Mount Kearsarge
The exposed granite summit is a good place to see evidence of past glacial activity. During the glacial period more than 25,000 years ago, a great ice sheet more than a mile thick moved over Kearsarge and much of New Hampshire. Glacial striations (grooves cut in rock by the movement of glacial ice) can be seen on the summit, as well as on ledge outcroppings in the Winslow picnic area. In addition, large boulders called glacial erratics, can be seen from the trails. The mass of ice was powerful enough to move the boulders which were left behind when the ice sheet retreated. The bare summit is the result of a 1796 forest fire which burned the vegetation and exposed the soil to wind and water erosion.
I remember hiking up to the summit with my parents when I was very young, maybe five or six. That’s not true. What I remember is being at the barren summit.
Much later, when I studied physical geography, the memory began to puzzle me.
How had such a small child hiked to above the timberline?
Later, when I had a better idea of the elevation, the question became “Why weren’t there any trees?”.
Now I know*.
*And have probably bored you about it.
