Stonehouse Pond, Barrington, NH

Last week I needed to get outside and stretch my legs to prepare for a few days of hiking coming up. I was going to hike Blue Job for the 3rd time this year, but Josh reminded me about the existence of Stonehouse Pond and completely changed my mind for me.

Stonehouse Pond is a beautiful spot in Barrington which comprises of (at best) a quarter of a mile hike to an exposed rock cliff looking over a small and gorgeous pond, with great views of far away mountains. It was small, easy, got me in the woods, got me to walk up a hill, and gave me a great view. It was perfect, and I'd highly recommend anyone near it check it out.

I got there with very little time before sunset. There was a pickup truck in the parking lot, in which, upon seeing me, a guy suddenly acted awkward and a girl pulled a blanket up and got even more awkward. Sorry kids, I hope you got to finish whatever it is you were doing after I left.

I went left at the big rock. This was my first view:

The trail leads to the top of that rock face.

Towards the top, I got to see some excellent artwork by some wicked awesome kids. 

weed leaf in rasta colors! Woo!

The climb was very steep out of nowhere, and although it definitely got my heart pumping, it was just short enough to not really hurt. I found myself at the top pretty quickly.

 This is the view:

Glass water.

I of course went late, and didn't get a sunset, but did get a great moon.

This is how serious the drop is off the main face:

I decided to make it a loop, so continued left so I would walk around the whole pond. I almost got extreme and jumped from one cliff to another, but wisely chickened out.

look at that sweet new shoe!

This is the jump from the other side. I'd say it's doable, but that's quite the drop if I were to fail. And I didn't want to die, so I played it safe.

When I got back, there were some punk kids hanging around, and I stood in the dark to avoid them/scare the crap out of them if they saw me lurking in the shadows. When they left, I checked out some more sweet art:

Night set in and it was pretty gorgeous. What an excellent spot for a quick woods wander to a great view.

currently listening to: The Dear Hunter: The Color Spectrum (Black)