Bald Faced Lie
Bald Mountain Loop Trail, Somers
December 2023
Things are about to get really confusing around here. This page needn’t exist and frankly, the fact that it will in a few minutes when I push the publish button will do more harm than good.
Somers’ and Bald Mountain have a long, sordid history.
See, like, is this really the Preserve though? Can the Preserve be split wherein part is owned by the NCLT and part is owned by Somers? Or is this sign slightly incorrect? I’m fun at parties.
But there’s no need to get into that. In 2024, just know that the Bald Mountain Preserve provides a very nice loop hike which includes the Bald Mountain Ridge Trail. This preserve is owned by the Northern Connecticut Land Trust and you can read all about my hike through it here.
The preserve abuts the Shenipsit State Forest, which has its own “Bald Mountain Loop” trail to the east of the preserve. Those trails are not nearly as nice, but you can read all about them here.
Then there is CFPA’s long-distance Shenipsit Trail which used to traverse Bald Mountain. Its former path is used in the Bald Mountain Preserve, and its current 21st century path traverses the state forest across the Bald Mountain Loops over there.
And then there’s the reason for this page: The Town of Somers-owned Bald Mountain Loop Trail.
Seriously.
Now, the town trail does indeed connect seamlessly to the NCLT’s Loop Trails across Bald Mountain – and frankly, if you know these woods, you can skootch over to the state forest trails as well.
But since this li’l loop can be hiked as a fairly strenuous li’l loop on its own, it gets its own page.
The weirdest part of this hike is the drive to the trailhead. County Road off of Route 190 has a closed section. So after circling around and getting to the eastern end of the closed portion, you drive further east on the unpaved single lane track. Then, because this is Somers and Somers is rural and odd, a new housing development springs up. Large, nice houses! A ways down a rutted unpaved road! It even has a name:
Ashley Woods. Nice.
In between two houses is a sign pointing the way to Bald Mountain. This trail is blazed white and it climbs. (Up to Bald Mountain. Where else?) Clockwise will give you a more manageable climb, but a steeper descent. The choice is yours. It’s fairly rugged. The whole thing is about 1.25 miles – unless you continue north on the aforementioned Bald Mountain Ridge Trail and… I’ve said enough.
I’ve said too much.
CTMQ Hikes Somers’ Town Trails
NCLT’s Bald Mountain Preserve
Shenipsit State Forest Trails
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