West Ledge Trail to Bernard Mountain (and back again)

Another rainy day on Mount Desert Island. We decided to drive around to the Western Mountain area, to scout it out for a hike we were planning later this week. We drove up to Western Mountain road (gravel) and got a little sidetracked by the Bald Mountain route. It circles the Bald Mountain peak, which is neither bald nor very peak-y. When we found the trail head for the Western Ledge, we decided that the slight drizzle was not really a good enough reason not to start the hike. It’s a short hike, only a mile long, so why not? (and the fact that we had four kids with cabin fever on our second day of vacation may have had something to do with our decision to give it a try).

The trail starts out all nice and woodsy. It soon turns into a series of rocky ledges and boulders. We climbed quickly up to some very pretty open areas. The views would probably have been stunning if it weren’t for the fog and drizzle. Bo enjoyed the hike and had no difficulty whatsoever, but our smaller kids were put off by the slippery footing on the wet rocks. We climbed and climbed until we reached an open area with a summit-y feel. The trail then started descending sharply through a very nice forest.

View West Ridge Bernard Mountain in a larger map
After a little downhill, the trail began climbing steeply and it changed yet again into rocky sidewalk-like ledges. There was a stream running down the path and the footing was growing more and more treacherous as the trail got higher and steeper. We stopped and regrouped and took a bunch of pictures and decided to turn around rather than proceed. On a dry day, this would have been a really beautiful trail, but the slippery footing made us worry about having to come back down the trail later on. It had taken us an hour to get to this steep part (remember, we have 4 children ranging from 5 to 10 years old, so climbing over the rocks can be slow for us).

The descent was frightening. We had stopped in the middle of a very steep wet rocky climb. Coming down was very slow and tedious for all of us. I had to let Bo off-lead briefly so that he wouldn’t pull me (and, by extension, Annika, who was clinging to my hand) right down the hill. He was very good, and stayed close to us.

After we got past that scary hill, the trail came to an intersection that none of us remembered from the way up. We took the left-hand path but quickly realized that it was the wrong way. Before turning around, we found a lovely overlook, which is probably the reason this path exists. We got back to the intersection and took the other path back down the trail.

We had a couple of mild falls along the way, but were very happy to find our way back to the car.

I would love to try this hike again on a dry, sunny day. The views must be exquisite from the many stone ledges. We passed a few potential picnic spots, which would have been nice to stop in if it weren’t so wet. One word of warning about this hike: don’t forget your bug spray. The mosquitoes in the lower part were numerous and HUNGRY.