Hiking Bald Mountain Trail
I would just like to preface this post with a disclaimer: there are at LEAST, if not MORE than twenty Bald Mountains in Maine. No, I am not exaggerating. Check your Maine atlas. It is sort of like the whole Black Mountain thing, where every town has one because hundreds of years ago, some Chachi couldn’t think of another name for mountains.
This particular Bald Mountain trail can be found on page nineteen of your Maine Atlas. It sits right off route 156 in a teeny tiny territory called Washington Township, which is right in between Wilton and Weld (two towns you may have never even heard of). If you have yet to explored this part of Maine, please do yourself a favor and do so. It is home to so many gorgeous (hehe, puns) mountains that will take your breath away (literally and figuratively). It is also home to lakes that are so beautiful, you’ll be shittin’ bricks.
Anyway… lets move on, shall we?
We set out on a crisp February afternoon and found parking on the side of the road, right near the trail sign (which doesn’t always happen in the middle of winter). There is a huge trail board, so you really can’t miss it. We almost did (because my husband was driving) but thats another story for another day. Let’s just say that my 20/20 vision got us where we needed to go.
The trail was packed down pretty well by snowshoes. There isn’t much I can say about the ascent other than it is straight up with absolutely no declines or flats. Due to the steepness, we stopped quite a bit to rest, but in all it probably took us 45 minutes to reach the summit. For once, I found myself in favor of how steep the trail was, because it meant less time feeling like you’re going around in circles (I know that isn’t the case, it just always feels like it). Plus, I very much prefer the summiting and descending portions of a hike.
About one-tenth of a mile from the top, the main trail brings you to some rungs where you can either rock climb or take the alternate trail. When we went, the rungs were covered with ice, so we opted to take the alternate trail. You’ll see bright red signs that say alternate trail and have an arrow pointing where you need to go.
The summit provided stunning views of Mt. Blue, Tumbledown, Little Jackson, etc. One of my favorite things about hiking in the winter is the silence and solitude it provides. Very few people hike in the winter, so we often find ourselves to be the only people occupying a whole mountain (which, if you ask me, is pretty awesome). We spent a good twenty minutes taking pictures with my mom’s camera, which we had borrowed for our honeymoon week, and then we made our way down the mountain. By “made our way down the mountain” I really mean slid down the mountain like champions.
Curious? Here’s some background info:
Hiking in the winter means you don’t have to worry about tripping over or rolling your ankle on loose rocks, sticks, roots, etc. Call us crazy, but we love to RUN (yes, you read that right) down the mountains in the winter because you can bound from step to step uncontrollably without having to worry about breaking your legs or any other injury occurring. Plus, if you fall, you fall in the snow, which has a very nice cushioning effect. Once in a great while, if the weather is warm enough and the trail is steep enough, you can slide down the mountain (on your butt) just like you would down a waterslide. This is exactly what we found ourselves doing while descending this trail, and I have to say that it was one of the top ten funnest moments in my life.