1189. Revisiting the Bigelows
Placed 9 Aug 2021

Having backpacked through the Bigelows five times on my various Appalachian Trail "thru-hikes" of the 1980's and 90's, and later on just for doing side trails and loops and such, I didn't really feel like I had much need to go back there in recent years just to hike up there again. However, when Pete happened to mention that he had never been and would really like to see that cool part of the AT in Maine for himself, up we went and so glad we were that we did! Unlike on some of the other Maine mountains, we basically felt like we had this whole mountain range all to ourselves on the particular nice summer afternoon that we visited this time through (although it was, of course, brisk as ever up on top!;-)

However, you don't have to go all the way to the summits to experience a little bit of the magic of the Bigelows and perhaps find the tiny "travelin' light" that we left along the continuation of the old road that serves as an access to those particular AT side trails. From the AT parking lot on route 26 a bit north of Sugarloaf, just continue north to dirt Stratton Brook Pond Road road and take it a couple of miles east to the large parking lot that we were so surprised to have completely to ourselves on the day we visited. From the kiosk there at the far end of the parking lot, just take a gentle half mile or so stroll to a scenic bridge crossing just before a designated campsite and check the base of the first evergreen on the right of the trail after crossing the bridge. We can't seem to remember exactly on which side of the tree we left that unobtrusive little stone, but it should be pretty obvious by now to most letterboxers to just check out the bottom of the stone!

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