Jackson Mountain 10/21/2026

On this perfect late October day, we headed to Tumbledown Public Land for a loop hike over Jackson Mountain. Although it stands taller than its more popular neighbors, Jackson Mountain sees far less traffic, and, in my opinion, is one of the more underrated mountains in the area. We started at the Morgan Road Trailhead, and hiked downhill on the Little Jackson Connector Trail. After reaching the Brook Trailhead, we headed west on the Byron/Weld Road. After a road walk of a few miles, we turned onto the logging road following the Stockbridge Branch of the Swift River. Shortly before the bridge over the river, we turned onto the trail which follows the Stockbridge Branch along the north side of the mountains.

Road walk on the Byron/Weld Road

This seldom used trail provides a longer, but more gradual approach than the busy trails on the south side of the mountains. It follows the stream valley up, following the route of an old tote road for a while, before diverging on its own path as it turns away from the main stream and heads south up the mountainside. Upon reaching Jackson Pond, we took a break at the cabin and enjoyed the beautiful high elevation pond before continuing.

Cabin on Jackson Pond

Inside the cabin

Jackson Pond

After leaving the pond, we turned onto the Jackson Mountain Trail for the final ascent to the top. The Jackson Mountain Trail has got to have the most beautiful extended mossy sections of any trail around! We stopped to enjoy the beautiful viewpoint, offering a unique close-up view of Little Jackson, before reaching the summit clearing.

Little Jackson Mountain from Jackson Mountain

View northwest

View south

With clear skies and no wind, it was a perfect day to lay in the sun on the helipad for a while, which we did while eating lunch. After lunch, we went back down the Jackson Mountain Trail before following the Little Jackson Trail on a much more direct route to our car. Surprisingly, we didn't see anyone else on the trails all day, even in the area of Little Jackson, and we were the only car in the parking lot both when we started and when we left.

Sampson at the summit of Jackson Mountain

View towards Mount Blue

View back towards Jackson Mountain from the saddle between Jackson and Little Jackson

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Blueberry Mountain 10/12/2026

Opting for a short local hike today, we headed over to Blueberry Mountain in Township 6 North of Weld. At 9:00, we were the first car in the parking lot. As we headed up, we were unsure whether or not we would be in the clouds when we reached the summit. The trail remains in pretty much the same condition that it has been for the last ten years, mostly clear and well marked, but somewhat eroded in steeper sections.

The trailhead

View towards Webb Lake on the way up

Geodetic Survey marker at the summit

We were still in the clear as we approached the summit, and we were treated to sunny skies at the top. It was a bit windy, and many of the surrounding peaks, including the Jacksons were in the clouds, but it remained sunny on top of Blueberry for the 2+ hours that we spent at the summit. Although the foliage was past peak, the colors were still beautiful, and the warm sun made it the perfect day for an extended summit stop. We saw one other group at the summit, and one more while we were descending, but it wasn't too busy at all for a holiday weekend!

View north towards the High Peaks

View west towards the Jacksons

View southeast towards Mount Blue and Webb Lake

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Bald Mountain (Woodstock) 10/8/2026

On this beautiful fall day, we found our way back to Bald Mountain in Woodstock to explore a few trails that we hadn't hiked yet on the mountain. We were the first car in the Little Concord Pond State Park trailhead lot at around 8:30, and we started up the trail to Little Concord Pond. Upon reaching the pond, we opted for the trail heading along the west shore of the pond.

Little Concord Pond State Park Trailhead

At the pond's most northwestern point, we found the first, and most mysterious, of the three new trails that we planned to explore. I had noticed this trail before, but was not able to find any maps showing it or references to where it went. We started down the trail, and it soon became clear that although the trail was lightly used, it was well cared for with no real blowdowns at all and a clear trail corridor. The trail descended a bit as it wound through the forest. Eventually, the trail popped out at the end of a woods road, and we realized that we were at the end of Pelletier Road near Concord Pond. It was great to discover this new approach to the trails on Bald and Speckled Mountains!

Little Concord Pond

After retracing our steps back to Little Concord Pond, we took the trail heading northeast towards the logging roads on the north side of Speckled Mountain. Just before the trail reached the logging road, we took a right turn on a somewhat eroded trail heading uphill. This was the second new to us trail which climbed rather gently to the south. The trail had some blowdowns, but was easy enough to follow, and it became rather level as it reached the wide col between Bald and Speckled. We reached the 4-way junction in the col with the blue-blazed Speckled Mountain Trail. After determining that the trail south of the col was too muddy and overgrown to be worth following, we headed west to the summit of Bald Mountain.

Speckled Mountain from Bald Mountain

Sampson at the summit of Bald Mountain

View west from the summit

Despite the beautiful weather foliage, we had the summit of Bald completely to ourselves for over an hour while we relaxed and ate lunch. Just before we left, we did see one other hiker with her dog, one of only 3 people we would see during the hike. Continuing west from the summit, we soon took a sharp left turn onto our third, and final, new trail of the day. This unmarked, but well used path soon took us to the bottom of Shagg Crag, the popular rock climbing cliff on Bald Mountain. The cliffs were very imposing from the base, and they were covered in climbing hardware. The trail took us through the rubble along the base of the cliff. We passed one pair of climbers along the way. Soon past the end of the cliffs, the trail reached a viewpoint on top of a tall ledge. I had no idea that this southeast facing viewpoint existed, and it was the best kind of surprise when exploring a new trail!

Shagg Crag

Can you spot the climber?

After enjoying the beautiful view towards Abbotts Pond, we headed back along the trail, and down to where our car was parked. It was a very successful day of new trail exploration, and now I have been down every notable trail that I am aware of on Bald and Speckled Mountains.

View southeast from the viewpoint near Shagg Crag

View south

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Bald & Speckled Mountains Loop 9/15/2026

Having previously hiked a loop over Bald & Speckled Mountains from the Little Concord Pond State Park trailhead, today we hiked the loop from the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trailhead. Heading up the lower part of the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail, there wasn't anything particularly new to note, except for some ribbons and signage put there to keep ATVs on the designated ATV trail. We hiked the loop counterclockwise, so we split off from the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail and continued around the base of the mountain on logging roads and the faint trail crossing a low saddle to Little Concord Pond.

Speckled Mountain Pasture Trailhead

A waterfall along the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail

Little Concord Pond

After hiking along the north shore of the pond, we ascended Bald Mountain, where we started to see multiple groups of other hikers. After a short snack break on top of Bald, we continued on to Speckled. At the summit of Speckled, we had lunch and enjoyed the beautiful views on this early fall day.

View from Bald Mountain

Trail junction near the summit of Bald Mountain

Speckled Mountain summit Geodetic Survey marker

After lunch, we descended back to the car on the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail. The first part of the descent along the ridge with alternating forests and open ledge is always a very enjoyable part of the trail. It's always fun finding new variations on mountains which you've hiked many times!

View northwest from the summit of Speckled Mountain

Sampson at the summit

View east while descending on the Speckled Mountain Pasture Trail

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Moxie Mountain 9/8/2026

Yesterday, we hiked one of the most unique mountains in the state, Moxie Mountain in Caratunk. I had previously hiked both trails up the mountain, but our goal yesterday was to connect the two trailheads to make a loop. The road in to the West Trailhead was in good shape, except for a bridge about 100 yards before the trailhead. Instead of taking the longer ATV trail which connects the two trailheads, we opted for a bushwhack route along the east side of Deer Bog which was about 2 miles shorter. The bushwhack was quite easy, except for the last 100 yards or so through thick brush to get to the logging road that we were aiming for.

A view of Deer Bog from our bushwhack

View of the South Cliffs from the logging road walk

After reaching the road, we followed it east along the base of the mountain. It was easy road walking, and there were some great views up towards the South Cliffs on the mountain. We reached the South Trailhead, and began ascending. The first part of the trail passes through a red pine plantation which had been recently harvested. The trail becomes quite steep and has some fun sections with optional scrambling. After a short detour on the viewpoint spur, we continued to the summit, where we saw the only other group of people that we ran into during the day.

Sampson at a viewpoint on the way up

Summit marker

We enjoyed the views near the summit for a bit, before returning to the junction with the trail from the west trailhead. We took this trail to the South Cliffs, where we had lunch and spent well over an hour relaxing. The views from the South Cliffs are spectacular, and the gravelly composition of the lunar-like surface is unlike anywhere else that I've seen in the state.

View from near the summit

Lunar-like landscape on the South Cliffs

After our break at the South Cliffs, we continued descending back to the West Trailhead. It was great to revisit Moxie Mountain, and it was great to be able to make a loop using both trails on the same hike!

View from the South Cliffs

On the South Cliffs

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Black Mountain 9/4/2026

Although I've hiked over Black Mountain multiple times on my way to Rumford Whitecap, today was the first time that I hiked Black Mountain by itself, and the first time I had been to its western (highest) peak. We started from the ski area parking lot, and the trail was in excellent condition as we ascended.

Heading up a ski slope on the lower part of the trail

The trail is well marked!

One of the viewpoints on the way up

Black Mountain may not have one large expansive viewpoint, but the numerous viewpoints looking in different directions spread out through the ascent make for a very interesting and enjoyable hike. My favorite two viewpoints are the one from a large rock down a short side trail, and the one from a small rock ledge, just after crossing the last ski trail of the ascent. The views today were excellent, and the fall colors are starting to show more and more! After reaching the spot where the trail crosses the cell tower access road, we turned right onto the road and descended into the col between the east and west peaks of the mountain. From the col, it was an easy climb up on another cell tower access road to the highest point on the mountain.

The viewpoint where we ate lunch

Wind farm construction on South Twin Mountain

Signage pointing back to the ski area base

At the summit, there is a very substantial cell tower, along with a large rock ledge offering somewhat restricted views to the north and west. The most interesting part of the view from the summit was a framed up-close view of the extensive open ledges on Rumford Whitecap. From the summit, we descended back to one of the lower viewpoints for lunch, and then headed back the way that we came to the ski area base. Black Mountain is a great, easily accessible hike, that seems to be underrated as a mountain worth climbing by itself.

Cell tower at the west peak

Sampson at the summit

View towards Rumford Whitecap and the other ski area in Maine on a peak called Black Mountain

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