Behind Errigal, the amusingly named Irish mountain, Muckish, is County Donegal's second-highest peak at 2,197 feet. Donegal is a wild, bleak and beautiful region in the north of Ireland (but not in the six counties belonging to Britain), and Muckish is just one of a long list of geographical features that have spawned a thousand postcards in Donegal souvenir shops.

It's a table mountain, which means that it looks like a much taller mountain that has had its nice conical peak lopped off by one of the deranged giants that populate Irish folk tales. Like Errigal, it is made of quartzite, a metamorphic rock that formed under extreme heat and pressure during a period of continental collision.

Its name comes from the Irish for pig, 'muc', because its shape apparently resembles that of a hog's back. Mostly of interest to hill walkers and sightseers, Muckish also has some geographical and archaeological interest, due to a small, fossil rock glacier and a prehistoric cairn at its summit. It is located in one of Ireland's most beautiful natural landscapes, which includes the Glenveagh National Park, the Poisoned Glen and Lake Dunlewy.

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