Mountain Hiking

Bald Mountain, A Winter Refuge 

Our "bald" peaks have thin soil that grip roots weakly, steep slopes that draw the ground water down and away from any plants on top, and steady winds that keep the tops even drier. It's easy to feel King Of the Mountain, sovereign of all we survey. Far and wide, no one else was there.

There were views of the western slopes of our “local three” — Green Mountain and Bear and South Boulder Peaks. We often get to admire these three from the east, as we go about our town business, so this more hidden back view becomes a little special — more personal, more intimate.

Approaching the top of Bald Mt. with Green, Bear, and South Boulder Peak in the background.

The western slopes of our "local three."

Sugarloaf, white to the west.

On the way up, I had passed a dozen or so folks on saucers and toboggans. They were climbing up and sliding down, packing faster and faster runs down an open slope to the pines below. There was calling and exuberance, bouncing back and forth, alive and active. On my way back down, they had gone, and all was quiet. There was no breeze on this east side of the mountain — still, silent.

Well, if you listen, there is always a song — the high tweets of the chickadees, a somewhat different twitter, the lone call of a raven. 

There were twisted pines — angles and S-curves — tortured by nature’s abuse. No, it isn’t really abuse. It is relatively even give and take. She blows from the west, and the pine eases himself more to the east. She drops a dead trunk against a branch, and he works around and up again. There were scattered picnic tables, all empty now. Of course, the area is busier during the summer, but Bald Mountain is worth visiting in any season.

A version originally published in
50 Plus Marketplace News, 14:2, p. 8, 2/2008.