the woodsy wife – by adriana vanderzanden

Pleasant Mountain is Southern Maine’s highest summit, sitting at 2,005 feet up. Jake and I hadn’t been on a strenuous hike since we were in the Tetons in September – but we knew we were up for the challenge. If you’re thinking of visiting Maine, definitely put this hike on your list!

Pleasant Mountain via Southwest Ridge Trail is an out and back hike that’s about 5 miles long and climbs 1,995 feet in elevation. Hiking in February isn’t always a great time to be out, but if you do go in the colder months definitely bring your gear. We took crampons, and saw lots of people with walking sticks. The trail was slippery, icy, rocky, and muddy almost the entire way, so it’s definitely not something you want to do unprepared.

We like to use the AllTrails app for all of our hikes. You can download maps beforehand so that you’re all set when you hit a no-service zone. You can view trail recommendations, reviews for hikes, and see helpful trail information like hike length, elevation gain, difficulty ranking, and weather reports for the area so that you can prepare for your adventure.

We love our Yeti products. I seriously can’t recommend them enough. We probably have 10 different cups, all in various designs. We love that they’re durable, easy to clean, and keep our drinks cold or hot. Jake actually had one water bottle at work that was run over by a machine – and it was still technically usable haha. My favorite color is the discontinued Sharptail Taupe, but we have a lot of their plain White products, too.

We also love listening to the National Parks After Dark podcast on our way to and on the way back from time out in the wild. Their slogan is “enjoy the view, but watch your back,” and it always reminds us to be careful on the trail. It can be a little dark, so listen at your own risk haha.

It took us about 4.5 hours to complete this hike, but we stopped and hung out for a while at the summit. We’re back home now and my legs are sore, but it was really great to get out and climb around a little. At the summit, we could see great views of other mountains in the White Mountain Range – and I want to climb them all. On another note, Mount Katahdin is Maine’s highest peak at 5,268 feet, and while we’re not quite ready for that yet, it’s definitely on my bucket list! In the meantime you can find me in the gym preparing for the 12 hours it takes to climb that one haha.

Until next time,

Adriana