whans
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We did this trip 2 weeks ago, but I just got back recently and am getting around to posting this, my first trip report here...
There were four of us: Me, and my 9 year old Eli, and Lorne and his 8 year old Chace. Eli now has 11 4000-footers and a few backpacks under his belt, but it was Chace's first hike like this, ever. In short, it was fantastic!
Our wives and younger kids dropped us off at the AT on Stratton Pond Brook road, with a pickup plan for 1 PM two days later. The weather forecast was good, and we had a nice loop ahead of us. We went up the AT and along the ridge, dropping down to Horns Pond in the mid afternoon. The kids were adamant that they wanted to stay in tents instead of the shelters, so we set up camp for the night. Met interesting and nice people-- one "just finished" thru-hiker who was doing the Bigelows with his buddies who had come to Katahdin to pick him up, and several flip floppers and section hikers.
The next morning was beautiful and chilly-- but we took a great swim from the sunny side of the pond, all four of us. As the fair-weather clouds began to form mid-morning, we set out eastward along the ridge, detouring to North Horn. At a leisurely pace we made the tentsite in the Avery col midafternoon.
We noticed some thicker looking clouds as we were setting up the tents, and sure enough a pretty good shower was passing by to the south-- it looked like it was really pouring hard towards over the Crockers and Sugarloaf. We felt exactly one drop! The clouds seemed to thin out after that, with more and more blue sky during the late afternoon.
The real highlight of the trip was after dinner-- we took our pads and sleeping bags up to the top of Avery Peak, and were warm and cozy while we watched the sunset and nightfall. It was truly spectacular-- The sun disappeared behind the mountains to the west, the clouds all evaporated as darkness fell, the stars came out, we were toasty and comfortable and ate chocolate....The kids fell asleep.... It was a little tough waking them in the chilly wind and dew at 10:30 to make the short hike back to the tentsite, but once we got moving it was OK, and we all got a kick out of this little headlamp walking.
Next morning we packed up and descended the firewarden's trail, marvelling at the seemingly endless stone staircase going down the upper section of the trail.
We made Stratton Brook Pond just in time for a swim before the pickup crew arrived.
It was a fantastic trip-- another 2 4000ers for Eli, and a great introduction to backpacking for Chace. Truly a highlight of the summer, and we will all remember the sunset on top of Avery for a long, long time.
Sorry no pictures now-- I didn't have the camera, and I'm not quite sure how to go about the photo sharing thing yet...
Whit
There were four of us: Me, and my 9 year old Eli, and Lorne and his 8 year old Chace. Eli now has 11 4000-footers and a few backpacks under his belt, but it was Chace's first hike like this, ever. In short, it was fantastic!
Our wives and younger kids dropped us off at the AT on Stratton Pond Brook road, with a pickup plan for 1 PM two days later. The weather forecast was good, and we had a nice loop ahead of us. We went up the AT and along the ridge, dropping down to Horns Pond in the mid afternoon. The kids were adamant that they wanted to stay in tents instead of the shelters, so we set up camp for the night. Met interesting and nice people-- one "just finished" thru-hiker who was doing the Bigelows with his buddies who had come to Katahdin to pick him up, and several flip floppers and section hikers.
The next morning was beautiful and chilly-- but we took a great swim from the sunny side of the pond, all four of us. As the fair-weather clouds began to form mid-morning, we set out eastward along the ridge, detouring to North Horn. At a leisurely pace we made the tentsite in the Avery col midafternoon.
We noticed some thicker looking clouds as we were setting up the tents, and sure enough a pretty good shower was passing by to the south-- it looked like it was really pouring hard towards over the Crockers and Sugarloaf. We felt exactly one drop! The clouds seemed to thin out after that, with more and more blue sky during the late afternoon.
The real highlight of the trip was after dinner-- we took our pads and sleeping bags up to the top of Avery Peak, and were warm and cozy while we watched the sunset and nightfall. It was truly spectacular-- The sun disappeared behind the mountains to the west, the clouds all evaporated as darkness fell, the stars came out, we were toasty and comfortable and ate chocolate....The kids fell asleep.... It was a little tough waking them in the chilly wind and dew at 10:30 to make the short hike back to the tentsite, but once we got moving it was OK, and we all got a kick out of this little headlamp walking.
Next morning we packed up and descended the firewarden's trail, marvelling at the seemingly endless stone staircase going down the upper section of the trail.
We made Stratton Brook Pond just in time for a swim before the pickup crew arrived.
It was a fantastic trip-- another 2 4000ers for Eli, and a great introduction to backpacking for Chace. Truly a highlight of the summer, and we will all remember the sunset on top of Avery for a long, long time.
Sorry no pictures now-- I didn't have the camera, and I'm not quite sure how to go about the photo sharing thing yet...
Whit
Glad you had a great time. I
