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Hiking the Bigelow Range in May. |
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Written by mAineAc
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Sunday, 28 June 2009 20:44 |
I have finished my first hike of the season. It was an overnight stay on the Bigelow Range. It was a two day hike in which I traveled the Firewarden's Trail up to Avery peak then back across to West Peak, The South Horn and down to The Horns Pond to stay the night at the Appalachian Trail lean-to site. I continued the trek back to the parking lot the next morning. For a map of the trail hiked you can go here.
This was an extremely enjoyable, but treacherous hike. Surprisingly for nice spring day there were very few black flies or mosquitoes. the sky was fairly clear with just a mild haze that allowed for a good view all day. When you start out on the trail from the main parking lot you have a little ways to go before you come upon another smaller parking lot to your left and just beyond that is a small brook that has stones that you can cross on without getting your feet wet. Then a few campsites as you continue on the trail. To your right you can see the Stratton Brook Pond, if your lucky you may see a moose out on the edges of this. Once you come to the last campsite on the right the trail turns sharply to the left and this is where the hiking really starts. 
The start of the trail is a steady climb that was not too bad. I came upon a small group of hikers that were heading up to the The Horns and they pointed me to the right to head up the Firewarden's Trail. The climb started picking up and I was able to get a couple of good views of Sugarloaf Mountain that was rising up behind be with snow still on many of the trails. There were a few places of steep rocks that needed to be climbed. After a while I came up to some campsites. These were all located in what is called the Col. I had a choice of left to head towards West Peak or right to head towards Avery Peak. I headed right and after a little while I was confronted with some snow that was still in the trail. I was a little surprised by this so late in the season. About 100 yards beyond the peak on the trail is the fire tower. A small building that would house a lookout in days gone by. It was pretty much sealed up at this point. I stopped here and had some lunch and took a small break.
At this point I turned around and continued through the Col to West Peak. I was met by another awesome view from here as well. I Back towards the Fire tower behind me and onward to the Horns in front of me. As I continued downt the trail my knee start bothering me pretty badly. By the time I got to the South Horn I decided I would skip the hike through to the north horn and went down to the Horns Pond AT leanto and campsite. On the way down I came across a tree fall that I had to climb under. This was interesting as my knee was in agony by this point. Once down to the campsites I quickly picked one out and sat down for a break for a bit.
After sitting for a while I starting walking around. I talked to the caretaker for a little while and he was kind enough to give me a couple of ibuprofen. This dulled the pain a bit but it was still quite sore. I set up my tent and started boiling water for dinner. While my meal was cooking, I took a walk around and enjoyed the view of Horns Pond. There were a couple of campers around that were fly fishing and made me wish I had my pole with me. Once I finished dinner I crawled into my tent and red for a bit before trying to get some sleep.
The next morning after waking up from a restless sleep, from sharp pains in my knee when I rolled over wrong, I packed up quickly and made myself breakfast. After saying good bye to the caretaker I continues on my way down the mountain. The pain wasn't too bad at first, but it wasn't long before I had to take periodic breaks to try to ease the pain. This morning wasn't so kind as the previous though. The clouds had moved in overnight and the mosquitoes decided to come out. On my way down it had started to drizzle a little rain. That didn't last long though. By the time I reached the parking lot it was going on noon and the sun was starting to peak out a little, though it would hide again soon after that for the day.
All in all this was a great hike. Next time I will start the other way and sleep at teh Col. That way I will make sure to make it to the North Horn as well. It is about a fourteen mile hike. With pretty rugged climbing. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner as you want to be in shape for this one. Many people go in and climb just The Horns and back for a day hike or up to Avery peak and west peak for a day hike, you could do the whole trail in a day but it is much better enjoyed on an overnighter. 
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 04 August 2009 19:29 |
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