Backpacking the Bigelows June 25-26

[poison ivy]

Pictures from our hike, on two days way too hot for hiking, are here for those who wish to skip my ramblings!

I cannot say thank you enough to MEB, Little Sister, bpschroder & MichaelJ for agreeing to come along on this backpacking trip. It was really too hot for hiking and four out of the five of us suffered from heat exhaustion in varying degrees. (I went into a little detail about my experience... but I'm leaving it to others to talk about their experiences if they want to.) Everyone was a real trooper and I was so happy to have them along for the trip.

We started out at Route 27 at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, crossing the road after some quick pictures of the gorgeous wild lupine and devil’s paintbrush just near the trailhead. Since the first mile was completely flat, we expected to make great time… but it soon became apparent that a one mile-per-hour pace was going to be the norm for the day because of the hot and sticky weather.

Sweltering by the time we reached Cranberry Stream Campsite, we were all hoping the next few miles to Horns Pond would pass quickly so we could take a swim and cool off. After just those first few miles, I was already feeling somewhat sick, with a raging headache, and knew that I was heading down the road to heat exhaustion. So I stopped for some Vitamin-I and took plenty ofwater breaks, which helped me cool off.

By the time we reached Horns Pond I was feeling a million times better and ready to swim. The pond is a little weedy but the water was ice cold… the swim was really one of the highlights of the trip. We spent an hour swimming, lunching and lounging before deciding we should head off for our next three uphill miles in case thunderstorms came rolling in during the afternoon as predicted.

We packed up and made the steep ascent up to the spur trail for North Horn. GO had recommended that we head the .2 miles over to the summit because it has the best views of all the peaks in the Bigelow Range. Michael decided to skip it and headed up South Horn instead. He missed an entertaining Bee Gees medley provided by Mary Ellen, Rachel & Brian but not so much in the views department because of the haze. We did get a peek at our final mountain of the day -- Bigelow’s West Peak, which looked pretty daunting from our 3,792 ft. vantage point.

After our brief stop on North Horn, we all headed the remaining .1 of a mile up South Horn, which is on the NE Hundred Highest list. There wasn’t much time to celebrate though as we still had two more hot miles to go, but at least the trail wasn’t particularly tough though until the final climb up Bigelow’s West Peak.

It was rocky and ledgy so the sun was just beating down on us by the time we arrived on the 4,145 ft. West Peak. We didn’t stay long as we were all ready to get out of the sun, away from the bugs and down to the Avery tent site, which was just .3 of a mile away. It was a quick cruise down a steep slope and our day’s mileage was finally done at 5 p.m.

We managed to squeeze two tents on a platform and Michael had his hammock, so we managed to camp together on one site. At 7 p.m., Rachel & I headed back up to West Peak in the hopes of catching the sunset. Upon our arrival, it started thundering so we took a quick look around at Flagstaff Lake & the mountains, which were shrouded in pink clouds and headed back down. We arrived at the tent site just in time, as the rain came pouring down about five miles after our arrival. We were tent-bound for a short thunder storm that helped keep the site cool for the night.

SUNDAY:
We woke up early and found it wasn't really any cooler than yesterday. Everyone had recovered from Saturday’s bouts with heat exhaustion and we agreed to take it slow during today's hike. We were on the trail by 8 a.m.

Our first half-mile was going to be the hardest of the day -- the steep climb up Bigelow’s Avery Peak. About halfway up, everyone else stopped at a box spring to pump some water. Since I had enough water and the bugs were already ferocious, I decided to keep on hiking up to the summit. For once, I was actually ahead of the pack!

The summit of Avery Peak, 4,088 ft., is just beautiful. It was still somewhat hazy and cloudy but for some reason I really like it better than West Peak -- despite swarm of bugs that immediately surrounded me. It was a boarded up lookout cabin and a nice summit plaque too. I enjoyed the views and watched everyone else cross the summit from my little perch.

After a few minutes enjoying the views, we headed down the trail toward Little Bigelow, our next mountain, which looked and felt so far away. It took absolutely forever to descend less than a mile to the viewpoint on Old Man’s Head -- a rock profile that looks like a face from a distance. Our viewpoint on the forehead was really pretty and we had great views since the clouds were starting to lift finally.

The ascent up 3,040 ft., Little Bigelow Mountain was actually not all that difficult and pretty gradual. I was starting to suffer again from the heat so I took my time and lots of breaks. Once again my feet starting killing me -- pounding and throbbing so much that each step caused me to slow down even more. Little Bigelow has some great views from the ledges, but I didn’t enjoy them at all because every step over rock just killed me.

For the entire descent down Little Bigelow, I kept waiting to arrive at the lean-to’s stream, where I planned to cool off. It took absolutely forever to get there. When I arrived I dropped my pack and went to sit in the stream. The water was so cool and wonderful -- I couldn’t actually stand being in it for long. However, it actually numbed my feet and I got another half-mile of walking in before they started to hurt again. We arrived at East Flagstaff Rd at about 3:30 p.m.

Tally-wise, this puts me at 65/67 New England Fours & 74/100 of the New England Hundred Highest.

-- Ivy

Edited to add: A special thanks to GO & Valerie for assisting with the car spot & allowing us to crash at their place the night before the hike. The logistics were so easy thanks to you guys!!

 

[MEB]

Amy, thanks again for inviting me to join you on this trip! Despite the heat I had a GREAT time! Paul and I had planned to do this same hike many, many years ago but ended up just doing a day hike up the Horns Pond Trail and down the Fire Wardens...since then I have been dying to go back! This is such a beatiful area! I wish I had been feeling better to make it up to watch the sun set.

My favorite part was swimming in the pond too! It was sooooo refreshing and to cool off felt great....next time I think I will pack in a float! My least favorite part was all the bugs and the pesky one that got stuck in my eye and bit my eyelid! Paul counted about 30 bite marks just on my neck and face!!

I survived this trip with a new appreciation of hiking in extreme heat....thanks again to everyone for helping me out, espically Little Sister! You are the BEST!!!

-MEB

 

[poison ivy]

You guys definitely had it worse with the bugs than me... I counted my bites for Little Sister's bug bite contest... and I only have 11 total. I think Michael had more than 11 on the back of his neck alone.

Do I win or lose the contest by having the least?

-- Ivy

 

[alpinista]

Impressive trail report. It was tough enough hiking in that heat with a small daypack on. I can't imagine backpacking that distance (or any distance) this past weekend.

As for bug bites, I think I have 11 just on the back of my ears alone!

 

[amstony]

Nice trip report, your almost done with the NE 4K's!.

It was no cooler on the Crockers ....... and as for bug bites I escaped with only 4 bites, 2 on the left leg and 2 on the right!!

 

[yam]

great trip report!! and Horns Pond looks so peaceful in your pic.

 

[SteveHiker]

I guess while I was on the Crockers, I must have really smelled bad. I didn't get bit at all. A couple flew into my eyes and I caught a spider in the mouth though.

 

[Little Sister]

What a great trip it was. A little too hot, but at least there were spots to cool off. I've counted 24 bites, and they itch like crazy. I'm hoping tomorrow the itching will be over and I'll just be left with large red spots!! I think MEB's in the lead right now, with the number of bites on her neck... and Poison Ivy, you win my jealousy for having so few!!!!!

Happy Scratching to everyone who was out this weekend!!
Little Sister

 

[ponchojuan]

Thanks really change on Bigelow in a month!

I did this same hike on May 15th, except we had to traverse ice and a three foot snow pack to get to Avery. Horn Pond was still mostly frozen and we had to break the ice to access the spring at the Horn camp site. I don't think the temp broke 40 degrees the whole weekend.

A lot changes up there in a month!

We actually went the reverse route ending up at the Horn Camp site. The new lean-tos are very nice and certainly a better site than Avery.

Congrats on bagging another one!

poncho

 

[bobandgeri]

Great pics and report! Sounds like a fun learning experience that you all came away from with big smiles - and a whole bunch of bites. Seems like the bugs in Maine are much worse than the ones we had in NH over the weekend - we all had a few bites, but not as many as you guys.

 

[HikerBob]

Great trip report Ivy and congrats to everyone who ventured forth on such a steamy day! It was a hot one!

For my part I mowed my acre of Western Mass jungle and took a bunch of flower pictures. I did this without carrying twenty gallons of Gatorade

For bites I find "Neosporin + pain relief" works well. It has antibiotic and topical anaesthetic components. I find the bites that give me the most grief are the ones I scratch. The anaesthetic helps stop the scratching.

Bob

 

[poison ivy]

Seems like the bugs in Maine are much worse than the ones we had in NH over the weekend - we all had a few bites, but not as many as you guys.

Just wait until next weekend!

- Ivy

 

[bpschroder]

it must be Maine -Hot, Steamy, Humid and Sweaty!

Thanks for inviting me along on this trip!

Thanks for writing up such a great trip report. With all the heat and humidty it’s lucky we remember any of it.
I had an awesome time on my first hike ever in Maine and really enjoyed the views from Little Bigelow and West Peak. Even though the bugs were annoying I think I won the battle and have almost no bad bug bites to report! I guess my insane overuse of bug spray worked.
On this trip I learned that sometimes feeling like your drinking enough water and actually drinking enough water are two different things. On Saturday I really felt horrible and was surprised how bad I was suffering from dehydration so Sunday I kept myself on a strict 20 to 30 minute guzzling of H20 and it really paid off. Hmm... I wonder if I can steal that 5 gallon jug in the office here and bring it along on my next backpack! Ultralight backpacking be damned!

Thanks Amy for being my hero on Saturday night and guying out one side of the rainfly while it was raining and thundering around us as I hid in the tent from the bugs.

 

[MEB]

Hey Brian...it must have been your technique of spraying each bug individually as it buzzed by you...I'm gonna give it shot next time they're feasting on me

 

[alpinista]

Spider???

Ohmigod, Steve! You had quite the adventure Saturday, and I love how you tell these little tidbits in dribs and drabs -- from the "gotcha" while you were disrobing behind your SUV to only now finding out that a spider went in your mouth. Yikes! When did that happen on our trip???

 

[MichaelJ]

My story (part 1)

I write these for my journal anyway, so though it's redundant, here's my story

Hot, Hazy, Humid, Hike?
Give Blood and Support Maine's Insect Population
Two days along the Bigelow Range near Stratton, ME
June 25-26, 2005

Over Memorial Day weekend, I spent three days on the Appalachian Trail making my way northbound across the Carrabassett region of Maine, starting at Rangely. The following weekend I returned to continue across the Crockers. Finally, this past weekend, along with Mary Ellen, Rachel, Amy, and Brian, I hiked the remaining 17 miles of the AT through this region, over the Bigelow Range.

What's better than a good hike? Good friends are, and this story begins at Garret and Valerie's, where we were guests. It was great to visit with them, a wonderful gift to have their help with the car spotting (a 40-minute drive each way) and just amazing to have them open their home to us for the night. I cannot begin to thank them enough for their hospitality; they are two terrific people.

After a far-too-luxurious night of sleep, we woke with the sunrise, feeling the heat coming with the breeze. It was forecast to be a hot day, and we could smell it in the air. We got our gear into Brian's car (Amy's and mine having already been spotted on East Flagstaff Road the previous night) and hit the Woodsmen in Kingfield right as they opened at 7am. After chowing down a tasty and inexpensive breakfast (we recommend this place), we continued up Rte 27 to the AT crossing, where we met up with Mary Ellen and Rachel, ready to go.

Around 8:30am we started along the AT from Rte 27, an easy section of trail done primarily by thru-hikers, since most day trippers would drive in on the Stratton Brook Rook Road or Jones Pond Road to bypass this first mile. The trees were heavy and green, the air still, and the humidity building. We quickly looked forward to gaining some elevation in the hopes of finding a breeze.

We made quick work of the trail, arriving at Cranberry Stream campsite in under an hour. We stopped for a quick snack and some badly-needed water-drinking, then continued on. Our next landmark was an abandoned beaver pond. Now, originally we thought it was pretty funny having such a description. It sounded like directions given in Boston: "turn where the Dunkin Donuts used to be." But in fact, it was a very obvious pond behind a pretty large dam. From here we could see the height of the ridge and knew that Horns Pond was just on the other side.

We hit the Bigelow Range Trail, our 3.4 mile mark, after about 2:15, and we were hot. At this point, the entire goal was to reach Horn's Pond and go for a swim, and with that in mind we made our way up the ridge. The views opened up along the way, unfortunately very hazy but impressive nonetheless, looking back to Cranberry Peak, out across the East Nubble and Flagstaff Lake, and back down towards our starting point. We would occasionally pass small boulder caves giving off cold air and at each we'd pause for a quick breather.

Shortly after noon we crested the ridge and had our first look ahead to the Horns of the Bigelow Range. They looked awfully far and tall, and I just put them out of my mind and concentrated on getting to the pond. When we finally reached a viewpoint overlooking the pond we all found new energy and raced down to the campsite to get directions from the caretaker to the water's edge.

We wasted no time hopping in and swimming around. The water was cold but not oppressively so, and was just what we needed to counter the heat. After paddling around for a while we retreated to the shore rocks to dry off and have some lunch. At this point I didn't eat enough. I had brought a bag full of grapes and was looking forward to them, but they turned out to be too tart to enjoy, and made my stomach a little upset, so I just had a handful and that was all. I would pay the price later when I needed energy but didn't have it.

After getting dressed we started up the Horns. I knew in almost no time that my strength was waning, and when the rest of the group made the side trip to the open summit of North Horn I chose to continue up the AT by myself, very slowly. I was doing whatever I could to stave off any type of heat illness, drinking as much as I could and moving so gently that I didn't even raise my heart rate. I felt cooked, but I didn't feel dehydrated, and managed to keep any kind of headache at bay.

At the summit of South Horn, I quickly celebrated another New England Hundred Highest summit, then looked ahead to West Peak. It looked a long way away, and in fact it was 2.1 miles away with a good drop and rise in between. Camp for the night was on the far side, so there was no choice but to keep going, a little bit at a time. Of course, the trail did everything it could to remain in the blistering sun. No worries, just another sip of water and another few steps. I must have done a lot better than I thought at the time because I was just a dozen yards from the summit of West Peak when the rest of the group caught up.

Atop the West Peak of the Bigelows at 4:26pm, I celebrated my 61st of the 67 New England 4000-footers, then started violently dry-heaving. At this point I needed to get out of the sun and rest, and I wasn't the only one. We descended the last of the day's 8.3 miles to the Avery Col campsite, where we found a site with a platform that would fit the two tents as well as a set of trees that would accomodate my hammock.

This time spent in the shade at the campsite, easily setting things up and not moving around too much, helped my recovery. After helping to filter, I downed a good deal of the cold, delicious spring water, rinsed off my face, poured cold over my head, and felt a lot better. By the time I had my stove set up and dinner going, my appetite had returned and all feelings of sickness had passed. I count myself lucky in this regard; Mary Ellen was much sicker from the heat and would not feel better for several hours. Regardless of when, we were glad to recover.

As evening came upon us, Rachel and Amy took off to reclimb West Peak in the face of incoming scud clouds, hoping to catch the sunset. The thunder started shortly thereafter, and back at camp we made ready to get under shelter. It wasn't long after their return that the lightning and rain came in earnest. I enjoyed hanging in my hammock through the storms, though it was unfortunate that because of the rain noise on the sylnylon rain fly I couldn't hear the tent conversations. Oh, well. It only lasted about a half-hour and then the cold air came in, feeling fantastic. It was a beautiful night for sleeping, and I only woke up once, which I consider fortunate as it allowed me to see the cleared view of the lights shining down at Sugarloaf.

One thing I haven't mentioned so far has been the insect population. Well, this was the height of blackfly season in Maine, and in the heat and humidity the little buggers were out with a vengeance all weekend. I, in fact, got eaten alive. We all did. We had blood dripping off us at times from the savage little beasts. I've counted over two dozen swollen, itchy bites on my body, most of which came while at camp when sitting or standing idly. I try to avoid using DEET on my skin, but this was a weekend I should have made an exception. I look like I have the pox!

Continued next post

 

[MichaelJ]

My story - part 2

While it was great to have that cold front pass through on Saturday night, apparently the front was eaten by the big Bermuda high pressure system offshore because it wasn't long before Sunday's temperatures were rivaling Saturdays. We struck camp early and by 8am were on the trail heading up Avery Peak. We stopped at 0.2 miles to top off our water at a little trailside box spring, since we knew we'd need every drop.

It was an easy ascent up Avery Peak, and there I celebrated my 62nd of the NE 67 4K's. This was the best of all the summits, and that's not just because nobody felt deathly ill on it. The views were open and incredible in all directions, there's a huge boulder with a plaque honoring Hyram Avery's work in creating the Appalachian Trail, and there's the big old fire tower, all of which make for a interesting peak. In spite of the ravaging bugs, I could have stayed there a lot longer; however, we had yet another 8.4 miles to go in order to reach the car, so after some snacks we reshouldered our packs and started down the steep descent into Safford Notch.

It's said that you can see the profile of a lying man in the outline of the Bigelow Range, with the ledges we were descending as the bald head. I don't know if this is true or not, but the several outlooks along the trail gave spectacular views of the enormous cliffs and ledges. Ahead of us was the 3-mile-long ridge of Little Bigelow; after descending 2000' to Safford Notch we would ascend back up 1000' or so to this ridge to follow it.

Down in Safford Notch it was cool and damp, the bugs manageable, and several folks went down the side path to the campsite to filter water. I took the opportunity to eat before the heat could kill my appetite. The vicinity of the Notch has a large number of huge, jumbled boulders (glacial erratics?) forming caves that were blowing icy cold air out their openings. This was spectacularly refreshing. We also encountered a group of AT northbounders on their way to Katahdin, who were taking the weekend to slackpack (not carry their full backpack) across the Bigelow Range backwards, and a couple of AT southbounders just a few weeks on the trail and bound for Georgia.

All too quickly we started climbing up out of Safford Notch onto Little Bigelow. This was a beautiful section of trail that unfortunately due to the heat I could not appreciate. I very quickly was back to struggling again, in spite of plenty of food and water and even a cold, soaking wet bandana on my head. I ended up just putting it in low gear and moving at my own pace, apart from the group, because I was nervous that if I did anything else I wouldn't make it the long distance back to the car.

The ridge along Little Bigelow really was a great sub-alpine trail, with a lot of open ledges. After final looks back towards the range from whence we'd come, the winding descent began; so winding, in fact, that I began to wonder if Avery, when he laid out the trail, simply played connect-the-dots between the open areas. It wasn't too bad, I just really wanted to not be out under the sun, and every other turn came out of the tree cover onto baking hot rock.

No matter, it wasn't too long before we arrived at the brook by Little Bigelow Campsite where we jumped in to cool down. Well, I kneeled; it was Amy who actually got all the way in. After cooling ourselves off it was a beautiful green tunnel following what I believe was an old woods road back out the car, finishing our 8.7-mile day in around 7-1/2 hours. Ironically, here were the worst bugs, so as soon as everyone was out of the woods we hopped in the cars and hit the road. It was a long ride back to the starting point, but we stopped along the way at Annie's Exxon for cold drinks, which we drank very, very quickly.

Back at the starting point we encountered the slackpacking AT hikers, having finished our entire 2-day traverse in less time than we did just one leg of it. Amazing what 2,000 miles of training and conditioning can do. We loaded up our own cars and headed home. I tried a new route: Rte 16 all the way to Gorham, then back to I-93 via Rtes 2, 115, and 3. It turned out to be long, 5 hours in total, but a beautiful ride through the Rangely lakes region, past Umbagog, and down along the Androscoggin.

This was a great hike. The Bigelow Range is an incredible stretch of terrain, and I hope I get the chance to get back there some cool, crisp, bug-free autumn day. I think we did 17 miles of trail with between 5000' and 6000' of elevation gain. Huge thanks to Garret and Valerie, to my hiking companions for a great hike, and to Amy for doing all the planning to get this trip off the ground, so to speak.

My full photo album is here.

 

[injektilo]

Great reports and pictures. This trip is very high on my "to do" list... I actually almost came up there on Sunday to hike West and Avery but wimped out because of the heat. I enjoyed this thread and all the sweet pictures. Good job to all!

 

[darren]

Sounds like you guys had a hot trip. I'm bummed that I missed it, but at the same time I am glad that I was kayaking on the cool ocean.

Great TRs.

- darren

 

[king tut]

nice combo of report and pic's. bigelow is one of the best hikes in maine, probably my second favorite range after katahdin. i have done the dayhike across the range about 5 times, as my parents live up there, but have yet to do little bigelow, which looks like fun.