is usually latitude and longitude, and relative location is the area in which something is in relation to the things around it. The absolute location of the AMC Lodge at the base of Cardigan Mountain is 43 degrees, 38 minutes, and 59.1 seconds N, and -71 degrees, 52 minutes, and 38.5 seconds W. In addition to this, the absolute location of the summit of Cardigan Mountain is 43.655860 N and -71.911026 W. The relative location of the AMC Cardigan Lodge is roughly 40 miles north of Concord, New Hampshire, in Alexandria, New Hampshire. It is west of Newfound Lake, south of Groton, New Hampshire, and east of Orange, New Hampshire. The summit of Cardigan Mountain is roughly 2,500 meters west of the AMC Lodge.

Place of Cardigan Mountain

Cardigan Mountain is home to many native trees, including ash, spruce, fir, and hemlock, that cover it and the surrounding land. At the right time of year, some of these trees exhibit brightly colored foliage. If you trek to the right spot, you will run into glacial erratics, which are rocks different from the surrounding bedrock relocated to their current location by glaciers. Alongside the glacial erratics, there may also be glacial striations, lines formed by rocks scraping against the bedrock. You can find Welton Falls not too far away, which consists of a steep waterfall leading to a slowly moving river plowed by glacial melt water thousands of years ago. If you look close enough, you might find a Cucumber of the Woods plant, Wood Sorrel, or Wintergreen, all examples of edible plants. When the ground is wet, it is easy to find mushrooms of all colors and sizes dotting the forest floor.

Alongside the natural beauty of Cardigan Mountain, there are also human-made features. At the base of the mountain you will find the welcoming AMC Lodge and AMC-facilitated campsites, tent sites, and bear boxes. Of course, there are also two fairly sanitized porta-potties if you may need them located at the AMC Lodge parking lot and roughly 200 feet from the man-made pond. Multiple cellar holes and rock walls mark the past settlement of humans in the area part way up the mountain. Trails guided by blazes painted onto the bark of trees lead up to the top of both Cardigan and Firescrew Mountain, and along the way you might find a geocache, a metal box with random objects inside. At the top of Cardigan Mountain is a firetower, and carvings in the bedrock created by people over hundreds of years. Cairns, gravity-defying piles of rocks used to guide hikers to their destination, make multiple appearances on Cardigan Mountain. At the beginning of the descent of Firescrew Mountain that leads to the AMC Lodge is a rickety wildfire lookout cabin. Every so often, you might run into a Christmas tree-shaped Scotch Pine, which was introduced to New Hampshire from Europe several hundred years ago.