Sanders Hill Trail, Rome, Maine

Laura and I thought we’d better hurry and do some more hiking while the season lasts. The top of Maine is already seeing bare trees while the bottom is a solid green mixed with yellows, reds, and oranges. On our property, we’ve got a combination of the two; some trees are completely naked while others are hanging on to their colors. It’s nice to have such a variety. We can choose to drive north or south, depending on the mood. This time, we chose to drive south to the Belgrade Lakes region. It’s a wonderful area that’s host to some outstanding hiking. One of my favorite more recent hikes was up French’s Mountain, just a short walk from Sanders Hill. So much good hiking on the same road makes things a lot easier.

I’ll be honest with you – I didn’t know what to expect with the Sanders Hill Trail. Its description made no mention of anything spectacular, such as a waterfall, view, or other natural phenomena. And because I thought we’d be merely walking through the woods for 2.9 miles, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with what I was facing. While I do love hiking and the outdoors as much as anyone else, I tend to look for the photo ops. The things I can capture to share with others. Or at the very least, I look for a pretty spot where I can simply sit to enjoy what’s around me. I think that’s why I like visiting French’s Mountain so much. It takes only a half mile to hike to the top of the mountain and once you’re there, you may just see the best landscape you’ve ever seen. It’s no joke. French’s Mountain offers stunning views over the Belgrade Lakes area.

Sanders Hill Trail consists of a 2.9 mile loop that’ll bring you through a variety of forest. The beginning leads through beautiful hemlocks, the middle through some wonderful pines, and the end through a huge cluster of red oaks. And with those trees comes a variety of landscapes; small hills at the beginning, a decently sized mountain in the middle, and then a long slow decline for the last third of trail. The highlight for me was a fairly good sized water feature called Beaver Brook that runs along about a half mile of trail. I was actually quite surprised upon encountering this brook because, again, the descriptions of the trail I read made no mention of it. It was actually the best part.

If I had one word to describe the Sanders Hill hike, I’d call it rocky. Because it was so rocky, it was somewhat challenging. The entire trail was virtually covered with both large and small stones alike. And during the descent, hiking was treacherous at times. If you’ve got strong ankles and high quality hiking boots, then enjoy the trail. If you’re concerned about your stability in any way, you might want to avoid this one. At just under three miles, it’ll take a lot out of you if you’re not ready for it.

Directions to Sanders Hill Trail in Rome, Maine

1. From Belgrade Lakes (Day’s Store), drive north on Route 27 for 4.22 miles until you see Watson Pond Road on your left.
2. Make the left onto Watson Pond Road and drive 1.25 miles south until you see the parking area for Sanders Hill on your right.
3. Park in the parking area. If it’s full, you may park on the side of Watson Pond Road.
4. To hike the trail clockwise, walk into the parking area and continue straight ahead. To hike the trail counter clockwise, walk into the trail to the right of the beginning of the parking area. The benefit of hiking counter clockwise is that you’ll make it to the summit of Sanders Hill (854′) faster. By hiking clockwise, you’ll encounter Beaver Brook faster. Either way, you’ll encounter both.
5. If you’re interested in navigating to the Sanders Hill Trail trailhead, copy and paste these numbers into Google Earth or Maps: 44.56632413588907, -69.92185563362484

Sanders Hill Trail offers quite a bit in the way of interest. I’ll list those things of interest here: views of Watson Pond, Mount Phillip, and French Mountain, large granite boulders you can climb on and hike between, junctions with the Kennebec Highlands trail, which is wider and much more like a snowmobile trail, pine forests, a swampy area where moose may hide out (you’ll need to hike off-trail to get close to this), a wooden bridge, Beaver Brook, and a large boulder called Snapper Rock. All told, it makes for quite the adventure.

In this post, I’d like to show off my many photos I took during the day. The day actually consisted of two parts; the hike and the drive home. During the hike, I took quite a few very nice pictures, but during the drive home, I took what I believe are even nicer pictures. Days out driving in the autumn light tend to lead you to things like this. Unexpected things. As I’ve mentioned many times previously, autumn is a time for a low hanging sun. And as you’ll see toward the bottom of this page, the sun can’t hang much lower.

Photos of Sanders Hill Trail

Since Laura and I hiked clockwise, we first made our way through the hemlocks and onto the part of trail that ran beside Beaver Brook. These photos were taken at the brook.

After walking for a little while along Beaver Brook, our trail intersected with the Kennebec Highlands Trail. There was a small wooden bridge on that trail that crossed the brook. Here are some photos of the area.

Finally, after resting on the bridge and making it back onto Sanders Hill Trail, we hiked to the summit of Sanders Hill and then back down to the car. Here are some photos of that.

This is a 15 minute video of parts of our hike.

Photos of Vibrant Fall Colors & Warm Lighting

While I was perfectly happy with my photography at Sanders Hill, what I’m delighted with is my photography during two breaks from driving home. There are a handful of days during the year that can hand someone both perfect autumn colors and warm lighting. Our hiking day was one of those days. After you browse the photographs of a small farm in New Sharon, Maine as well as a field in Industry, Maine below, I think you’ll agree.

As you can see, the conditions were just about perfect. I’m happy with what I was able to capture.

I think Laura and I had an excellent day together. We got some exercise, were able to breathe the clean Maine air, and were particularly happy with our camera work. Please let me know what you think of all this in the comment section below. Also, let me know how your own season is going. Thanks!