THE BIGELOWS

AT Day 110: Wedesday,  July 26, 2023

SOBO Mile 2028 – 2012

Flagstaff Campsite – Cranberry Stream Campsite

Distance Hiked – 16 miles/25.7km

Total Distance Hiked:1847 miles/ 2972 km 

A:5165 ft /1575 m D:4970 ft /1616m

It was so peaceful and quiet by the lake, we both slept really well. It would have been a great spot for a zero on trail.  If only we had more food we probably would have stayed another day here. Reluctantly we broke camp and were back on trail around 6:00 a.m. We had big mountains to climb up ahead.

The air  was cool, the trail was in  good condition to start with and it was a great start to the day. Little  Bigelow was a slow steady climb for the first 5 miles. I figured once we were up on the ridge it would just be small ups and downs to reach Avery and West Peaks and then the South Horn.   How wrong I was. We reached Little Bigelow peak after much sweating and cussing. We were rewarded  with sensational 360 views and ripe blueberries. Flagstaff Lake where we were camped last night looked enormous from here. The interconnected  waterways looked like a maze.

The next two miles to Avery Peak took us almost 2 hours…it was a steep ascent and quite technical rocky scrambles.  The top is above the treeline and provided even better views then Little Bigelow.  It was after midday by now and the white haze in the air obscured the views somewhat. The West Peak was more steep scrambling with great views back over the ridge.  We were tiring and started to look forward to the descent.

We thought we’d make up some time on the descent but that was not how it turned out. This was just as technical with steep rocky boulders to navigate. We were almost at the bottom of the descent when my knee unexpectedly gave an excruciatingly painful tweak.  It was a slow and careful hobble to a campsite about 2 miles short of Route 27.  We had planned to reach the road  today in order to resupply in Stratton. Rain and thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow. Might have to be a town zero tomorrow to rest my knee and also escape the rain. 

The Bigelow Mountain ridge was a long and incredibly beautiful traverse. We got lucky with the weather and despite the haze in the air,  we had great vistas of the huge expanse of Maine and its wilderness.