With a four day weekend for July 4th, we decided it was worth it to make the drive to the Rangeley Lakes region in Maine. While we have visited and enjoyed other areas of Maine (Baxter State Park, Acadia NP, and the Bold Coast), we had never visited the Rangeley area and were looking forward to hiking the peaks there.

We camped four nights at Cathedral Pines Campground in Eustis, which was very nice (even nicer I imagine if you can get a campsite on Flagstaff Lake). We had three full days to hike and had a list of hikes, depending on the weather and how we felt (some of the hikes could be extended if we wanted). We ended up hiking Sugarloaf, Saddleback, and a section of the Bigelows including Avery Peak (4090 feet), West Peak (4145 feet), and The Horns (3805 feet). This was by far our favorite hike and think it is one of the top ten hikes in the Northeast. We started at the Stratton Pond trailhead and hiked up the Fire Warden's Trail to the Notch. We did the short hike up to Avery Peak and then retraced our steps to the notch and continued south to West Peak and The Horns (with short detour to North Horn). We descended past Horns Pond on the Horns Pond Trail to the junction with the Fire Warden's Trail to finish our hike, 13.8 miles and over 4000 feet elevation gain. Every step worth it though - such a gorgeous hike.

We utilized ski slopes on our other two hikes of Sugarloaf (4249 feet) and Saddleback (4121 feet). There are other trails to access these peaks, but we opted for the steeper, but shorter climbs. Unfortunately we did not see much from Sugarloaf as it was a cloudy day (and the bugs were horrid) and had better luck on Saddleback (which was also an easier hike). We were pleasantly surprised to find large lupine fields on Saddleback and it was beautiful. On the day we drove home we did the quick hike up Bald Mountain.

We really loved our time in Rangeley Lakes - beautiful scenery, great hikes, and not overdeveloped or crowded. We can't wait to go back!