Hike Report for Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain is located in Maine, United States. It has an elevation of 366 meters above sea level. It is located at the following coordinates: (44.3647, -70.2775).
This hike report was written by Douglas Twitchell, about a hike on Friday, July 11, 2008.
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Directions to Trailhead
At the intersection of Rte 4 and Rte 219 in North Turner, Maine, turn west on 219. Almost immediately you'll see a road that turns right. Take this road. (If you miss the road, the very next thing you'll see is Camp Berea, a Christian camp for teens). This road curves almost immediately to the left, to follow the back side of Bear Pond. This is the Berry Hill Road. Follow Berry Hill all the way to the far end of the pond. There you'll see a four way intersection between Berry Hill Road, Pratt Hill Road (currently unmarked) and, on the right, Bear Mountain Road. Turn right onto Bear Mountain. You'll see a field on the right, and as of summer 2008, there is a small area of the field roped off for hikers to park their cars. Park there and follow the road on foot - this road goes all the way to the summit.
Hike Report
Considering I live half-an-hour from North Turner, and spend a week every summer at Camp Berea, which is practically next door to the mountain, it's a bit surprising that I'd never hiked Bear Mountain before.
Yesterday I was visiting the camp and I thought to myself, "Sometime I should ask Bobby if he wants to hike Bear Mountain with me." And, just as I was thinking that, who do you suppose showed up at camp to visit? Bobby!
So we got directions from the camp director on how to find the trail head, and headed off. We had no trouble finding the trail head, and whoever owns the land there is nice enough to rope off an piece of his lawn with a sign that says "Hikers Park Here". We parked, and continued on foot up the road.
The road never turns into a hiking trail, although I would never try to drive my car over the road, and Bobby had doubts whether he would try it with his truck.
At one point during the hike you'll see that the "road" veers left, but there is a branch that continues on straight. Currently there are two signs - one that points left and says "To Canton", and the other points straight and says "Bear Mountain Summit". Be sure to go straight, even though the main road appears to turn left.
Once you get near the summit, you will find that the trail branches in several places. Don't worry about which one you take; they all lead to a very nice plateau from which you can see some nice views of the mountains around.
We did a bit of exploring at the summit - there are actually a couple different locations from which you can see nice views. We were able to find Streaked Mountain, and quite a few of the same mountains that you can see from the top of Streaked. But it's interesting to see them all from a slightly different angle.
The best part of the hike, though, was the extraordinary number of blueberry bushes all over the summit. The blueberries were so thick the bushes were almost more blue than green. The berries were so ripe you could just stick your hand into the bush and pull out a handful of berries. Mmm!
So we stayed up there for quite awhile, enjoying the views and eating blueberries.
Then we turned and headed back down. A nice, easy hike after our earlier jaunt up East Royce Mountain on the hottest day of the summer! Unfortunately, since it was an unplanned hike, I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any pictures to share.
Yesterday I was visiting the camp and I thought to myself, "Sometime I should ask Bobby if he wants to hike Bear Mountain with me." And, just as I was thinking that, who do you suppose showed up at camp to visit? Bobby!
So we got directions from the camp director on how to find the trail head, and headed off. We had no trouble finding the trail head, and whoever owns the land there is nice enough to rope off an piece of his lawn with a sign that says "Hikers Park Here". We parked, and continued on foot up the road.
The road never turns into a hiking trail, although I would never try to drive my car over the road, and Bobby had doubts whether he would try it with his truck.
At one point during the hike you'll see that the "road" veers left, but there is a branch that continues on straight. Currently there are two signs - one that points left and says "To Canton", and the other points straight and says "Bear Mountain Summit". Be sure to go straight, even though the main road appears to turn left.
Once you get near the summit, you will find that the trail branches in several places. Don't worry about which one you take; they all lead to a very nice plateau from which you can see some nice views of the mountains around.
We did a bit of exploring at the summit - there are actually a couple different locations from which you can see nice views. We were able to find Streaked Mountain, and quite a few of the same mountains that you can see from the top of Streaked. But it's interesting to see them all from a slightly different angle.
The best part of the hike, though, was the extraordinary number of blueberry bushes all over the summit. The blueberries were so thick the bushes were almost more blue than green. The berries were so ripe you could just stick your hand into the bush and pull out a handful of berries. Mmm!
So we stayed up there for quite awhile, enjoying the views and eating blueberries.
Then we turned and headed back down. A nice, easy hike after our earlier jaunt up East Royce Mountain on the hottest day of the summer! Unfortunately, since it was an unplanned hike, I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any pictures to share.
Difficulty
This is a good family hike. We saw two families with young children while we were hiking - everyone seemed to be having a great time.
Statistics
It took us about 45 minutes to hike up, and another half-hour to hike back down.
