By Louise Jensen

Sunday morning found 5 hikers ready to climb the Baldpates with hopes of seeing the 360 views that the East peak has to offer. Hitting the AT before 9:30, we headed northbound with warm but comfortable temps and clouds still in the sky. Bugs were out but pretty tolerable so far. We took our time, snacking, hydrating and taking photos of the many lady slippers dotting the trail and, of course, plenty pics of ourselves.  Blue sky was peaking out above the trees with the clouds clearing from time to time. Hope for those views.

We passed the side trails to Table Rock which we elected to skip as we had more than 3 miles to go. At 2.3 miles we passed the side trail to the Baldpate lean-to and steadily climbed to West peak. Views were in the clouds at this point and after a quick descent complete with a ladder assist, we finally climbed to the base of the big rock ledges of East Baldpate. The steep ledges here look scary to climb but as long as they are dry – and they were today – the footing is quite good.

Mist and clouds greeted us at the summit – but alas, no 360 views today. Even so, the summit is wide and beautiful. Periodically, the clouds would part in the distance and we got glimpses of the views below.  After some lunch, more pics and a chat with some through hikers, we headed back down.  On the way, the clouds parted somewhat and we finally had some lovely views. We continued on our way for a hot and buggy hike out, but all in all we all agreed that we had a wonderful and fun hike.