East Nubble, Bigelow Twp. (2,439') 10/4/2023

The view north from near the summit

Hiking East Nubble in the Bigelow Preserve has been a goal of mine for about 3 years now, and today I finally got around to doing so. I knew that the hike would likely be a bushwhack most of the way, but also that there were rocky outcroppings at the summit, which were likely to provide spectacular views.

We started near the end of a side road off of the West Flagstaff Road, and started hiking up an old grown-in road. 

The first old road that we hiked on

We followed this road until it crossed Cold Brook, where we turned east along the brook.

Cold Brook

We bushwhacked along the brook for a bit, and the going wasn't too bad, although we did have to keep crossing the brook over and over. At the point where an old road came relatively close to the brook, we decided to cross over to the old road and see what it was like.

A huge hemlock

It turned out that most of the growth on the old road was ferns, so we decided to follow it around to a saddle on the east side of the mountain. 

The second old road that we followed

In the saddle, we started bushwhacking north, and soon started up the steep side of the mountain.

Foliage in the saddle

This section was interesting, alternating between open hardwood forest and dense softwood forest. We eventually came to a ledge band, where we had to find a creative route up the ledges.

A shelf which we followed up the ledges

Above the ledges, we attained the narrow ridgeline, which we follow west through softwood forest to the summit.

There are two viewpoints from rocky outcroppings near the summit. One is right at the true summit and features a view north and west towards Cranberry Mountain and Stratton.

Cranberry Peak from the summit

View towards Stratton from the summit

This viewpoint is where the summit logbook is located in a jar, and there is better seating there.

The summit register

At the summit

A short distance north is an outcropping at the top of a small talus field which offers a spectacular view north and east over Flagstaff Lake.

Looking along the Bigelow Range

You have to be a little more creative to find a seat here, but the outstanding views are worth it. T

his northern viewpoint is where we decided to stop for awhile and eat lunch.

Me at the northern viewpoint

Looking north across Flagstaff Lake

Our plan was to follow the western ridge of the mountain on the way back. We discovered that there was a faint, but discernible trail leading down this ridge from the summit.

The trail on the western ridge

The trail was very lightly used, not marked in any way, and had numerous blowdowns, so it was quite tricky to follow. However, we were able to stay on it, more or less, until entering the hardwood forest, where logging had wiped out any trace of a trail that might have been there. From here, we followed a brushy old skid road down to a log yard on the road we walked on earlier in the day. From this point, we simply retraced our steps down the old road back to where we started.

I'm glad that I finally got the chance to do this hike, and the spectacular views and peak foliage made it well worthwhile. It goes to show that there is so much more to our public lands in the state than the developed recreational assets shown on the maps!