The Ossipee Mountains are located just south of the White Mountains

White Mountains (New Hampshire)

The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...

 of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Mount Shaw

Mount Shaw

Mount Shaw is a mountain located within the Castle in the Clouds estate in Carroll County, New Hampshire. With a summit elevation of it is the highest of the Ossipee Mountains....

, at 2990 feet (911.4 m), is the highest point in the range.

Geology and physiography

The Ossipee Mountains are the remains of an ancient volcanic ring dike

Ring dike

A ring dike or ring dyke in geology refers to an intrusive igneous body. Their chemistry, petrology and field appearance precisely match those of dikes or sill, but their concentric or radial geometric distribution around a centre of volcanic activity indicates their subvolcanic origins.-Notable...

. The Ossipee ring-dike complex of central New Hampshire is a visible remnant of a Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 stratovolcano, ca. 125 Ma, a member of the later White Mountain igneous province. The complex is circular in plain view and has a diameter of 14 km. The ring-dike complex is easy to identify within web-browsed satellite images, the southeast edge located about 8 km northwest of the village of Ossipee

Ossipee, New Hampshire

Ossipee is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,345 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Carroll County...

.

Notable summits

• Bald Knob
• Bayle Mountain
  Bayle Mountain
  Bayle Mountain is a mountain located in Carroll County, New Hampshire, standing above Conner Pond.-External links:*...
  
  
• Big Ball Mountain
• Faraway Mountain
• Mount Flagg
• Larcom Mountain
  Larcom Mountain
  Larcom Mountain is a mountain located in Carroll County, New Hampshire, USA. The top of the mountain, and its subpeak, Little Larcom Mountain, are part of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust....
  
  
• Nickerson Mountain
  Nickerson Mountain
  Nickerson Mountain is a mountain located in Carroll County, New Hampshire, in the northeastern Ossipee Mountains. The peak was also once known as Mount Whittier, however the USGS has since labelled a mountain to the immediate west with the name....
  
  
• Mount Roberts
  Mount Roberts (New Hampshire)
  Mt. Roberts is a mountain located in Carroll County, New Hampshire. The peak is located within the Lakes Region Conservation Trust's Castle in the Clouds property.-External links:* * *...
  
  
• Sentinel Mountain
• Mount Shaw
  Mount Shaw
  Mount Shaw is a mountain located within the Castle in the Clouds estate in Carroll County, New Hampshire. With a summit elevation of it is the highest of the Ossipee Mountains....
  
  
• Turtleback Mountain
  Turtleback Mountain (New Hampshire)
  Turtleback Mountain is a mountain in the Ossipee Mountains located in Carroll County, New Hampshire, standing above Bald Knob. The summit features columnar jointing and was once home to an observation tower.-External links:*...
  
  
• Mount Whittier
  Mount Whittier
  Mount Whittier is a mountain in Carroll County, New Hampshire, in the northern Ossipee Mountains. Named after John Greenleaf Whittier, the peak is not to be confused with nearby Nickerson Mountain, which was once known as Mount Whittier....
  
  

See also

• Castle in the Clouds
  Castle in the Clouds
  Castle in the Clouds is a 16-room mansion and mountaintop estate in Moultonborough, New Hampshire owned by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and operated by the Castle Preservation Society...
  
   - a large estate located on the western portion of the Ossipee Mountains.
• Pawtuckaway State Park
  Pawtuckaway State Park
  Pawtuckaway State Park is a preserve in New Hampshire, United States. It is one of the largest state parks in southeastern New Hampshire and is named for Pawtuckaway Lake and the Pawtuckaway Mountains...
  
  - a related ring dike in southern New Hampshire