July 29, 2010
After work today, I went with a training run with my friend Shannon. The small but rugged mountains proved to be a good challenge. We ran most of the way up to Bald Mountain. Just before the summit of Bald I noticed some new signs and a new trail. Great! We continued on the Bald Mountain Loop but would return via the Speckled Mountain Trail.
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Shagg Pond
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On the 1,680' summit of Bald
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We walked along the ledges, enjoying the view while catching our breath.
We had a view over to our next mountain, Speckled.
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We carefully made our way down the steep section before running over to the base of Speckled. Neither of us could make it up the steep section while running although Shannon gave it a valiant attempt. We neared some open ledges.
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View to the north
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The trail goes back into the woods for a few minutes before emerging on more open ledges that led to the top.
Shannon on the 2,183' summit of Speckled Mountain
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I stitched two photos together for this panoramic shot. Use the scrollbars to see more of the photo.
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Here's several photos from the summit.
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Concord Pond
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We returned over the same route with the exception of bypassing the ledges on Bald by taking the new trail which was constructed very nicely with lots of stone steps. We made our way down. The last few minutes Shannon really picked up the pace to our run. Seeing this was a training run, I should have timed it. But I had forgotten to check the exact time we started. I believe this took us just over two hours. It will give us a goal to shoot for next time.
As we began the drive home, I stopped at Shagg Pond to view the mountains we just climbed.
Bald Mountain as seen from Shagg Pond.
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Speckled Mountain as seen from Shagg Pond.
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Thanks for joining me Shannon.
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