Wanting to get a short hike in before we went to the Farmington Fair in the afternoon, my fiancé, Sierra, and I decided to hike The Mountain in Rome. The Mountain is a small peak with a trail network maintained by the Seven Lakes Alliance. As is often the case, we decided to take a rather unusual route up the mountain, so I could complete a few short sections of trail that I had yet to hike.
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| The trailhead off of Mountain Drive |
We started up the Main Trail which we followed until the upper junction with the Great Pond Loop, where we turned right.
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| The wide Main Trail |
After descending a short distance, we turned left at the lower junction with the Outer Loop.
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| Cairns on the Great Pond Loop |
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| Start of the Outer Loop |
The Outer Loop is my favorite trail on the mountain and loops through beautiful open forest along the northern ridge of the mountain, passing a couple minor viewpoints along the way.
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| A restricted view towards Great Pond |
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| Passing through open hemlock forest |
After reaching the far junction with the Main Trail, we turned left and followed it up and over the summit of The Mountain to the Long Pond Loop.
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| The summit |
We followed the Long Pond Loop to the viewpoint over Long Pond, which is the best on The Mountain.
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Views over Long Pond
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We paused here for a bit before descending back to the trailhead via the Main Trail. As with most of the hikes in the Kennebec Highlands region, The Mountain provides a nice trail network with good views for minimal effort. In the future, a new trail will also connect this trail network to the trails on Mount Phillips to the north.
