For the 4th of July holiday we knew we had to do more than just drink beers, grill out, and sit around (though we love doing those things too!). We wanted sore muscles, tired limbs, and vast stretches of mountains before us - in other words, it was back to the Appalachian Trail. Lisa flew up to Maine to do just that, and we decided to do a backpacking loop on Bigelow Mountain using a combination of trails and, yes, the AT. The weather was perfect and whenever we started guessing that the heat might catch up to us, a cool breeze visited. And, unlike the swampy climate of Maryland, there was no humidity but there WERE baby grouse. Yes. (Lisa speaking) I was immobilized by the little puffs of mountain joy. (Mike speaking) She was. She really was.
My recent purchases of Maine's native bibles, the AMC Maine Mountain Guide and the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, were our tickets to new destinations. That, and the endless amounts of mountain-information on the wonderful website www.summitpost.org
Bigelow Mountain is northeast of the Mahoosuc Range in Maine and southwest of Baxter State Park. The Bigelow Mountain Preserve and Maine Public Lands is a 33,000 acre conservation area established in 1976. The Appalachian Trail, meticulously cared for by the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) traverses its 12 mile spine before heading off into the 100 mile wilderness that leads bone weary hikers to Mount Katahdin.
Horn's Pond, elevation around 3600 ft.
Feral man with short shorts.
Two and a half hours after leaving Portland we arrived at the trailhead. Our loop began with a 2 mile hike from the Fire Warden's Trail to the Horn's Pond Trail, where we began our meandering ascent to reach the sub-alpine mountain tarn, Horn's Pond. After wading in the cool mountain water, we continued over the ridge line via the Appalachian Trail. Our route took us over one of 'The Horns', a pair of twin peaks. We scaled 'South Horn' at 3805'. The next several miles are known as some of the best ridge running in Maine outside of Katahdin's knife-like trails. We continued on towards Bigelow's West Peak - the highest point of the mountain at 4145' and with views of Maine's mountains, Quebec, and the hopeful vista of Katahdin in the distance (it's that one! NO it's that one!). At this point, it was a short distance to the Myron Avery Tentsite. Our legs were pretty thankful for the evening rest - seriously, Bigelow is one rugged mother. In the words of Lisa's brother-in-law, Josh, we "felt like piles." Happy sweaty piles.
After our gourmet Pad Thai dinner (freeze dried) I made a quick run up to the next summit, Avery Peak (4088') to watch the sunset and see the old fire tower watching over the valleys. The night was quiet and cool but we had visitors. Not in the form of feral goats like in West Virginia, or bears in North Carolina. We were visited by (insert heart throbbing pause here)..... visited by.....!!! MOUNTAIN HARES! AAAhhhh! It was bizarre. A warren of large, muscular, lanky jackrabbits had taken up at the top of a mountain in Maine. We couldn't figure it out. They would occasionally spar and were in no way afraid of humans. They hopped around the wooden sleeping platform on which we had pitched our tent. When we returned to Portland, we immediately consulted the great oracle, Google, to see what they might have been. Apparently, a population of non-native European Hares has grown in south eastern Canada and New England. They were brought over by a German farmer in the 1800s. We knew we had never seen cottontails that looked like these bruisers before. Mountain Hares! Weird.
The old fire tower with Flagstaff Lake below.
View of West Peak from Avery Peak.
In the morning we cooked oatmeal and got water from a nearby water box spring and headed out. Our descent took us down the Fire Warden's Trail. It was a grueling march directly down the face of the mountain on a boulder field. Ouch. By the time we got to flat ground our muscles were visibly shaking. The whole way up and down, by the way, we had great views of Sugarloaf Ski resort. It might be fun to cruise down it on a snowboard, and I'm sure it employs many people, but the runs looked like ugly scars on the second tallest mountain in Maine. Fortunately, there's enough space around to see past the resort and 360 degree views from the summit.
On the drive back to Portland, we stopped at our friend Kira's cabin on Salmon Pond (also called Ellis Lake) in the Belgrade Lakes Region. The cabin was adorable and we had Geary's New Hampshire Specials (perfect summertime brew) and then went for a refreshing dip in the perfect water. It was awesome - thanks Kira (and Kira's mom!).
Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), the smallest herbal member of the Dogwood family
Yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis), also called Bluebead Lily after the fruits extraordinary true-blue color. Unfortunatley, the berries are poisonus.
Journey's End.
