You Are Here: Bald Mountain

I had 2 hiking buddies today. I was so happy to have my friend Vanessa come along, and she brought one of her friends, Laura.. I don't mind hiking solo, but it's nice to have company as well! Today we headed to Antrim and Bald Mountain. The intention had been to redline the entire area, as there are 2 trails up to the summit plus a spur trail. There are also 2 more trails to another hill nearby that we were going to attempt, but ended up running out of time. No problem, the hill will always be there. It ended up being a grey and dreary day, but the temperatures stayed just cool enough to be comfortable and any precipitation held off. I actually think the muted colors of the day overall made some of the landscape stand out even more. There is a parking area on Willard Pond Road, that will hold quite a few cars as it is parking for both the pond recreation area and the hiking trails. There was 1 car when we arrived, another arrived not long after us, but the lot was full when we returned. With cars from several states! It always surprises me when out of staters know about these smaller places not on any big lists that typically attract the crowds. We passed a few people along our route, it wasn't really until almost the end that the trail started to feel a little crowded, but even then it wasn't bad and we were able to keep our distance safely. We headed towards the pond and started on Tudor Trail. This trail skirts one side of the pond, which made it a little wet and with all the fallen leaves we had to be careful of our footing. This was to be true the entire way, but this section was the wettest. This area was also a little rockier and mossier than the other trails. Tudor Trail led out to a really pretty little peninsula on the pond with several spur paths down to the water and a really great view up to Bald Mountain. Backtracking a little we started the climb up Bald Mountain Trail. Only 0.5 miles to the ledges. Once we reached the ledges, we decided to stop for lunch. Such a pretty view. The actual summit is a little ways past the ledges and is wooded. We continued over the summit and down Tamposi Trail, which was a little steep in places, again just the leaves making it tricky. We reached the Spur Trail, which is in the AMC Trail Guide, but is only identified on the actual trail by a blue blaze. I had read it was lightly trafficked and somewhat overgrown, but it was all that and more when we actually attempted to follow it. The trail started as an old logging road, which was fine, but a couple tenths down that it veers off into the woods as the logging road continues on. I would have missed it altogether except Vanessa and Laura noticed a blue blaze hidden in the trees. This is where it got interesting. We wondered if in the months before the leaves fell if a footbed was more visible, but today there was zero indication of where the trail may have been. We only had the blazes to guide us. This portion of the trail is not maintained in any way, so we were climbing over logs, squeezing between branches, ducking under fallen trees. It was basically bushwhacking, except we had blazes to follow. Another few tenths and we reached what was described on the map as a "scenic view".. and it was, however it was also a former logged clearing that was filled with large holes covered by flattened grasses and lots of signs of moose activity. Beyond this clearing the brush was over our heads. Vanessa and Laura scouted around a little trying to find any sort of hint at where the trail may continue, but we found nothing. As it was mid afternoon by this point and we still had a few miles to cover, we had a quick snack stop and decided to call it on this trail. We didn't want to bump into any sleeping creatures in areas we couldn't see, or get ourselves hurt. I've since learned, the trail beyond this point is now considered abandoned so are calling it done. I'm grateful to Laura and Vanessa for persevering with me on that difficult little section. We made it back to Tamposi Trail much faster than we thought and made our way down to the next intersection where Tamposi Trail either goes down to the parking area, or loops back up to the ledges. We decided to finish the loop, so at least I'd have all those trails complete. It was short, but very steep. I'm glad we did it though. Felt good checking those trails off my redlining spreadsheet. A few slips and slides on the way down and back to the car. A successful day checking off 5.9 miles of trail and hitting the highpoint for the town of Antrim.

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