We slacked the first half of the Bigelow Range today. The day was clear, although chilly at first. The climb up was long, but had only a few sections that were difficult. We made the top of West Bigelow by noon, and after a short break, started over to Avery Peak. The air was nearly crystal clear, and it made distances shrink. As I reached the edge of West Peak, I got a distinct shock looking into the valley before Avery Peak. It appeared we would be dropping waaaaay down! Mac later stayed she wished she had a video of the moment. In truth, the descent wasn't as steep nor as long as it appeared and we reached Avery Memorial Campsite in the notch quickly. Avery has been implicated this year in a water borne illness bothering SOBOs (as has Redington campsite further south), so we avoided the water sources. As it was, the main spring near the caretaker tent was completely dry.
The view from Avery peak is really nice. To the north, it looks down on Flagstaff Lake. On clear days like today, one can see all the way to Mt Katahdin. We were nearly besides ourselves seeing our goal in sight at last.
We dropped into Safford Notch, and took the Safford Brook side trail down two miles to Flagstaff Road. The trail has been recently renovated and the grade was easy. We reached the road, and ran into a man named Floyd, who turned out to be the father of Raindrop. He is slacking her and her hiking friend Flynn. A bit later Marching Band and Seth showed up and took us back to the Stratton Motel. In town, we found that the Choirboys had stopped by, they're still a couple days behind.
9/24/15 - Stratton last day
Shane dropped us off at the Flagstaff Rd/Safford Brook trail intersection this morning. The Mooners were there breaking camp. We hit the trail and hiked up the two miles back to the AT. It didn't take very long, and we headed up Safford Notch to Little Bigelow. We were feeling fresh and reached the top before noon. We had an early lunch and headed down to the lake. We reached the lake by one and made the dam road for pickup by two thirty. It's been a good time slackpacking the Rangeley/Stratton area, tomorrow we will settle our full packs on our shoulders again and head for Caratunk and Monson. The elevation grade should settle down as we walk through central Maine, in fact we have only one mountain over more than 3000ft between here and Katahdin to cross. It's hard to believe that in about two weeks we will be finished with this adventure.
9/25/15 - Pierce Pond shelter
It was cold this morning, right near freezing in Stratton. Fall is here in Maine.
The trail from the dam road was fairly rooty and rocky, but the elevation grade was good all day and we made the shelter by three thirty. Awfully early to stop today, but the ferry stops running at four and it's another 3.6 miles to the river. So we'll stop here today and go into town tomorrow morning for a nearo day at the Sterling Inn.
Mike and Jade caught up as we neared the shelter and decided to stay the evening as there isn't much camping nearer the river.
As the sun set, hikers started showing up. Dapper Dan, G-Man, Kyley, Columbus (from Stuttgart) and a bunch of locals are tenting all around the shelter. Must be close to twenty people here. A hiker named Ghost came in, he remembers me from Neels Gap. He also remembers Monarch.
9/26/15 - Caratunk
We woke up at five thirty since we expected a crowd at the ferry across the Kenebec. We were on trail at six twenty and it was hard to see. The trail wasn't as nice as yesterday, it wandered along Pierce Pond stream and was a roller coaster of rocks and roots. Still we made the four miles over to the river before eight fifteen. Then we had to wait in the cold until nine.
The canoe ride across the river was quick. At the nearby parking lot, a friend of Mac's mom, Lisa, met us with breakfast snacks and a ride to the hotel. The Sterling Inn was built in 1850 or so and remodeled twice. It's s nice place with a good resupply store. I need some downtime donut will be a nice day off. We caught a ride over to a local outfitter and pub for lunch. Mike and Jade, Downhill and Toasty, Luigi, G-Man, and Columbus, P-funk, Antwerp, are all in town. The Mooners were hiking out of the trailhead parking lot this morning as we came off the river.
After a quick shower, Mac and Pace, Mike and Jade and I got shuttled over to Northern Outdoors, and outfitter and pub focused on the river rafting folks. Luigi, Toasty and Downhill were already eating lunch when we got there. The food was good and the in house brewed beer wasn't bad either. As we finished lunch the rafters started showing up. Mike and Jade got a ride back to the trailhead, Downhill and Toasty decided to also nearo. Toasty is still dealing with a poison ivy rash. It has been bad enough that Miss Janet drove her to town to see a doctor. He prescribed a methylprednisolone countdown pack, but Toasty had trouble swallowing and felt like she couldn't breathe well after taking the first dose. She's been managing well enough after finally finding a store selling anti-ivy soap and washing all her gear with it. Columbus showed up as we were leaving lunch, and when we got back to the inn, Pfunk, and Antwerp had also checked in for the night.
It looks like I've gotten ahead of Scout and Tumbles, as well as Blackout and Dora, somehow. So Monson should be a fun time before we head into the final stretch. We'll get wet before then, there are several streams to cross, one waist deep, and rain is forecast the day we are due to walk into Monson. And snow the third day into the Wilderness! Oh joy, ending the trip the same way it started!
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