Secluded View From Bald Rock Mountain

When you stand atop Bald Rock you can see for miles. The mountain's rock face is massive. Though lined with trees, what you initially step onto is mostly bare rock, and, in some spots, it is treacherous. On one side, there is a rock cliff that goes almost straight down for fifty feet or more. To the right of the cliff is a more leisurely, but still quite steep decline to the bottom of the mountain, the whole mountain appearing to be made of one massive chunk of rock.

You have to pay attention to every step on an early morning in low light. Rain or dew on the rocks, or on patches of slippery moss, could cause a fall that might not end until you reach the bottom of the mountain or the upper side of a tree trunk partway down.

Distracted by those dangers and the extraordinary views, I made several trips to Bald Rock before I noticed a small path between the trees on the other side of the rock-faced clearing. That path led a short distance through the woods to another clearing, another part of the mountain's rock face.

Standing in that small clearing, you are surrounded on all sides by trees. If you step to the high side of that clearing and look east, above and beyond those trees, on a foggy morning, you can see scenes like this one. One caveat: the naked eye does not see what a long lens sees; the mountain in the distance is actually many miles away.

In a clearing in a wood
On cold and solid rock I stood
Beyond trees kissed by morning dew
Secluded scene, ethereal thrills
That fog, those rows of rolling hills
And Paris Mountain bathed in blue