The Mountain, Rome (665') 9/19/2023

Wanting to get a short hike in before we went to the Farmington Fair in the afternoon, my fiancé, Sierra, and I decided to hike The Mountain in Rome. The Mountain is a small peak with a trail network maintained by the Seven Lakes Alliance. As is often the case, we decided to take a rather unusual route up the mountain, so I could complete a few short sections of trail that I had yet to hike.

The trailhead off of Mountain Drive

We started up the Main Trail which we followed until the upper junction with the Great Pond Loop, where we turned right.

The wide Main Trail

After descending a short distance, we turned left at the lower junction with the Outer Loop.

Cairns on the Great Pond Loop

Start of the Outer Loop

The Outer Loop is my favorite trail on the mountain and loops through beautiful open forest along the northern ridge of the mountain, passing a couple minor viewpoints along the way.

A restricted view towards Great Pond

Passing through open hemlock forest

After reaching the far junction with the Main Trail, we turned left and followed it up and over the summit of The Mountain to the Long Pond Loop.

The summit

We followed the Long Pond Loop to the viewpoint over Long Pond, which is the best on The Mountain.

Views over Long Pond

We paused here for a bit before descending back to the trailhead via the Main Trail. As with most of the hikes in the Kennebec Highlands region, The Mountain provides a nice trail network with good views for minimal effort. In the future, a new trail will also connect this trail network to the trails on Mount Phillips to the north.

7 Lakes Alliance - The Mountain Trails