This weekend, Hawk and I finally had some time together to do a hike while the weather was decent. My body was quite broken on Friday from work, but thankfully I mostly slept it off. Still, I used my judgement and suggested we keep the hike moderate. I found a couple interesting sounding trails in the Sebago Lake area, and Hawk agreed to explore them with me.
First we hit Bald Pate Mt. in Bridgton, ME. Some of the reviews said it was brutal and steep, but the description and stats weren’t crazy. The map also showed multiple viewpoints, so I thought it was worth checking out. The main trailhead from which we started led us up a very gradual trail, and I was wondering where the heck the hard part was. It did eventually climb a bit as we neared the summit, but this side of the mountain was completely manageable.
The views were as beautiful and plentiful as advertised, and I found the trail itself very enjoyable. It was in good condition, and the terrain was interesting. I would definitely hike it again, given the chance. We did discover that black fly season has begun, so that was a bit of an annoyance, but otherwise it was all good.
At the Bald Pate summit, I led us down a different trail that loops around the back side of the mountain to continue our exploration. Here we found the challenging parts people were apparently talking about. Our descent had some steepness to it, so it wasn’t the fastest going, but it was certainly not a “bad” trail. Just a lot hikier. Halfway around the loop, we made a turn onto a cross path that promised another viewpoint on its way back to the summit. It was definitely the short, steep way to the top! Even Hawk admitted it was some relatively serious climbing, esp. when we hit the ledges and rock scrambles. I enjoy this kind of thing, though, as long as it doesn’t go on for too long. Having a rewarding view or interesting sights along the way helps too. This had all of that going for it.
After our second summit of Bald Pate, we headed back down the main trail towards the parking lot. Hawk wanted to skip an adjacent trail to a lake overlook, so I missed that, but moving on was probably the smartest choice. We still had more hiking to do!
Our second stop was Douglas Mt. in Sebago, ME. The stats sounded comparable to Pine Mt. back home, so I figured I still had enough in me to tackle it as a second hike. It wasn’t bad, but the trail was less delightful than our first adventure, and conditions were wetter and muddier. Ironically, Hawk liked this one better, just because it was easier. I swear I will never understand his mindset around what constitutes a good hike. I will, however, agree that it was nice to have a fairly flat trail after what we’d just done. And this mountain was unique because it has a cool stone lookout tower on the summit. Without that, I’d say the hike wouldn’t be worthwhile. But from the tower you get a lovely panoramic view.
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| literally a bridge to nowhere |
The Douglas Mt. trail forms a loop that ends in a roadwalk, which is never my favorite, simply because pavement is harder on the body than nature trails. But at least this was through a nice rural residential area, complete with some farms and a few more views, as well as one particularly neat house with awesome stonework. While this hike would not be my first choice to repeat, simply due to having better options, I also would not necessarily object to doing it again.
All in all it was a good day of hiking. I totaled over 1k’ again, and it certainly felt like it, though I’ll also say it felt like we hiked more miles than we actually did. We were thankful that the rain held off for our entire day out, and the temperature remained in the 50’s, which is pretty ideal for hiking. Of course, the “feels like” temperature varied more, dropping as the clouds thickened and dampness began moving in. We were both also thankful for being back in our trail runners. I’m happy with my new winter waterproof boots, but it definitely would have been too warm for those, and Hawk just has trouble with boots in general. So sneakers were very nice.
My back & hips started feeling the hike on our ascent of Douglas, which did eventually climb, but some Deep Blue and stretching back at the car, as well as rest, had me feeling ok after the fact. Or at least as ok as I get. Even Hawk commented that his body was feeling the activity ever so slightly the next morning. So while both hikes were moderate overall, they definitely offer a workout.
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| Time to head back home to my NH lakes & mountains! |
4/29 Bald Pate Mt, 2.36 mi, 686 ft, 1:24 hrs
& Douglas Mt, 2.09 mi, 482 ft, 1:13 hrs
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