New Place to Hike: Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust

Approaching Dead River

The Dead River Picnic Area

Last year Colleen and I found a new place to hike.  It was Colleen's first real hike and she did well.  The Kenduskeag Steam hike was all flat.   Collen found the place for us and it is an easy hike until you start up the mountain, and even then it is not too bad.  Colleen and I are in better shape now so it would be even easier now for us.  The trail lakes a long winding route around the mountain until the last 1.1 mile when you really just head straight up it.  The first part of the winding trail takes you by Dead River if you go left down the hill you can walk right down to Dead River.   If you go down the hill you will find a picnic table and a small barbeque grill where you can have a small fire.   The picture below shows the view from the picnic area.  The picnic table and barbeque are behind me to my left.  It is very peaceful and totally worth the steep climb up and down the trail on this little side trip.

Start of The Hike Up Mountain

The part of the trail before you start up the hill is almost like logging road and easy to walking.  The real trail at least in my minds looks like the first picture on left.  That seems like the real start up the mountain.  If you notice the steep incline going up you will see that Colleen is going to have some problems with her choice of footwear.  She did not have hiking boots, so she wore a pair of her running shoes.  She has a bare foot style of Brooks running shoes that offered minimal support.  Her feet and ankles were going get beat up on the walk down the hill.  I had on a pair of Asics stability shoes that offered a lot of support.  We decided to get her a pair of hiking boots before the next hike like this.  The view from the top was amazing.  This was the hike that got Colleen is hooked on hiking.  If you are in Maine this is a nice place to check out.  There also great swimming, and other hikes.  Until next time keep you knives sharp and you powder dry.

Me at the Top

A Very Self Satisfied Colleen

Penobscot Narrows Bride in Upper Right of Picture