Hiking Moosehead - Gulf Hagas

High winds kept me off the water for several days during my stay in the Moosehead Lake area. I had been aware that winds could stir up the lake, so brought along my hiking gear to take advantage of some of the great walks available in the area. Today's post shows a few photos from the eight mile Gulf Hagas trail a few miles east of the lake. I took the loop which begins at the head of the Pleasant River gorge, follows the Rim Trail down to the entrance of the Gulf Hagas Brook. From this point, I followed the Pleasant River Trail back up to the parking area where I'd left the car.


The trail itself varies from a smooth path at the start to quite rough, but well marked. Every now and then a side trails leads out either to an overlook of the gorge or in some case, down the gorge wall to the river below. These side trails can get quite interesting as the photo above suggests!


Apart from the rugged slate walls of the gorge, the views offer vistas of several waterfalls and cascades. Here is a typical view of one where the canyon walls have widened more than usual and the river formed a small pond...


More typically, the rock walls are fairly close together and only fleeting glimpses of the churning river can be seen far below.

The hike took me most of the afternoon, about six hours in total. I was gratified to see a couple of dozen fellow hikers along the way. One young lady even carried her young child with her in a backpack. A bit risky perhaps, given the roughness of the trail, but to see this young child out being exposed to nature made my day.


The trail has a link to the famous Appalachian Trail, so can be taken as a side loop from there. In fact, an alternate route is to begin the loop from the parking area at the bottom of the gorge, head up the Rim Trail and return by the Pleasant River Road Trail, reversing the route I'd taken.