This earthcache is located in Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. No parking sticker or fees are required to enter the park.
Nobody really knows how old the Old Man of the Mountain was when he fell in 2003. All that is known is that early road surveyors in 1805 were the first white settlers to record observing the Old Man, so he had to have been at least 198 years old!
The five protruding ledges that composed the Old Man’s profile were probably not there when glacial ice flowed through Franconia Notch millions of years ago. This is due to the fact that the glacial ice was so thick it covered the top of the mountain and scouring by the flowing glacial ice would not have produced sharp, protruding ledges. So the Old Man must have been formed after the glacial ice melted about 12,000 years ago. The process of the melting and refreezing of the meltwater in the exposed walls of the Franconia Notch caused pieces of granite to split off. Then, the chance removal of the right pieces created the set of five ledges, that when viewed from just the right angle, created the profile of the Old Man of the Mountain!
The processes of weathering and erosion that created the Old Man soon began to reclaim him. The granite that made up the Old Man, called Conway Granite, contains a mineral called feldspar which can be seen as a pinkish color. Feldspar slowly crumbles over time as water chemically breaks it down. This process along with the freeze/thaw actions of frost eventually made the lower ledges so weak that on the night of May 3, 2003 the lower ledge could no longer support the massive weight above. Although turnbuckles and iron rods had been installed over time to hold the Old Man together, the front rocks of the Old Man were simply too heavy and they pitched forward and fell onto the slope below.
Nature’s chance removal of the right granite pieces to create the Old Man’s profile was also responsible for the weathering and erosion that brought him down. Another interesting story of Nature’s give and take!
To get credit for this earthcache, send your answers to the following questions to my Geocaching profile page:
- How many rocks out of the original five that comprised the Old Man do you think you can see from here that are still standing?
- Describe the colors of the rock face that once was the Old Man.
- What natural processes brought the Old Man down?