Two Balds, One Afternoon

Okay, so it's not exactly high adventure, but I had to do something after waking up late on a nice winter Saturday in mid-coast Maine. So Two Balds, One Afternoon it was.

It has come to my attention that Maine may, in fact, have more "Bald" mountains, but for the purposes of this afternoon I ignored all others.

I started with Bald Mountain, across the street from the Camden Snow Bowl, on the Georges Highland Path. It was slippery. In my original vision (hallucination?) of this trip, I was skinning up to find some wide open forest that even a downhill novice like myself could explore. It was a nice thought but perhaps just a bit ambitious given the 1" snowpack. So I hiked up with boots and eventually crampons, noticing that most bare boot tracks went around the ledges and through the lichens and blueberries.

If you haven't been to Bald Mountain, it's worth the short trip up: it is the only place I know from which you can easily see both Acadia and Mount Washington. (Can someone name any others?) Although, I wasn't exactly sure if ole George was visible today; I was too lazy to pull out my binoculars and search for the summit buildings.

Anyway, on to Bald Rock. I parked at Youngstown Road and headed up on touring skis. There was some snow, after all, in between the icy tire tracks. Apparently the park employees are still driving in to work on the renovated warming hut. The ski cnditions weren't real grippy heading up, but I figured I would be rewarded with a fast ride down. I left my skis at the trail junction.

The side trail up Bald Rock had relatively little ice. Even though I have hiked the trail many times in other seasons, I had never been up in winter. I agree with Goodman's book that this trail could be a nice ski run. But, because it is in coastal Maine, it'll require a minor ice age before there is enough snowpack. Goodman also describes a small snowfield to ski at the summit, and I think this is best understood as wishful thinking. That photo in the book must show one of approximately two turns. Regardless of turn potential, the view from the summit is awesome, overlooking all of Penobscot Bay.

I returned to the junction and my skis, and the ride out was completed quickly. You could really fly down the road, but I noticed a number of gravel and thin patches that could generate excitement if you hit them too fast.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a few hours.

those are two excellent overlooked hikes in coastal maine. The views are fantastic. They are even more fun at night when the lights of camden and the islands light up the night sky. There is nothing more peaceful than to go up to bald rock after sunset in the winter and take in the view of traffic on rte one and the lights of the houses on islesboro.