HIGH & MIGHTY: A trail runner stops to admire the view of Great Pond atop Mount Phillip, a popular hiking destination, in the Belgrade Lakes watershed. Photo: 7 Lakes AllianceBELGRADE LAKES is an area of central Maine that doesn’t often get attention, and locals and longtime summer residents are just fine with the anonymity. The state’s capital, Augusta (population 19,066), is near here, but no one feels slighted that the city isn’t afforded the cachet of Kennebunkport, or that tourist maps show routes up the East Coast that abruptly veer off to Bar Harbor and stop, ignoring the interior. Locals savor the long hot days lakeside, hiking, golfing or swimming at beloved nearby spots untrammeled by summer visitors.

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