7/30/10 Mt. Phillip, Sanders Hill, and French Mtn.

Three hikes near Round Top which we did a few days ago. This map shows the area. For individual trail maps ( all loops) go to the site of the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance http://www.belgradelakes.org/

All of the trails are mostly pleasant woods walks with views through the trees rather than from open ledges except for French Mtn. which does have open ledge.


The Mt. Phillips hike was really great for Kelley because we met another hiker with his dog Oscar. The dogs got along well and played and ran through the woods as we followed the trail. This made Kelley very happy as she doesn't often get to spend that much time with another dog. I wanted to get a picture of the two of them but as you can see they were pretty excited and not much interested in posing.


Bill finally got them still long enough for a picture.

We finished the loop, said our good-byes, and drove to the Sanders Hill trail head. This was also a nice loop though there is a short open gravel section that was home to many deer flies ( there had been none earlier on the trails).






We finished that loop and drove to the French Mtn. Trail , the shortest of the three trails, and found this view from the summit and had our lunch.

A nice day. About 3 hours total walking time.

7/28/10 Penobscot Mountain

Supposed to rain tomorrow so we decided to get in a good one. We started on the Harbor Brook Trail from Rte. 3. This is a pretty trail but in need of maintenance-there are several fallen trees that have not been cleared from the trail. Kelley thinks it's just fine as it mostly stays very close to the stream.




Cloud Lichen

When we reached the Asticou we took it the short distance to the Penobscot Mtn. Trail. This section is an old trail that was reopened and is very nice.


Past the intersection with the Spring Trail it is open across granite the last mile to the top.


Jordan Pond

We shared an apple at the summit and then continued on to the trail that goes past Sargent Mountain Pond. Scientist think this is the first lake in Maine because of it's elevation and location near the coast. It formed when the glaciers melted . Higher mountains inland were still frozen over.



After Kelley had a swim-there were three men just getting out of the water and they said it was fine- we climbed up to the Sargent S. Ridge Trail

and took that to the Amphitheater Trail which also follows Harbor Brook and passes under this bridge which is the longest of the carriage road bridges.


From the Amphitheater Trails end we had a short walk on the carriage road back to the Penobscot/Asticou connection to Harbor Brook Trail and back the way we had come.

One last swim for Kelley
A nice hike on a variety of trails- 5 hours

7/27/10 McFarland Mountain

The black dotted lines represent the service road and trails not on the modern map and are approximate

This was another attempt to find the abandoned trails to McFarland and Youngs that branch off of the Breakneck near the ponds-numbers 359 and 379 on the top map. This time we started from a trail we had done that runs from the air quality monitoring station on the service road and up to Mcfarland. The middle part of the trail gets hazy but once you attain the ridge it is easy to follow and is very nice.





We had hoped to find the top end of the trail but after about an hour of searching gave up and walked back down. We did find another trail down ( it even had cairns) that came out about half way up the service road.

We then walked up the Breakneck to the area the old map shows as the start and did find a trail which we followed awhile but it eventually faded away and though we stumbled around the woods looking for a continuation, we did not find it. Kelley kept looking at me with a 'why aren't we on a trail' look so we went back to the ponds so she could have a swim and cool off and have lunch.


Almost back to the car we met a USDA crew setting out traps containg a fungus that is supposed to kill fire ants and got some recommendations for deer fly repellants. A little frustrating but still an interesting hike. 3 hours

7/26/10 Round Top Mountain

This was a new one for us. It is in the Belgrade Lakes Region near Rome, Maine. A nice day with less humidity and lower temperatures. The trail is mostly a pleasant woods walk with gradual elevation gain.

The short Spur Trail takes you out to a ledge with a nice view. We met a man there who took our picture.


Continuing the loop gave us a couple of other nice views.




When we completed the loop we decide to check out the South Vienna Mountain Trail. This was primarily an old road which was becoming overgrown.


We followed the trail for about a half hour -very gradual climb, leveled out, and then dropped until it seemed to stop at a snow mobile trail. We traveled south on that trail for another half hour but it was pretty much more of the same so we turned and retraced our steps back to where we had begun. A pleasant hike 4-1/2 hours

7/23/10 Canon Brook and Pothole Trails

Still hot but lots of water for Kelley. We started from the Canon Brook trail head on Rte. 3 and soon crossed a beaver pond where Kelley got her first swim.


After the intersection with the A. Murray Young Path, the Canon Brook follows the stream up to the Cadillac S. Ridge Trail. This is a fairly steep climb over rocks and sheer granite ledges that when wet, like today, are slippery. Some of the rocky sections pose problems for Kelley but she usually solves them. Today she just sat and wouldn't proceed so I had to climb back down and bushwhack with her up a steep wooded slope. This was the only difficult part of the hike.





At the Featherbed she had another swim before we headed down via the Pothole Trail which has sections of open granite but also small streams and pools.




When we reached Otter Creek we were a little downstream from where we cross.


After crossing we had lunch and then took the extension back to the Canon Brook Trail and returned the way we had come. Near the end was another opportunity to get wet.


And, of course , there was still the pond before the hike ended. Pretty good hike 3-1/2 hours

7/22/10 Bald Rock and Cameron Mountains

A mix of sun and clouds. Still hot and humid. We started from the parking area on Rte. 173, walking to the Frohock Mtn. Trail but at the intersection took the trail to Bald Rock rather than continue on to Frohock.

Penobscot Bay from Bald Rock Mtn.

We continued on the Bald Rock trail to the Ski Lodge Trail, to the Sky Blue Trail, to the Cameron Mountain Trail. There are usually small streams along this route but all but two were dry. I promised Kelley we would do a hike with more water opportunities tomorrow. Cameron Mountain is a large hill with blueberry barrens. There were two women there with their dog but it was not friendly ( Kelley has, I think, finally learned that all dogs are not her friend but she still looks disappointed) and we moved to another area for our lunch.


This is a view from the top.

After our lunch we returned to the Cameron Mtn. Trail and that back to the Ski Lodge Trail to our car. A short distance from the car we met a nice couple from New York and their friendly dog. We let them off their leashes to play as we talked and they were having great fun. Unfortunately the skies opened up and heavy rain caused us all to run for our cars. 3-1/2 hours

7/20/10 Eagle Lake - Conners Nubble - N. Bubble

This was a loop with lots of variety. We started from Bubble Pond parking and walked a short distance on the carriage road to get to the Eagle Lake Trail. Kelley likes this one because much of the time you are close to the water. Parts of it consist of huge boulders that are usually a problem for Kelley but today she solved them all herself, once even entering the water to swim around a spot she didn't want to climb over.

Conners Nubble from Eagle Lake





The N. Bubble Trail starts from the Eagle Lake Trail and rises to Conners Nubble with good views, including the lake.



The trail then drops down, crosses a carriage road, and begins the climb to N. Bubble.




Jordan Pond from N. Bubble

Another view from N. Bubble

We continued down to the Jordan Pond Carry Trail and took that back to Eagle Lake. We met some nice people and two nice dogs-a Fox Terrier and a Yellow Lab- which Kelley liked. Near the end of the hike there was a group of about a dozen teen age volunteers working with two park personnel and they all were very attentive to Kelley which made her really happy. A good hike 3-3/4 hours