You Are Here: Pillsbury State Park - Balance Rock Trail + Mad Road Trail

I feel like it's been raining for years. More rain forecast this weekend, but after missing last weekend with family commitments, I needed to get out and reset. I decided to head to Pillsbury State Park where I had 2 smaller, separate hikes needed to complete all the trails. This way if the weather really went sideways, I wasn't going to be out for a long time and I could abandon the second if need be. I paid my entry fee, I think the Park Manager thought I was a bit loopy coming out in the rain and headed down to the Day Use Parking area at the playground in the middle of the campground. I was surprised to see as many campsites occupied as there were considering the weather forecast. Campers can be hardy people! I pre-covered my pack with the Osprey rain cover so it was ready if the heavens opened, put on some bug spray and headed out. Balance Rock Trail starts a short ways up the road from the parking area. I had a digital download of the trail, but it turns out the actual trail is slightly off from the digital version. I checked a couple other sites I use for digital maps, and they all were the same.. I mainly use the digital versions to see how close I am to my destination and motivation to keep moving. I always consult a paper map first. The trail is well marked with orange blazes and was easy to follow. The trail starts mellow at first, passing a fork to a couple campsites (sign marks the correct way) before gradually starting to climb. I found the trail in excellent condition with the exception of 1 really large blowdown in the first half. I climbed over on my way up, which took some careful maneuvering around limbs, but on my return I was able to go around much more easily. There were several more blowdowns after this but all were either easy duck under or step overs. This area definitely got hit this Winter as there were lots more blowdowns alongside the trail as evidence of that. As the trail gently climbed I had peeks through to the surrounding area thanks to some logging it looked like, but with the inclement weather, it was mostly socked in. It was very dark and damp. At about the 0.8 mile mark, the trail gets quite a bit steeper for a couple tenths before easing off and leveling out as you head out to the namesake of the trail. Don't stop when you get to the first large boulder on the trail (that had a small cairn on top) that appears to just be a restricted viewpoint, the actual "Balance Rock" is a little ways further on and marks the end of the trail. The rock and trail sit on the side of Bryant Mountain. There is an unmaintained trail that headed beyond the rock, and I have read of people going to bag the actual summit. The map was only showing it as a couple tenths from where the rock is, and I briefly considered it, even started down the herd path. I was surprised to encounter a gentleman geocaching! Then the skies opened and it started raining, so I changed my mind. Put on my windbreaker/raincoat and headed back down. I was surprised to see 2 other groups as I descended! There was even a rumble of thunder as I neared the bottom!

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Day Use Parking at Pillsbury State Park

start of the trail off the road

fork to campsites marked with a sign

blowdown along the trail

all the rain really had the greens popping

viewpoint socked in today

Balance Rock

another balancing rock!

Back at my car, I drove back out to Route 31 and down about a mile to the gated Mad Road Trail. I hda checked with the Park Manager if it was OK to park here and she said as long as the gate was not blocked at all, then yes it was fine. This is just a snowmobile trail and I needed the 2 mile section to Ridge Trail, the remaining mile I had done on a previous hike in which I looped around and up Ridge Trail. The trail was a little overgrown in places, as to be expected for a snowmobile trail off season, but also had a lot more clear sections than I anticipated which was a nice surprise. It was a bit of a rollercoaster with ups and downs, but rather uneventful with nothing to see except a couple peeks at ponds on either side near the beginning and my turnaround point. It rained most of my way out and thundered a few times for good measure. Once that stopped, the mosquitoes came out in force. I was swarmed and fully expected to be eaten alive (I seem to have escaped with only 1 bite which is amazing considering how many and how large they were!). I looked into the woods at around the 1 mile mark as I know there are fire tower remains up on what is sometimes called Bacon Pond Hill, but I was way too tired to consider a bushwhack regardless of how short this one would have been. Once I reached the Ridge Trail intersection, I about faced and returned to the car. This completes my quest to hike all the trails at Pillsbury State Park!

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