Pitcher Mountain is a 2,153 foot (656 m)

monadnock An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

located in southwest

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. The mountain is traversed by the 50 mile (80 km)

Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway The Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway (MSG) is a hiking trail that traverses the highlands of southern New Hampshire from Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey to Mount Sunapee in Newbury. Located approximately from the city of Concord, New Hampshire, the tra ...

and offers 360 degree views from its open summit. Lower elevations are wooded with species of the

northern hardwood forest The northern hardwood forest is a general type of North American forest ecosystem found over much of southeastern and south-central Canada, Ontario, and Quebec, extending south into the United States in northern New England, New York, and Penns ...

type; small stands of coniferous

red spruce ''Picea rubens'', commonly known as red spruce, is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec and Nova Scotia, west to the Adirondack Mountains and south through New England along the Appalachians to wester ...

cling to the upper slopes. A fire tower stands on the summit and a beef livestock farm occupies the east shoulder of the mountain. Pitcher Mountain is part of an extensive area of heath barrens and

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...

fields that continue north over Hubbard Hill and Jackson Hill. The east and north sides of Pitcher Mountain drain into the

Beards Brook Beards Brook or Beard Brook is a stream located in southern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the North Branch of the Contoocook River, part of the Merrimack River watershed. Beards Brook begins at the outlet of Island Po ...

watershed, then into the

Contoocook River The Contoocook River () is a river in New Hampshire. It flows from Contoocook Lake on the Jaffrey/ Rindge border to Penacook (just north of Concord), where it empties into the Merrimack River. It is one of only a few rivers in New Hampshire th ...

, then the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...

and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The west and south sides drain into Robinson Brook, thence Otter Brook, "

The Branch The Branch is a river located entirely in the city of Keene, New Hampshire, Keene, in southwestern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Ashuelot River, itself a tributary of the Connecticut River, which flows to Long Isla ...

", the

Ashuelot River The Ashuelot River is a tributary of the Connecticut River, approximately long, in southwestern New Hampshire in the United States. It drains a mountainous area of , including much of the area known as the Monadnock Region. It is the longest tr ...

, then the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

and

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

References

* ''Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway Trail Guide,'' fifth edition (1994). Concord, New Hampshire:

Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) is a private, non-profit, land conservation organization, conservation and sustainable forestry organization based in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It purchases or is given easements ...

. * ''Delorme Topo 6.0'' (2006). Mapping software. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. Mountains of Cheshire County, New Hampshire Mountains of New Hampshire {{NewHampshire-geo-stub