Blueberry Mountain - Short and Steep

Life on Bickford Brook Trail

Ebeneezer's Pub is a Belgium beer bar in Lovell, Maine.  It's been voted "Best Beer Bar in America" by
Beer Advocate and happened to be hosting it's Belgium Beer Festival.  Matt and I decided to double date with our friends Amber and Jason to the event.  Since we were already up north, we looked for a short local hike to try before we hit the bar.  Lovell is on the NH/Maine line close to Fryberg, Maine.  I found a hike in Evan's Notch to Blueberry Mountain (1781 ft).  This hike can also connect to Speckled Mountain to make a nice +7 mile loop, but on this day, we decided to adventure on a 3 mile out and back trek up Blueberry Mountain.

Here is how to recreate this adventure...

Adventure:  Blueberry Mountain, Evan's Notch, NH

Getting there: The Bickford Brook Trail is located along Rt. 113.  It at "Brickett Place" - a small historical house/museum.  From 302/113 junction, take 113 north about 20 miles.  Brickett Place is located on the right, just after the Cold River Campground (on left).  There's plenty of parking (cost $3 cash per car or National Park Pass).  Privey toilets are available at the trailhead.

Trail Sign at Brickett Place

Trail:  From the back of of the Brickett Place parking lot, take the Bickford Brook Trail.  This goes through woods, crosses a beautiful stream (take the spur down to see the waterfall!).  This will gently take you to the junction of the Blueberry Ridge Trail.  Take a right on the Blueberry Ridge Trail.  This trail is surprisingly steep - ascending with rocky trail and partial slab.  A large open slab before the summit provided a great photo spot/lunch spot.  The actual summit was wooded and only provided partial views.  Blueberries carpeted the peak, a tribute to its name.  There is no marker at the summit.  From here, we turned around and returned to the car.  

Difficulty:  Moderate - I was surprised how steep some portions were for such a short peak!  

Distance:  0.7 miles to junction + 0.8 to summit = 1.5 miles one way/3 miles out-and-back round trip.

Recommendations:

View from lunch ledge 

- Take the time to stop at the stream crossing.  There is a short spur trail that will lead you down to a
beautiful waterfall. 

- Avoid wet slab on rainy days - it's dangerous

- Take your photos and lunch on the large open slab right before the summit.  The summit is wooded with limited views.  

Afterwards - If you are beer lover, drive the 30 minutes to Ebeneezer's Pub in Lovell.  They have 35 Belgium brews on tap and a great pub menu.   It is located at 44 Allen Rd. Lovelle, ME 04051.

It was great to get a little hike in with our friends and then visit the Belgium Beer Fest at Ebeneezer's.  I can't wait for next year, to do it again!

Waterfall on  Bickford Brook Trail spur

Please leave comments and questions below...