Mt. Bigelow - Kingfield, ME, USA

I have to say that the trails for Mt. Bigelow are pretty terribly marked. We ventured four and a half miles (roundtrip) trying to find the Firewarden’s Trail because the map at the parking area had “you are here” in two different spots. We lost that gamble.

Since I drove two and a half hours out, I had to do what I’d set out to do. Basically, this is the story about how sometimes I get irrational and I’m an idiot. We found our trail which, according to the map that I picked up at the park’s visitor center, would be 2.5 miles up to the summit. Starting at 2:30pm, I figured we had 5 hours until the sun started setting. We’d be fine! Unfortunately, two out of the three signs along the way were completely wrong - telling us we had a mile to the next point of interest, when really it was two miles.

Climbing down was terrifying, because we wanted to make it back to the car before dark. We did. By the time we were back to the car, we’d walked 13.53 miles.

All that aside, I’m glad we pushed onward to the West Peak summit at a total elevation of 4150 feet. The views were great! We saw Flagstaff lake and a nice view of Avery Peak (also part of Bigelow). We also met a snake, two frogs, and a cute ladybug.

I learned from the fiasco too and promptly went out to buy a flashlight - just in case - and will not be starting anything too serious after lunchtime.