August 20, 2007
Pleasant Mountain has been on my 'to do' list for a while. It's not a huge mountain, but at 2,009 feet, it's the tallest mountain in southern Maine. It's so much larger than the other mountains in the area, you can pick it out from miles away. In the winter when I'm walking the powerlines near my home, I can make out the lights from the ski slopes of Shawnee Peak. It's Monday after work, so I'll have to hurry to get this hike in before dark. Lynn has come too. She will relax at Moose Pond. This works great. I won't have to come down the way I went up. Here's the track from this hike.
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The trailhead isn't marked real well. From Route 302 head down Wilton Warren Road. The trailhead is a little more than a mile down the road just before the house in the picture below.
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Parking is available across from this barn.
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Lynn, Madison, and I headed up the Firewarden's Trail. Within a few minutes we came to a split where we took a left. It wasn't real obvious which way to go, but after a minute of looking around, we found this sign on a tree.
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A few minutes later, Lynn headed back.
Below, Madison checks out a snowmobile bridge.
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The trail got steeper. Up, up, up. I came across a trail junction for Bald Peak. Today's plan was to hike to the top of the mountain, head north on the trail that follows the ridge, then head down the ski slopes where I would meet Lynn. I'm guessing this is the trail that I will take across the ridge later. For now I continued on the Firewarden's Trail.
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Then Maddie and I reached the fire tower on the summit.
I climbed the ladder, but as I suspected, the top was locked.
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I picked tonight to hike this mountain because it was supposed to be sunny. What happened?
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Looking over to Mount Washington in the Whites.
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Maddie tries to cool off by crawling through some grass.
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I decided to head back to where I saw the sign for 'Bald Peak'. I saw '2 Miles Chair Lift' spray painted on a rock. I guess I'm heading the right way. We made our way back to the instersection and began following the blue blazes towards Bald Peak. I got occasional views along the way.
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Looking down to Moose Pond. Lynn is relaxing at the picnic area on the island that the bridge goes by.
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After picking (and eating) a few blueberries on top of Bald Peak, I came across a trail junction with really nice signs that look like they were made yesterday. There was also a map pinned to a tree. Ah ha! This is what I was looking for. It showed a map of all the trails on Pleasant Mountain. I headed off on North Ridge Trail which was marked with white blazes (note the bottom right in the picture below). The white blazes made we feel like I was on the Appalachian Trail.
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The trail cut through these rocks.
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Next I came to the intersection with Sue's Way.
I thought of my ultra running friend in Virginia who's name is Sue.
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I didn't take Sue's Way, maybe another time.
Instead I followed the sign pointing to the ski lifts.
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Time to head down. It would be nice if the chairlift was running.
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I saw a black dot at the base of the ski resort. Then the dot began to move. It had to be Lynn. As the dot became larger, Madison recognized her and ran down to greet her. This is a great spot for hiking. There are a few more routes to the top, so I plan to come back, hopefully with the sun out.
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