Bigelow Backpacking

In mid-October, Steve and I took the mountains for a weekend backpacking trip. Breaking from our usual pattern of heading to the familiar White Mts, we headed northwest this time to the Bigelow Range - a region I have never explored. To make the most of this trip, we decided to drive out on Friday night rather than Saturday morning, and sleep in the back of our Element at the trail head parking lot. We removed the back seats at home, and once we arrived (around 11 pm) we simply unrolled our thermarests and sleeping bags and stretched out for a surprisingly comfortable night's sleep. Waking up early with the sun and birds, we cooked a quick breakfast, made some tea and packed up our bags to hit the trail.

The first day we logged about 8 miles up and over the Bigelow ridge. The views from atop were breathtaking, and the weather was clear and sunny. I took a few token cairn shots for future painting reference, and we ate lunch on the windy summit.

Later, we made camp at a site several hundred feet below the mountain ridge line. There, we still had excellent views but were protected from the chilly mountain winds blowing that night. The campsite was near an alpine pond, where we hoped to catch sight of a moose. The only moose we would encounter, though, would be the one we heard outside our tent around 2 am. We first heard his large hooves clomping down the trail, then a pause as he sniffed around our tent making amusing grunting sounds. Fortunately, he found our tent uninteresting and quickly moved on.

The next morning we cooked oatmeal and granola and packed up to head down the mountain. Tromping through the yellow and orange leaves, I tried to fill my lungs with the fresh autumn air. Fall always seems to come and go too quickly...