Mount Chase (2,440 ft) commands views of northern Penobscot County, including the peaks of Baxter State Park to the west, and the Shin Ponds. The mountain, and subsequently the town in its shadow, were apparently named after a man who came as an agent for the state to prevent timber thieves. To get to Mount Chase, head north from Patten, and make a difficult hidden turn onto unpaved Mountain Road off Route 11. You will pass some structures, logging roads, a whimsical wooden carving of a Sasquatch, and turns for ATV trails, as well as some vistas to the right. The road gets rockier the further in that you go, and the parking area is at a small clearing with a picnic table, a little over 2 miles in. I navigated using AllTrails, and it took me just shy of two hours to make the 3.4 mile out-and-back on a cloudy mid-September morning. Maps and description are available in Hiking Maine and Maine Hikes Off the Beaten Path.
The trail doesn’t start in that clearing next to the picnic table, it starts at a small wooden handwritten sign just a little farther down the road. The blue-blazed trail began slightly uphill, rocky and wet, resembling a stream bed, with some ATV tracks in muddy spots. At about a quarter mile, the grade flattened out some, which had the effect of drying it, as well. The incline then grew a bit steeper, and crossed another overgrown road. At about four-tenths of a mile, the foot trail split off to the right, with a slope steeper and rockier than most ATV’s would be comfortable handling, then quickly resumed its confluence with the ATV trail.
Hiking in Maine 