The Unofficial Sugarloaf Chat

Curious to hear if anyone has done a MTB ride around Bigelow ? I heard it "could" be done, but wondering if anyone has actually done it & what was the route (especially on the Western end & Northern side) & mileage. Obviously I am familiar with the trails in the Valley (on the southern side of Bigelow range), but not very familiar with the other side. Looks like there's a snowmobile trail (ITS 115) that comes out of Stratton Brook & skirts around the back side, but wondering how ride-able that would be in the summer/fall.

I know of a few that have done it in the summer. We did it this winter on fat bikes, and it was the most epic soul crushing ride of the winter. I highly recommend it, but watch out for the sleds.

All intel I have is that in the summer it is a bit of a slog from round barn over to stratton. Think over-grown sno-mo trails. I think it would be buggy, wet in spots, and not really that enjoyable. An alternate option is to ride around Flagstaff.....that does involve some asphalt but it is really fantastic. It's a 3.5 to 4 hour (55ish miles) commitment if you stay on the throttle

bigelow wrote:I know of a few that have done it in the summer. We did it this winter on fat bikes, and it was the most epic soul crushing ride of the winter.

Don't know what it is....but there's something about long winter rides on the MTB that make them "epic soul crushing"...Sounds like an awesome ride !!

As you said, I imagine the sNOwMOBILE trail is probably not very fun in the summer.....It looks like the roads on the backside of Bigelow connect (East & West Flagstaff roads), so that could be ridden all the way into Stratton, and then be relegated to pavement from Stratton village to Stratton Brook Road/Trail & then pick up the Esker trail from there ???

How many miles was the ride you did around Bigelow ?

I've seen at least one ride on Strava that went around Flagstaff. I've been wondering if you need a mountain bike for that ride or if a cyclocross bike could handle it.

I attempted it earlier this summer, and ended up turning around due to the overgrown trails. A fatbike would have definitely helped. There was a track on strava from three weeks earlier, before the ferns got shoulder high. I bet it would only be about five miles or so of really rough stuff, and the rest of it is fairly mellow.