| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Bald Pate Mountain (South Bridgton), ME |
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 | Trails: |
Micah Trail, South Face Loop Trail, Bob Chase Scenic Loop Trail, Foster Pond Lookout Trail, Town Farm Brook Trail, Southern Shore Trail, Fosterville Road, Maine 107, Pate Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, July 21, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Small parking area with room for maybe 4-5 cars before it would begin to overflow on Moose Cove Lodge Rd. I think there was just one, maybe two others when I arrived at 12:15pm. I was the only one there when I returned shortly past 4pm. There were no cars in the parking lot off of Rt 107/Bridgton Rd shortly after 3pm when I walked through. This was a much larger lot though with room for more than a dozen cars. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
I don’t think there were any that weren’t at least bridged. If there were, I think they were trivial. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
I don’t recall any blowdowns but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. Town Farm Brook Trail is in desperate need of being brushed back through the field it passes through by the jct of Kilborn Drive and Fosterville Rd (the trail quite simply does not exist here) and in a very overgrown section west of Town Farm Brook Rd. The trails are mostly marked with colored diamonds on trees. I believe the colors are Micah = white, South Face Loop = orange, Bob Chase Scenic Loop = blue, Pate Trail = green, Foster Pond Lookout = red, and Town Farm Brook Trail = purple. At least some of these had white circles in the middle of them as well. Foster Pond Lookout also has some cairns. Other than the notes below regarding Town Farm Brook Trail, I found the trails to be easy to follow and marked reasonably enough. Trail signs were intact. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Good trails for dogs but they are asked to be kept on a leash. |
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 | Bugs: |
I’d be pretty worried about ticks on sections of Town Farm Brook Trail but I didn’t seem to pick up any. I don’t recall the biting bugs being particularly bad but I was also icing pretty quickly. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
2nd hike of the day. I completed this one solo. Route: Micah Trail —> eastern half of South Face Loop Trail —> Eastern half of Bob Chase Scenic Loop with OAB on short connector to western half —> Foster Pond Lookout Trail —> OAB on Foster Pond Lookout Spur —> Town Farm Brook Trail —> OAB on a small section of Southern Shore Trail —> Fosterville Rd —> Rt 107/Bridgton Rd to parking —> Bob Chase Scenic Loop Trail (and western half) —> South Face Loop Trail (western section) —> OAB on Pate Trail —> South Face Loop Trail —> Micah Trail to car.
This is a nice little mountain :) Micah Trail is quite gradual and pleasant. South Face Loop Trail generally isn’t too steep either although if descending the western half, you’ve got to ascend back UP to Micah Trail. The trails on the north side were pleasant as well. The spurs/connectors and all were not hard to find, follow, and keep track of for redlining. Note that there are a number of ski trails around here as well that are not needed but are clearly marked.
Why, oh why is Town Farm Brook Trail mentioned in the guidebook with a distance? Such a long redlining spur and it was kind of obnoxious. You actually descend a lot more than I realized on it (several hundred feet, all close to the Bald Pate side but nothing too steep), there were some very wet/mucky sections with one large puddle of water right through the trail (there was a dry spot just to the left on which you could cross I eventually realized), a very overgrown section, and some hard to follow/ill defined sections. Namely, shortly after crossing Town Farm Rd, you come to a field and the trail just seems to disappear. You’re going to want to cross the field to the SE and aim for about 200ft down Kilburn Drive. I met someone picking blueberries in this field (thank God!) that gave me directions. She directed me across the blueberry field toward a camper which was the generally right direction but if you’re redlining you’re going to want to hit Kilburn Ave as there’s a sign for the trail there. From Fosterville Rd, you can see it and it looks like a mailbox but I’m not sure you could see it from the field. I only went this way on my way back. Anyway, once you’re across the field and at the jct of Kilborn and Fosterville Rds, continue SE down Fosterville Rd 0.2mi, then turn left onto Knapp Rd. Continue down the road on what seems a driveway to an old barn looking house (you’ll get close enough to it you’ll feel uncomfortable) looking for a small sign tacked to a tree for the Town Farm Brook Trail on left. Follow this into the woods where the trail becomes blazed in white and surveyors tape instead of its usual purple diamonds. You’ll descend and soon come to the Hold Pond Preserve T a loop jct with a map. I followed the Southern Shore Trail a short ways but soon turned around. The distance of the Town Farm Brook Trail was roughly what the guidebook said (I had it at a little under 2mi).
I opted to walk the roads to the trailhead on Rt 107 rather than hike the trail back even though lost parts of it really weren’t that bad. The road walk was 3mi or so and was mostly uphill. I then hiked in the Bob Chase Scenic Loop and its western half up to the summit again. I descended the western half of South Face Loop Trail to the jct with Moose Trail, then ascended to the jct with Pate Trail which I hiked an OAB on. Pate Trail was cool but I would say some pitches are more steeper than moderate-steep although there’s no real scrambling. A nice viewpoint roughly halfway up the steep climb. There’s some signs warning autumn due to a sheer cliff which is of course a bit of an exaggeration, espcially the one that’s not even close to the cliff band ;P
A nice quick hike out from there. Gaia had me at 10.5mi, 1700ft of gain, 3hr45min. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-07-24 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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