Skip to main content

Davis Boulders and Goodrich Rock

 Dark Eyed Junko
Sweet, plump little Dark-eyed Junco


We had one last decision to make our final night in New Hampshire which was, do we leave at 4:30 a.m. (like we did on the way up) the following morning to head back home, or do we take it easy and depart comfortably by 10:00 (check out time)?  I voted to leave at 10, but take it easy?  Sleep in?  No way.  I reasoned, why bother to stay an extra night and wake up in New Hampshire only to leave it?  Come on, one last adventure?  In a pretty surprising move, my husband agreed.  Why rush to just depressingly get back home by 3:00 p.m.?  

We thought back to a sign (pictured below) that we had seen on our last hike to Greeley Ponds:  Davis Boulders/Goodrich Rock.  It's a short hike.  We could get up early, hike, be back to the house around 9, gather up the last of our things, and head back south.  
Let's do it!


The hike description (which I paid a lot closer attention to) said from the parking lot to this sign is 30 minutes, then "the trail winds creatively through a field of large glacial erratic boulders", and ends on top of (yes, on top of!) the last, biggest boulder, Goodrich Rock.  There is a 20 foot ladder to ascend in order to get on top of the boulder, and your reward is the amazing view.  Sold!  Sounds like fun to me.  30 minutes plus .8 mile semi-steep climbing.  I'm in.

Overall, the hike was pretty easy although it did have some steep sections mixed in.  It was short as promised though. We arrived quickly at the Davis Boulders which is considered to be a favorite place for children as they can pass through the gigantic broken chunks of granite which have a cave like feel to them.

Massive boulders began popping up out of nowhere.

The kids did love climbing through,

around, 


and over the huge rocks.

Beautiful tentacle like tree roots cascaded over this boulder.



Carrying on toward Goodrich Rock.

Warrior Call over some final tough terrain.

When we finally reached Goodrich Rock were amazed at the size of it and the huge ladder.  My husband went up first, followed by me.  The kids wanted nothing to do with it, and frankly, I don't blame them.  It's 20 feet straight up and not for the faint of heart.  And as any good climber knows, getting up is relatively easy, but having to look back down in order to go back down is another story.  

Note:  we were using zoom lens, so you don't exactly get the perspective on  just how high it is, but you get the idea.

Here we go!

I did it! Whew!

Behold!

Another magical view

The ski slopes

This tree held the sweetest surprise for me:

Dark Eyed Junko
This little guy flew in and landed right on top!

Not bad for our last hurrah in New Hampshire!  No, we're already planning our return trip for this fall!  So, it's our last hurrah for now 😉


Check out my other New Hampshire Posts:

Mt. Osceola- Our first 4,000 footer

Mt. Tecumseh- Back to back 4,000 ft?!

Cascade Path

Bear Brook State Park

Greeley Ponds

Not just hiking

Comments

  1. Amazing hike! I’ll never be a wimp over holding ladder for hubby to reach our flat roof! Finally- I love the kids Warrior Call!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those heights are no joke. Getting up the ladder and onto the roof is one thing... But getting from the roof, or boulder as it were, back down is another story. Pretty scary!

      Delete
  2. Great hike for the last day. Definitely the stuff memories are made of.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fraser Preserve, Great Falls, VA- Spring

They take conservation seriously there.  This amused me to no end. Conservation trash talk! Fraser Preserve is admittedly a new discovery to me and my family.  It was property given to the Nature Conservancy in the 70's that allows and encourages walkers to enjoy.  It doesn't have tremendous mileage in terms of trails, but you can easily extend your walk via their connector trail west into Seneca Regional Park via the fire road or Potomac Heritage trail or east via the Potomac Heritage Trail towards Riverbend (see my very detailed map below).  The actual preserve is rich in wildlife and lush vegetation.  Once you enter the park from the parking lot there is, what I named in my map, an unmarked "Obvious Dirt Trail" to the left.  Take it!  I have never seen so many toads and frogs in one place in all of my life.  I dubbed that "Frog Forest."  It is also a pretty spot to stop for a snack or to have a picnic lunch.  The "Obvious Dirt Trail"...

The White Mountains- Mt. Osceola

In the months leading up to this trip, my boys and I heard a lot about Mt. Osceola and Mt. Tecumseh.  Both are 4,000 footers my husband had done with his family growing up.  Our first full day in New Hampshire we decided to go for the gold and tackle Mt. Osceola.  We got to the trailhead pretty early and the small parking lot was pretty full.  We did pass some people, but not too many- thank goodness.  We heard lots of new birdsong, and saw some adorable chipmunks.  My youngest son has been very excited to see new colors and types of mushrooms.   The hike itself is ranked moderate, and I would say that is true for both me as an adult and for our kids (if you hike regularly).  It is however a very, very rocky hike, and makes its relative shortness of about 3 miles to the summit seem, and take, a lot longer than you might expect.  But Wow!  Just Wow!  The summit of Mt. Osceola does not disappoint.  It is worth all of the swi...

Fletcher Cascade, Drakes Brook, and Jennings Peak

The highly underrated view from Jennings Peak After driving slightly over an hour to see our dear friends, our youngest's BFF's family, we decided to try to stay close by and do a somewhat low-key hike.  We did a bit of Internet searching and settled on Drakes Brook which was a very short drive from where we were staying.  When you are online looking for hikes (let's say on a site like AllTrails), it can be very different when you arrive to the actual trailhead and are trying to figure out how the person writing the post strung together the "Moderate 5 mile loop."  My husband likes to go online and (try to) figure out the route in advance.  I do think it is good to have something of an idea of what certain trails are like.  But sometimes I can't figure out what they are talking about and just like to string a hike together on the fly. We arrived at Drakes Brook and saw this sign.   Drakes Brook trail is an out and back (Sandwich Mountain Trail would be...