The COVID pandemic has been keeping me close to home. I’ve discovered several great hikes near Bangor in the last month. Woodchuck Hill may not be the most dramatic or have the best summit views, but it’s a great little hike through beautiful woods. You do get some really nice partial views from the climb and near the summit. (There are cliffs on the east face of the mountain, but the trail doesn’t lead to them.)
If you do this hike when scouts are present, check in at the main lodge.
Fitts Pond
The hike starts at the north end of Fitts Pond in Camp Roosevelt—the BSA camp in Eddington. It’s the same trailhead you’d use for Blackcap Mountain. To find the trailhead, drive north on ME46 from the junction with US1A in Holden. Drive 4.4 miles. Turn right onto Blackcap Road (there’s a sign for Camp Roosevelt). Drive 0.5 miles. Turn left onto Camp Roosevelt Road at the sign. Drive 1.0 mile. Park on the right near the Blackcap Mountain Trailhead at the north end of Fitts Pond.
0.0 To start the hike, continue walking down Camp Roosevelt Road, passing a gate then the main lodge and several cabins.
0.2 Bear left onto Tonini Road at the sign.
0.4 Walk up the hill on the gravel road, passing several cabins. Bear left onto a blue and yellow blazed trail at the “Pamola” sign.
0.8 Cross over a small hill and descend to the shore of Snowshoe Pond. There’s group of large boulders you can walk out onto for a view of the pond and Woodchuck Hill across Bangor Waterworks Road.
Woodchuck Hill across Snowshoe Pond
0.9 Pass around the end of the pond within sight of a beaver dam and cross Bangor Waterworks Road.
1.1 Climb steadily to the base of a cliff and the first ladder.
The first ladder
1.3 Above the first ladder, you cross a ledge then climb the second ladder. After that, the trail winds up the granite face. It’s not difficult climbing, but there is some exposure and most surfaces are covered with pine needles. The trail domes out and you reach the wooded summit.
Looking down the second ladder
Snowshoe Pond beneath the climb. In the middle ground is Blackcap Mountain; in the distance are the mountains of Acadia.
The summit
From the summit, turn right (following the blazes still) and descend. The descent is steep, then steady, and eventually gentle. Much of the trail is covered with pine needles. It’s easy to lose your footing on this section. As you descend, you can see the wind turbines on Pisgah Mountain to the east and some of the wild country beyond.
MDI in the distance, from near the summit
Looking back up toward the summit
1.8 After switchbacking around some low cliffs, the trail levels out and reaches the Bangor Waterworks Road. Turn right and follow the road.
Trail passing along the base of a cliff
2.3 On the road, pass Snowshoe Pond. There are two beaver lodges near the shore and marshy areas where ducks like to hike. Take time to scan the pond and listen for wildlife. On my last visit, I saw a pair of hooded mergansers in the pond and and a male black-throated blue warbler in the brush along the road. Past the pond turn left back onto the blue and yellow blazed Woodchuck Hill Trail. Retrace your steps back to the trailhead.
The larger of the two beaver lodges in Snowshoe Pond
3.2 Arrive back at the trailhead.
There are several other nice hikes nearby. Check out Blackcap Mountain, Eagle Bluff, Park’s Pond Bluff, and (everyone in Bangor’s favorite local hike) Big and Little Chick Hills. Also nearby in the other direction are Dedham Bald Mountain and Dedham Trails (previously known as Kiski Lot). This is a large area of low granite mountains and isolated ponds that extends from Clifton through Eddington and Dedham to Great Pond Mountain in Orland.