A Day's Worth of Hiking in Maine

In early May, I traveled from my home in Bethlehem, NH to spend a full day of hiking in the neighboring State of Maine.  Although this mini-adventure involved four separate hikes, the combined mileage for all four was just under 6 miles.  It can be fun to experience a variety of small hikes during a day, rather than getting locked into a day-long mega hike.

BALD MOUNTAIN (near Weld, ME)

Of the four hikes, Bald Mountain was my favorite (click HERE for a detailed description of this hike).  

There are 360 degree views from the bare summit, but my favorite snapshot of day was the one shown below.  In the foreground is a small tarn reflecting a nearby pine tree with Mt. Blue on the near horizon.  I had to wait a while to get this shot.  Persistent wind gusts were causing the reflection to be blurred.

Below is another photo of Mt. Blue (on near horizon, just right of center) with Hills Pond in the foreground.

A large portion of Bald Mountain's summit area consists of beautiful rocky ledges that are interlaced with blueberry bushes and low growing conifers, as seen in the next photo.

The vast acreage of ledges provide sweeping vistas such as shown in the panorama photo below.

One of these vistas includes a very distant view of the Presidential Range poking up behind the Sunday River ski slopes. (The zoomed photo shown below isn't the best, but will give a general idea.)

BELGRADE LAKES REGION OF MAINE:

Mount Phillip:

Of the three hikes done in this region, the first was a trek to Mount Phillip (click HERE for a detailed description of this hike).

From a ledge near the top of Mount Phillip is a very picturesque vista overlooking Great Pond, just one of the many bodies of water in the Belgrade Lakes Region.  It was a very pleasant surprise to see such a pristine vista.  I was sort of expecting the shoreline to be cluttered with a variety of lakeside cottages, etc.

French Mountain:

My second hike in this region was to French Mountain which provided a dramatic view overlooking Long Pond as seen in the photo below.  (Click HERE for a detailed description of this hike).

The Mountain Trail:

The third hike in the Belgrade Lakes Region was along a trail simply named "The Mountain Trail". (Click HERE for a detailed description of this hike).  Although the vistas were less striking than those from the other two hikes in this region, there were some pleasant views as seen in the snapshot below.

To sum it up, I'll present the following map which will provide a general idea as to where these four hikes occurred.

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