I stopped in at Cadillac Mountain Sports in Bar Harbor late yesterday afternoon and picked up some of the new generation DEET bug juice I mentioned the other day. I suspect you can pretty much pick it up an any outdoor store now.

The little 2 oz. tube of Ultrathon lotion was a hefty $10, so they're sure not giving the stuff away. I guess the fact that it won't rot your brain and other important internal organs as quickly as the standard DEET allows them to charge more.

Oh well.

Anyway, I was able to put the stuff to the test right off.

Driving north on Route 1A in heavy summer traffic, I decided to veer off and take a look-see at Bald Mountain in Dedham, a peak I hadn't been up since the 9th grade.

I pulled up to where I thought the trailhead was (I didn't have the guidebook with me) and dashed into the woods to throw on shorts and T-shirt and sneakers. I was immediately swarmed by blood thirsty mosquitoes. I did quite the interesting dance as I shed one set of clothes and donned another trying not to lose a pint of blood. Once back out at the car, with the mosquitoes in hot pursuit, I reached for my new tube of DEET and slathered it all over me.

Voila! No more blood-letting. The stuff works.

As a semblance of sanity returned, I flagged down a passing car and queried the driver as to the trailhead.

"Bald Mountain?," he said, "I own it!"

That's what I love about Maine. Here I am, standing along side a country road in the middle of East Overshoe. I flag down the one car that passes by and come up with not only the info I needed, but the very landowner himself.

Jackpot.

Turns out Gerry Ouellette of Dedham has purchased some 230 acres in the area, including all of Bald Mountain. We had a nice chat and he pointed up the road a 100 yards to the parking area for the trail.

Score.

I threw my bug juice in my pocket, grabbed my notebook and pen and a bottle of water and headed up.

The trail followed a road carved out of ledge pretty much the entire way up--about a half mile or so. The views of the surrounding farmland and hills were terrific, despite the afternoon haze. And watch out! Come July this place is going to be loaded with blueberries.

On top are nine telecom towers and an old Maine Forest Service lookout tower. The bottom rung of the tower ladder is missing, but someone has piled up rocks to help you get up if you want to. I didn't bother, even though it looked in reasonably safe condition.

It took another application of Ultrathon to ward off the summit crowd of black flies, but it bought me some more time to look around a bit.

I explored for evidence of the old ski area that ceased operating in the 1970s, but couldn't find much. I did, though, come upon an awesome viewpoint overlooking Lucerne and Phillips Lake, so I sat for awhile and relaxed.

Then I scooted back down the mountain, plunked my sweaty, bug-juice smelly body into the seat, and headed for the highway with thoughts of a cold beer running through my DEET-brain.