Hitting it big on the Bigelows

[alpinista]

I managed to squeeze in a few extra days off from work last week, and headed north to Maine, where the 4Ks have been calling me of late. With four days in a row away from the computer screen, I figured a backpacking trip was just the medicine. The weather couldn't have been better for the first half, when I planned to head to the Bigelows.

I decided if it were to be a true vacation, I wouldn't set my alarm. I had a leisurely breakfast in Massachusetts, then headed up I-95 for the long slog to Maine. I still hadn't decided if I would camp out at the Horns Pond Lean-To, Avery tentsite in the Bigelow col, or Moose Falls, the latter of which intrigued me because there was so little information out there about it.

My little VW Bug made it down the Stratton Pond dirt road without any problems, and I scored a spot at what I thought was the end. As I did some last minute packing of my backpack, I decided, "What the heck," I'll bring this incredible book by historian David McCullough on the American Revolution, specifically, the year 1776. I'd been fixated on it of late, and I couldn't put the book down. Well, there was a lot to write about that one little year apparently, and the book weighs a ton! (well, OK, not just the book made my pack heavy but it sure didn't help! )

So ... off I go down this broad, flat dirt road toward Stratton Pond. The pack feels heavier and heavier with each step. Within minutes, I'm at another clearing for car parking, and I realize I could have driven even farther. Ahh, well. I pass by a small group of college kids out camping by the pond, and soon see an outdoor privy, and realize, there are a couple of spots here to camp.

Hmmm, I think. Why trek all the way up to the Bigelow range, when I can just stop here, set up camp and spend an afternoon reading this book? So that's what I did. I scored a spot just as the Fire Warden's trail begins, at the edge of Stratton Pond, and I find that there's a decent amount of foot (and mountain biking) traffic here. I get a chance to talk with some girls out mountain biking ahead of one of their friend's getting married at Sugarloaf the next day, a man out testing his new toy _ a GPS _ and a couple just meandering.

First day: 30 minutes of hiking, 6 hours of reading, lights out at 10 p.m. Ain't life grand?

The next day, I awoke at 6:30 a.m., and I'm ready to hit the trail at 7 a.m. It's too early to tell what kind of day it's going to be in the weather department. The clouds have obscured any sky. So I decide I'll take the Fire Warden's trail to the AT, a route with a dual purpose: I can scope out the Moose Falls Tentsite (part of a longterm goal to document each of the wilderness tentsites in northern New England), and I can also get a decent handle on the weather before I attempt to bag Avery and West Peak.

There are times when I wish I were a faster hiker. But there are other times, like this day, when I'm glad I'm not. I see so much more in the woods, little oddities that might otherwise escape me. Like this bizarre metal drum found embedded in the side of a tree. What the heck is this and what is it doing here? Or these signs of civilization. Just plain strange if you ask me!

This trail is steep but the trail crews have clearly done some fabulous work here, building stone steps. I was mighty impressed. Particularly when I'm solo, the steeps don't bother me. If I have to, I do the Everest Step, stopping every third step to catch my breath. Even if I wanted to break some speed record, I couldn't -- so why bother? Might as well just have fun.

At Moose Falls, I found not a single soul. But I also didn't spot any water source either. There are two tent platforms, and two ground areas for tents, plus a recently built privy.

Same thing at Avery: nary a soul. Not even a caretaker in sight.

So far, in the three hours I've been hiking up to the Col, I've only run into two other hikers. Not bad, if you're looking for an escape.

I made my way to Avery peak and marveled at the views. The weather Gods had blessed me with a nice, cooling breeze. I love the weather-worn signs in Maine that you can barely read, the lettering obscured by the beating they must take up top from wind and rain and snow. I'd never heard of Myron Haliburton Avery before, and enjoyed reading the plaque embedded in a giant rock, noting his role in getting the Appalachian Trail built. I hope the thru-hikers who have made it this far appreciate it as well.

As I made my way down Avery toward West Peak, I ran into three hikers, all of whom appeared to be in their 70s. I overheard one of them describe Flagstaff Lake, just off to the north, and how a town used to be there, until it was taken over by the government and flooded to create a reservoir.

I marveled at his knowledge of the place _ but also that they were hiking, and hiking strong. I sometimes wonder how long I can be at this hobby, and seeing them left me inspired. I was particularly impressed with the woman in the group who looked dolled up in an outfit straight out of Talbot's: a nice gray cardigan, white oxford shirt, khakis, tasteful earrings -- and solid hiking boots. Yes, we women can look nice and hike strong at the same time!

It didn't take long to hit West Peak, where I found another woman from the group of 70-somethings. She'd let her friends head to Avery, while she decided to take in the views from West Peak. I hope I can be just as active at that age. Yeah, there's still a lot of life to live, but how many people over X-age get off their duffs to walk around the block, let alone go for a hike? It was after talking with this woman that I decided that rather than hike back down the Fire Warden's Trail, I'd take advantage of the wonderful weather, and hike over to South Horn before going down the Horns Pond Trail. I am so glad I did.

We don't always get weather this perfect. And although I'm trying to scale back the peakbagging obsession, I figured -- what the heck, South Horn is on the NE 100 highest, might as well go for it. I didn't find it a summit to linger on, so I made my way down the Horns Pond, and found just one person: a surly thru-hiker who didn't even want to acknowledge a hello. Whatever.

But it's tough to remain miffed when you have a view like Horns Pond, where I spent about 15-20 minutes walking around and scouting it out. The two new lean-tos are nicely built with beautiful views of the Horns and the ridgeline. I love the plastic buckets to store food to keep them away from the pesky squirrels.

But the best part was the Horns Pond trail back down. A very nice change of scenery, and much less steep than the Fire Warden's Trail. This was the perfect way to end the day, weaving my way through fern-covered woods filled with clover. As much as I love seeing the views, seeing a new summit, a quiet walk in the woods soothes the soul.

I'd truly hit it big on the Bigelows -- and pix are here:

Day 2: 10 hours of hiking, 3 hours of reading, and 10 hours of sleep before heading out to meet up with AMSTony and SteveHiker for an adventure that Tony will write about shortly. Stay tuned!

 

[poison ivy]

Great pictures and report, Lisa! Sounds like the perfect mix of lounging and hiking! Horns Pond is definitely a gem.

-- Ivy

 

[Gris]

Hmmm, I think. Why trek all the way up to the Bigelow range, when I can just stop here, set up camp and spend an afternoon reading this book?

How refreshing, EXACTLY my sentiments! Nice to see someone else who can exist in the moment w/o feeling the need to bag a peak. Now we HAVE to hike together again sometime...

 

[Tom Rankin]

I managed to squeeze in a few extra days off from work last week, and heading north to Maine, where the 4Ks have been ... Stay tuned! [/B]

Another great trip report and congrats, Lisa!

I still think the Adirondacks are calling you though!

 

[SteveHiker]

where was the metal drum? I was only there a month ago, I don't remember seeing it, and it's obviously been there a long time.

I thought the old logging roads that cross the Firewarden's trail looked like they'd be a cool thing to explore sometime. Or at least a good place to hide the bodies.

 

[king tut]

nice report, the bigelows are great. The mt bikers that you talked of might have come from back in carrabassett valley. The trail goes from the bigelow trailhead through the boonies and comes out in the logging roads near the old night club that burned down. I think it was called the red stallion? big 70's hang out for 'loafers.

 

[sapblatt]

Nice!

Great report and attitude. You get what it is all about!

 

[amstony]

Liser,

Excellent pics and trip report once again! At least you had good weather for the trip.....

Tony

 

[MichaelJ]

Nicely done!
Though ... did you end up effectively day-hiking the entire ridge with a full pack?

 

[alpinista]

Nicely done!
Though ... did you end up effectively day-hiking the entire ridge with a full pack?

Nope. That was the beauty of it. I had all my camping stuff at Stratton Pond and although I used my big backpack, it was filled only with the usual stuff for a day hike. That's a tad heavier than usual, but nothing too arduous.

 

[Sugarloafer]

nice report, the bigelows are great. The mt bikers that you talked of might have come from back in carrabassett valley. The trail goes from the bigelow trailhead through the boonies and comes out in the logging roads near the old night club that burned down. I think it was called the red stallion? big 70's hang out for 'loafers.

You're old enough to remember the Red Stallion ? You're decription is spot on.....one of my favorite mountain bike rides from my condo is through the outdoor center, across Rte 27 over to the newly graded Narrow Gauge path, down to the valley crossing and up that trail that goes up through the Bigelow foothills to Stratton Pond.

 

[king tut]

You're old enough to remember the Red Stallion ? You're decription is spot on.....one of my favorite mountain bike rides from my condo is through the outdoor center, across Rte 27 over to the newly graded Narrow Gauge path, down to the valley crossing and up that trail that goes up through the Bigelow foothills to Stratton Pond.

I only was alive for about 6 mo's in the 70's, but i have heard the stories. I know what all those baby boomers were up to back then, the red stallion was the studio 54 of the maine woods from what i heard. They had a raffle a few years back for like $100 a ticket and the winner would get the building, but i don't remember what happened w/ that.

Just a side note, the brew pub closed this past spring. It was right on the access road, great beer, great nachos, lotsa locals. I heard it was bankruptcy, too bad though. It was a great bar/restaurant. Who knows what it will be next. I still remember buying my ski gear there back in the 80's. Going downstairs and getting my skis tuned. Hopefully there will be another nice establishment. At least The Bag is still open. They better not close on me.

 

[Sugarloafer]

As I made my way down Avery toward West Peak, I ran into three hikers, all of whom appeared to be in their 70s. I overheard one of them describe Flagstaff Lake, just off to the north, and how a town used to be there, until it was taken over by the government and flooded to create a reservoir.

I think I can bore you with a little more history about the Bigelows and surrounding area. There was a group of guys that called themselves the Bigelow Boys from Kingfield (led by Amos Winter, who eventually developed Sugarloaf into a ski area) that used to hike into the Bigelows to ski and at one time there were plans to develop an absolutely huge ski area there. Amid the ensuing controversy, the town of Flagstaff ME was flooded, making any development economically impractical. Since then, I believe the state passed legislation that prevents any development in the Bigelows forever. Not having readily available access to the Bigelows anymore because of the flooding, the Bigelow Boys focused their interest on Sugarloaf (this was in 1951) and the rest is Maine skiing history. The Sugarloaf Ski Club and probably the Maine Ski Museum have some pictures of Winter and his gang cutting the trail from Rte 27 to the summit snowfields. Its incredible what these guys did to go skiing !! That original trail is still there and its called Winters Way...still one of the more challenging lift-accessed trails in the East. BTW, I understand that the proposed ski area in the Bigelows would have been, by far, the biggest ski area in the East...even by today's standards. Supposedly the developers had plans to bring the Olympics there. My chronology of some of these events may be off, but you can get the gist. Personally, I like the area the way it is currently...great skiing and hiking !

 

[king tut]

Sugarloafer sounds pretty much right on. I thought it might have been the early 60's though, from what i've heard. It was supposed to be the aspen of the east w/ bigelow and sugarloaf. I believe the trails were supposed to be on the side headed down to the lake. Pretty good pitch there, but nothing too difficult for most skiers. There was a referendum i believe, and the voters nixed it. It would have been fun to have 2 ski areas in the area, but i guess its good that it stayed "wild".

 

[Mad Townie]

Alpinista,

Excellent TR & photos. You remind me that it's been way too long since I've climbed my favorite mountain ridge in the world!

 

[yam]

thanks for the great TR! and that pic of the metal drum is crazy!

 

[alpinista]

where was the metal drum? I was only there a month ago, I don't remember seeing it, and it's obviously been there a long time.

Steve, it's very close to the very beginning of the trail (just after you see the first sign noting that it's the fire warden's trail. It's on the lefthand side. Since it's rusted, and not right on the trail, it's pretty to easy to miss unless you're dawdling, like I do, and just aimlessly looking around.

I wonder if all these signs of "civilization" -- the metal drum, the ceramic thingies used in hanging electrical wire were all remnants of the time the Bigelow Boys thought about developing the area...Thanks for the history lesson Sugarloafer and King Tut!

 

[Sugarloafer]

I only was alive for about 6 mo's in the 70's, but i have heard the stories. I know what all those baby boomers were up to back then, the red stallion was the studio 54 of the maine woods from what i heard. They had a raffle a few years back for like $100 a ticket and the winner would get the building, but i don't remember what happened w/ that.

Just a side note, the brew pub closed this past spring. It was right on the access road, great beer, great nachos, lotsa locals. I heard it was bankruptcy, too bad though. It was a great bar/restaurant. Who knows what it will be next. I still remember buying my ski gear there back in the 80's. Going downstairs and getting my skis tuned. Hopefully there will be another nice establishment. At least The Bag is still open. They better not close on me.

I heard about the Brew Pub. There were lots of rumors flying around ranging from tearing it down for more condo development to someone coming in and running it as a pub again. I don't know what the latest dope is. If you're interested in what's going on up there you might enjoy these sites :

http://www.mydigitalrealm.com/chat/

http://www.k2trav.com

The first one is called the Unofficial Sugarloaf Chat Room. It requires a free registration and its pretty good for finding out what's going on in the off season. Once the season starts, it tends to get a lot of "volume" from the 16 year old crowd..I can't understand half the stuff their talking about.

The second one is run by a guy that used to work in the Marketing Dept. It has lots of background info on the Loaf and some great pics.

Less than 90 days to go !!

 

[Mad Townie]

I wonder if all these signs of "civilization" . . . the ceramic thingies used in hanging electrical wire were all remnants of the time the Bigelow Boys thought about developing the area.

I believe the ceramic wire insulators were for the phone lines to the firewarden's cabin at Bigelow Col and the tower on Avery . . . but I might be mistaken!


Somewhere in the deep closets in the back of my mind I found that little nugget, something I think someone told me about 30 years ago. In any event, they were related to the wardens and not to the proposed ski area, which was planned for the north side of the range, facing the town of Flagstaff.

 

[alpinista]

I believe the ceramic wire insulators were for the phone lines to the firewarden's cabin at Bigelow Col and the tower on Avery . . . but I might be mistaken!

Thanks for providing the more technical description of those "thingies." As you can tell, I'm a bit of a luddite!

By the way, at the Avery caretaker's cabin and on top of Avery Peak, I saw giant heavy metal cables along the ground. At the summit, they were near the rock with the Avery plaque, and seemed to head down the northern slopes. At the caretaker's cabin, they were along the ground.