A Hike to Little Deer Hill and Deer Hill

Summits: Little Deer Hill (1,080'), Deer Hill (1,367')

Trail route: Deer Hill Connector, Deer Hills Trail, Deer Hill Bypass

Trail conditions: Dry, slightly wet ledges

Weather: Sunny and warm

Total miles: 5

Total time:  4:20

It had been three weeks since my last hike and in the meantime I contracted the COVID virus. I went through the isolation process and then an additional five days of staying away from people and now was ready to get out and do a short hike. I checked the map and thought the Deer Hills hike would be just what I was looking for. Larry and Jill would be joining me for this hike.

We met at the Baldfaces Trailhead parking lot. The Deer Hill Connector was right in front of where we parked and we were soon on our way. The trail was nice and wide to start. A dam on the Cold River made for an easy water crossing. 

It was an easy ascent to Little Deer Hill with views of Eastman Mountain and the Baldfaces at the top. The trail descended from the summit into a col before ascending Deer Hill. No views at the top but some good views into Maine just after descending to some open ledges.

When we got down to the next trail junction Larry suggested we visit the spring. There was a short trail to get down to it. We arrived at what looked like a small scum covered pool and right in the middle was a round area of sand with bubbles coming up through it. I reached out with my hiking pole to see how deep it might be but was unable to get to it. I'm not sure how deep that sand was but I did not want to find out the hard way.

We returned to the main trail and continued back on the Deer Hill Bypass. On the way down the black flies became incessant and we all put our head nets on. They were less of a problem when we got back to the parking lot.

This was a very enjoyable short hike. We took our time and stopped frequently along the way with lots of shooting the breeze, chewing the fat and idle chit chat as we went. It was a good walk to get my hiking legs moving again. 

I have June gridded out so I've done all of the 48 4,000 footers for this month. It's nice to be able to do some of these fun short hikes. I'll need to continue to build my strength up after my bout with COVID. I look forward to some more fun hikes this month!

Enjoy the photos!

View from Evans Notch

Hike starts here

Nice wide trail

Mushrooms cover this tree trunk

Dam water crossing

Larry leads the way across the dam

Here comes Jill

Some ledge scrambling

Eastman Mountain and the Baldfaces from Little Deer Hill

Mushrooms are out

On the Deer Hill ledge

Shell Pond

Trail goes across the edge of this ledge

Larry suggested we visit the Spring

Water was bubbling up from the sandy area

Walked beside this stone wall on the way down

Careful footing was required coming down this steep ledge

Back at the dam water crossing

Cold River

Having Fun in the Great Outdoors!