Mt. Monadnock! I grew up in southeastern N.H. Where this lone, non-volcanic mountain dominates the surrounding countryside. It help to make me think, once introduced to taijiquan in 1964, that the birthplace of Taijiquan, Wudangshan, was a solitary sentinel standing guard somewhere in China. When I made my first pilgrimage to this sacred Daoist mountain in 1986, the first and biggest surprise awaiting me was to discover that Wudangshan was NOT a solitary mountain peak, but a range of 70+ major mountains! The major problem in this misconception is our usual translation of Wudangshan as the singular -- Wudang Mountain.

Photo taken by Owlhead Mountain hermit, Joey Carroll, all the way from his perch in the highlands of Vermont... He has an award-winning collection of these beautiful, long-range photos of Mt. Monadnock during different seasons and weather conditions.