Hiking Bald Mountain & Speckled Mountain
This year, we decided to start a new Memorial Day tradition. Instead of doing the typical family BBQ, we went hiking on a mountain in Western Maine that none of us had completed before. It’s crazy how you can grow up in a place and not be aware of so many outdoor adventures that are practically in your backyard. Although this hike was definitely not right around the corner (we traveled on several different dirt roads to get to it) it was worth the effort. You can find the hike on map 10 in your Maine atlas.
The first 0.5 mile of the trail begins on a pathway that almost looks like an ATV trail. Then, you will come to an intersection where Little Concord Pond will be in front of you and the trail will turn off to the right, marked by a sign that says Bald and Speckled Mountain Trail. Follow the blue blazes for this trail. Shortly, you will come to another fork where one trail is marked with white blazes and the other is marked with blue blazes. Continue on the trail marked with blue blazes.
The remaining 0.4 miles to the summit of Bald Mountain is relatively steep, passing through a quiet wooded forest. The trail will bring you to yet another intersection where you can either veer right to the summit of Bald Mountain or continue straight to Speckled Mountain. We decided to check out the summit of Bald Mountain, and i’m glad we did! Quite a few groups had spent the night on the summit, which looked like a lot of fun.
The summit of Bald Mountain provides great views of the Spruce Mountain wind turbines and Shagg Pond. After reaching the summit, you can either complete the Bald Mountain Loop Trail, or go back to the intersection and continue towards Speckled Mountain. We decided to continue onwards to Speckled Mountain, which involved a lot of back and forth between ascending and descending for about 0.6 miles. This was kind of worrisome for us, because it looked like rain was expected soon and we seemed to be getting nowhere.
Thankfully, the back and forth is quickly followed by a steep ascent that lasts 0.5 miles, which bring you right to the summit. There were some great outlooks along the way, including one that overlooks Grafton Notch and the Spruce Mountain turbines. We would have spent more time at these outlooks if the weather wouldn’t have been so intimidating.
The summit of Speckled Mountain is a treasure. It offers panoramic views of mountains and lakes in Western Maine and beyond, such as: Whitecap, Old Speck, Baldpate, Tumbledown, Concord Pond, Mount Zircon, Richardson Lake, Mount Abrahm, Sunday River, etc. You could even see the White Mountains for goodness sake! It truly was a picture-perfect perspective that I had never seen before. We were so lucky that the rain went around us so we could stop and enjoy the summit instead of hurrying down.