BillDC
New member
The plan for Bigelow was to meet up with an AT thru-hiker friend and hike out to Avery peak via the Horns Pond trail and then return via the firewarden's trail. We tracked him down in Stratton and made plans to meet at Horns Pond. We decided to go up the Horns Pond trail to get ahead of him a bit as he had been previously putting in some crazy miles per day. Translation - we were much too slow to keep up with him!
We took the standard Stratton Brook Pond road approach to the parking area. We started out on the firewarden's trail, which is a drivable road that ends shortly at some campsites. The trail continues and crosses Stratton Brook which was pretty low and was easily crossed on the rocks. The trail continues along the shore of Stratton Brook Pond and enters deeper woods and starts to climb slightly. Old phone line can be seen along this route. We eventually arrived at a left fork where the Horns Pond trail begins. There is MATC signage and a MATC register box here.
This was my first time up the Horns Pond trail and it was actually a pleasant walk. It was not steep, had interesting water crossings (most were dry), and a few viewpoints of Sugarloaf and the Crockers. It eventually circled around to a boggy area where you can look up for a great view of south horn. The trail gets a bit steeper and eventually intersects the AT where we took a right to head to Horns Pond. In a short while the AT arrives at the old day-use lean-to, which was built by the CCC in 1936. Just to the south, there is a kiosk and a trail leading to the newer lean-to's, privies, and campsites. We waited for a while and hung out at the lean-to. There was heavy thru and section AT hiker traffic and we enjoyed their company as they took a rest and/or ate lunch. The spring at the caretaker camp was dry and filtering Horns Pond was offered as the backup plan.
After waiting a while, we decided to leave a message for our friend and head up the trail figuring he would catch up. Within minutes, we had met up and we headed up to the North Horn trail junction. We took the side trip up to North Horn where we were treated to our first views of the Bigelow range. It was clear and there was virtually no wind. It started to look like the perfect day. We headed to south horn and took in more views and prepared for the traverse of the range. We took in an earful of AT stories and swapped some our own stories along the way.
From South Horn, the ridge traverse looks like it would take an eternity to do, but before we knew it, we were just about to West Peak. We ascended to the top and found a crowded summit of hikers, many that we saw earlier. We settled in and ate lunch and took in fabulous views. There was virtually no wind on West Peak, which seemed to confirm an almost perfect day weather-wise. My last trip to Bigelow sported 40 MPH winds in mid-august. We were challenged by some of the other lingering northbounders to find big-K on the horizon. After staring for a while, I think we found the distant shadow of Katahdin.
We then descended into Bigelow col and explored around a while checking out the spring, old watchman's camp (locked up), the old rotting storage shed, and tent sites. We then headed up to Avery peak. The trail is steep and requires some boulder scrambling. Once on top, the summit is crowned by the fire lookout. This 1961 structure is still structurally sound, though needs some help to make useable again. Two of the windows now have their boards removed and the cab is accessible with some effort. There was little water available along the way. The spring just below the watchman's camp was just about dry and the spring box on the trail to Avery was totally dry.
We bid farewell to our AT thru-hiker friend and we headed back to the col where we began our hike back down via the firewarden's trail. This trail was pretty steep for while, though many rock stairways helped the hike down. We reflected on the day and were thankful we had good company and good weather. This trip reaffirmed what I most like about Maine - not much changes! Most everything on Bigelow looked the same as my last trip here in 1991.
Photos can be found here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/BigelowMountainME8182010?feat=directlink
Bill
We took the standard Stratton Brook Pond road approach to the parking area. We started out on the firewarden's trail, which is a drivable road that ends shortly at some campsites. The trail continues and crosses Stratton Brook which was pretty low and was easily crossed on the rocks. The trail continues along the shore of Stratton Brook Pond and enters deeper woods and starts to climb slightly. Old phone line can be seen along this route. We eventually arrived at a left fork where the Horns Pond trail begins. There is MATC signage and a MATC register box here.
This was my first time up the Horns Pond trail and it was actually a pleasant walk. It was not steep, had interesting water crossings (most were dry), and a few viewpoints of Sugarloaf and the Crockers. It eventually circled around to a boggy area where you can look up for a great view of south horn. The trail gets a bit steeper and eventually intersects the AT where we took a right to head to Horns Pond. In a short while the AT arrives at the old day-use lean-to, which was built by the CCC in 1936. Just to the south, there is a kiosk and a trail leading to the newer lean-to's, privies, and campsites. We waited for a while and hung out at the lean-to. There was heavy thru and section AT hiker traffic and we enjoyed their company as they took a rest and/or ate lunch. The spring at the caretaker camp was dry and filtering Horns Pond was offered as the backup plan.
After waiting a while, we decided to leave a message for our friend and head up the trail figuring he would catch up. Within minutes, we had met up and we headed up to the North Horn trail junction. We took the side trip up to North Horn where we were treated to our first views of the Bigelow range. It was clear and there was virtually no wind. It started to look like the perfect day. We headed to south horn and took in more views and prepared for the traverse of the range. We took in an earful of AT stories and swapped some our own stories along the way.
From South Horn, the ridge traverse looks like it would take an eternity to do, but before we knew it, we were just about to West Peak. We ascended to the top and found a crowded summit of hikers, many that we saw earlier. We settled in and ate lunch and took in fabulous views. There was virtually no wind on West Peak, which seemed to confirm an almost perfect day weather-wise. My last trip to Bigelow sported 40 MPH winds in mid-august. We were challenged by some of the other lingering northbounders to find big-K on the horizon. After staring for a while, I think we found the distant shadow of Katahdin.
We then descended into Bigelow col and explored around a while checking out the spring, old watchman's camp (locked up), the old rotting storage shed, and tent sites. We then headed up to Avery peak. The trail is steep and requires some boulder scrambling. Once on top, the summit is crowned by the fire lookout. This 1961 structure is still structurally sound, though needs some help to make useable again. Two of the windows now have their boards removed and the cab is accessible with some effort. There was little water available along the way. The spring just below the watchman's camp was just about dry and the spring box on the trail to Avery was totally dry.
We bid farewell to our AT thru-hiker friend and we headed back to the col where we began our hike back down via the firewarden's trail. This trail was pretty steep for while, though many rock stairways helped the hike down. We reflected on the day and were thankful we had good company and good weather. This trip reaffirmed what I most like about Maine - not much changes! Most everything on Bigelow looked the same as my last trip here in 1991.
Photos can be found here -
http://picasaweb.google.com/BillDC3/BigelowMountainME8182010?feat=directlink
Bill
