Rattlesnake Mountain, Raymond, ME

Alright! Another 2 week break in my blog. I've been incredibly busy and it has ruled. Today was only the second day out of 16 where I didn't do something cool outside. And the other day I didn't do anything, I drove 400 miles. This summer has ruled. 

SO, like a month ago, I went home to Maine for my birthday (wow, I literally am a month behind). I got there with about 5 minutes to spare before we played 18 gorgeous holes of golf on Father's Day. Afterwards, I got 3 "holy shit"s out of my dad when I gave him a 50 dollar bottle of scotch (I usually only give him small things), and we watched the US Open together. Not a bad day. 

It was real pretty. 

The next day was my birthday and I wanted to do something cool, so I decided to go on a hike I had looked into earlier in the year when I realized I would be hiking a lot this summer- Rattlesnake Mountain in my hometown of Raymond, Maine. I followed this guide, and it was pretty accurate. 

After stopping at a convenience store I used to buy candy at in like 3rd grade and talking to the person working there (she at least remembered the friend who lived around the corner), I pulled into the parking lot, which was pretty much just a lawn on the side of the road. 

The trail was called the Bri-Mar trail. 

It starts with extremely thick grass and the mountain in the distance.

After entering the woods, the trail was pretty much a road. It eventually split. 

You can go either way here, as both ways connect and veer left. I went the left way. Shortly after that, the actual trail begins, turning right off the road. It was marked with blue blazes.

It was surprisingly immediately steep. It wasn't anything absurd, but for a mountain with only 625 feet of elevation gain, I think at least 500 of that was right away. And for a smaller mountain with a small town, beginner-mountain feel, it was steeper than I was expecting.

punk kids tagging everything!

It was doable though, and had been cleaned up nicely from some fallen trees (apparently in hiker's language, BLOWDOWNS- just learned that). 

Passing the best view, I followed a side trail to what seemed like the actual summit of the mountain. It was pretty thrilling.

Following the guide, I saw all of the side trails and agreed that they weren't worth going down. I also followed the blue-blazed trail for awhile past the summit as well- it kept going downhill and I'm pretty curious as to where it goes, as it's obviously another trail on the opposite side of the mountain. 

The only real reason to hike this mountain is to do some hiking in a small town and to take in the main view, about 5 minutes from the actual summit.

It's not white-mountains spectacular, but for Raymond, Maine, it was pretty awesome.

I was somewhat shocked that I had never hiked this mountain for school or as part of the cub scouts. Or I have, and I've completely forgotten. But for someone who spent basically the first 18 years of my life in this small town, growing up on Sebago Lake and taking swimming lessons on Crescent Lake, it was pretty awesome to be looking out over Sebago, Panther Pond and Long Lake.

I had no idea views like this existed in this town

Most of the trees that would have blocked the views were cleared out, and although I kind of wish there had been some sort of tower or area to climb up to get even better views, these were well worth the small effort it took to get up there. A perfectly surprising and satisfying hike out of nowhere. Gotta love that.

On the way out, I couldn't help but notice how awesome the grass and flowers were in the sunlight.

I stopped at Crescent Beach on my way out. I spent nearly every day of my summers here, taking swimming lessons my parents forced me to take. But as much as I hated getting there at like 7 in the morning (the advanced classes were early in the morning, so I kept going earlier as the years went on), I  always had great times here- whether they be with my 1st grade girlfriend I swam with after class, or the other 5-10 friends who would show up later in the day. I became certified (at least as officially as a 5th grader could be) in advanced water safety, got to swim with my clothes on, kick my teacher in the head, swim laps forever, shred water forever, etc. One of my best friends in 6th grade lived at the camp down the street too, so I found myself back there even later in life. Even though I attach this beach to bad memories in the "ughk, stupid swimming lessons" way, I have so many good memories here, and it felt weird and kind of neat to stand on the beach for the first time in probably 20 years, on the day of my 31st birthday, noticing just how small the beach and swimming area actually is (to be fair, it used to be much bigger- they did actually cut it down). 

I headed home and sat on the dock and read for a bit. Then Dad came home with pizza and we had cake. Can't believe I'm 31. Hiking a mountain I've somehow never hiked and reminiscing about my youth while revisiting old stomping grounds was a nice way to celebrate.

For those who are reading this for the Rattlesnake information, the parking lot is about a mile and a half down the road from Crescent Beach, on your left, going north on Route 85. The hike is about 625 feet of elevation gain and 2 miles round trip. 

currently listening to: Phish- Live at Saratoga Springs, 7/7/2012