Lisa & I cut our FKT teeth in the Wild River and Cariboo-Speckled Wilderness Areas, so the Pleasant Mountain FKT didn’t look especially exciting. The summit is only 2,000’ (with a base elevation of 500’) and the mountain has a ski area on one side with cell towers on the other. Plus, heading up/down the same mountain 4 times just seemed a little, well, repetitive.
But we gave it another thought while searching for a new FKT close to Lovell ME. The stats should have warned us that we could be in for a big day. With 7,250’ of vertical over 18.4 miles, Pleasant Mountain has almost 400’ of vertical per mile compared to our prior FKTs: Evans Notch Loop at 310’/mile and the Wild River Long Loop at 295’.
It was definitely unusual to head up - then immediately down - the same mountain 4 times (albeit from different directions) and the constant transition from long steady uphill climbs to long downhills made for a super challenging route - physically and mentally. A contributing factor was this year’s crazy heat/humidity/bugs and the forecast for the day of our FKT was more-of-the-same.
To get a jump on the heat, we headed out at 4:00 am (in a steady rain) up the Fire Warden Trail and then down Sue’s Way. As the sun should have been peeking out, the overcast skies thankfully kept the temps down as we climbed up Bald Peak Trail and then down/up the Ledges Trail. With 5 of 8 trails complete, a bright sun broke out and the morning’s rain quickly cranked up the humidity to max for our trip down/up the Southwest Ridge Trail - at 3 miles and 1,575’ of vertical - the longest trail of the bunch. We were really baking on the trail’s many exposed ledges as the deer flies appeared in force and then keep us company from there, all the way down our final descent on Fire Warden’s Trail.
While retracing our steps on each trail was a bit boring, the views both from the top and along the Ledges & Southwest Ridge Trails were fantastic and we’re glad we gave Pleasant Mountain a second look.