BIGEarl
Well-known member
October 7, 2011: The Bigelows
Trails: Fire Warden’s Trail, Appalachian Trail, Horns Pond Trail
Summits: Avery Peak, West Peak, South Horn
Hikers: Solo
I was on my own this weekend and decided to take a shot at finishing up the New England Four Thousand Footers. The only remaining peaks I had on the list were all in Maine and they were all in the same general region of the state. I needed three days of hiking and two nights of car camping but everything, including the weather forecast looked good. I started with the hike located furthest from home, which was also the largest hike, and worked my way back. Up first were The Bigelows.
Initially, I was only interested in hiking the two 4K peaks (Avery and West) but there is also a New England Hundred Highest peak nearby (South Horn). I did the math and decided an earlier start would get all three. The alarm went off at 1:00am, I had packed the truck before going to bed, it wasn’t long before I was on the highway north. At ~7:30am I was parked at the end of Stratton Brook Road and hiking. The truck thermometer said 24 degrees but I knew the day would warm up once the sun went to work.
The early part of the Fire Warden’s Trail is a mild walk in the woods. With all of the fall colors the place is beautiful. Unfortunately, I’ve had my camera in to Canon twice for repairs and it needs to go back again. It will be interesting to see if they get it fixed before I run out of patience. Consequently, there are no pictures from the weekend. At 1.7 miles the Horns Pond Trail enters from the northwest and the Fire Warden’s Trail starts to gain elevation. Eventually, the trail is on a pretty steep climb to Bigelow col. I left the truck with two more layers than usual, by now they were in my pack and I was up to temperature. After passing the trail junction, everything generally dried out and there was very little mud or water on the trail. The footing is good and it’s just a matter of climb.
I hit Bigelow col and picked up the Appalachian Trail. First I headed east to Avery Peak. The final couple hundred feet of elevation to the summit is a very rocky stretch with some open areas. In these places the brisk north wind was making things uncomfortable. I decided my rain jacket was enough to take care of the wind. There were also areas of ice on the final approach and foot placement became important. I cleared the treeline, the wind was pretty strong and kept me moving. For a short section on the way across to the actual summit the trail drops slightly down the south side but it was enough to get a break from the wind. I made the final climb to the summit and wasted no time in a u-turn to head for West Peak.
From Avery Peak to West Peak is a short distance with ~450 feet in elevation along the way. After I passed through Bigelow col the gradual climb started and before long I was on West Peak in less difficult conditions. South Horn was waiting a little over two miles further west. I kept moving.
The ice never became significant but between West Peak and South Horn there was enough of it to require attention to foot placement. As I walked along I remember thinking how much this seems like the walk between Flume and Liberty. Eventually I was on the final moderate pitch to South Horn. I hit the summit and removed my pack to relax for a few minutes. While I was there another hiker approached from the opposite direction. It was a fellow named Ted from Derby, Vermont. His plan was to only hike South Horn and was then making a u-turn. At this point we were both headed the same way and decided to walk out together. I really enjoy hiking company and Ted was definitely a pleasure to walk with back to the trailhead.
After leaving South Horn we had a short walk to the Horns Pond Trail and then it was really our exit hike. The Appalachian Trail generally stays on the ridgeline of Bigelow Mountain and Horns Pond Trail heads down from the ridge to lower portion of the Fire Warden’s Trail. Only 2.5 miles back to the Fire Warden’s Trail and 1.6 to the trailhead and the Bigelow’s Loop was hiked.
It was a terrific start to the weekend of hiking. I managed to finish the hike a couple hours earlier than expected and made a new friend along the way. Thanks Ted, I really enjoyed walking along with you. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
October 8, 2011: Abraham
Trails: Fire Warden’s Trail (aka Appalachian Trail)
Summits: Abraham
Hikers: Solo
After spending the night on Stratton Brook Road I made the drive to Kingfield for my hike of Mount Abraham. I was enjoying my drive along West Kingfield Road until it turned to dirt and became Rapid Stream Road. Evidently, Rapid Stream got pretty wild when TS Irene came through. The road must have been flooded with a strong flow. There are many areas where fill has been used to help make the road passable but it’s very rough. There may have been a couple places where I hit 10 mph but mostly it was ~5 mph. In one section it appeared the current road surface was at least four feet below the previous road surface. I assume it was hit with a bulldozer to make it passable but it’s rough. I expected at any moment I would see Marc Howes in his Corolla OR Edition. It never happened.
I reached the location of the washed-out bridges, parked as much out of the way as I could, grabbed my things, and headed to the trailhead. The first crossing was easy with plenty of high rocks for a dry crossing. The second crossing made me pull out my sandals. I waded across in knee-deep water – refreshing! After I dried off and re-installed my hiking boots I was on my way. ~.5 miles and I was at the trailhead.
The Fire Warden’s Trail has been getting a lot of attention this year. At the trailhead there is a notice the Fire Warden’s Cabin was gone and the trail in the area was relocated to the south. On the early part of the trail I found two additional sections of trail that were recently relocated to the south. After crossing the logging road I came to a couple contractors that were working on erosion control; water bars, stepping stones, etc. They told me about the work they had been involved with over the past month and the trail relocation work.
This is a beautiful trail with easy grades all of the way to the area of the old Fire Warden’s Cabin. From there, the trail goes vertical all the way to the summit. After working through a section of conifers the trail breaks out on an upper part of a slide. From there, the trail is generally exposed for the remainder of the climb. The conditions on this hike were much better than the day before with less wind and warmer temperature. I was soaked with perspiration and the wind was blowing high enough to cause a chill. Out came the rain jacket for the final couple hundred feet.
As I arrived to the summit a couple young guys that blew past me on the climb were just leaving. I had the place to myself. The 360 degree views from Abraham are outstanding. I was able to view the area peaks that I had already climbed and the one that were still waiting. Not knowing how cell coverage was back in the valley I made a check-in call. Soon I was on my exit hike.
On the hike down there were a few others that had a later start; some near the treeline and others lower near the Fire Warden’s Cabin site. Eventually, I was back to the work zone stopping to talk with the pair of contractors. One told me that earlier hikers claimed to have bushwhacked upstream from the second washed out bridge and managed to find a rock-hop crossing place. I thought about that as I walked back to the bridge locations.
I arrived at the second bridge and noticed a few others on the far side looking at the stream and shaking their head. By then I decided to change to the sandals and wade back across. The change I decided to make was to pull out a hiking pole for a little stability. On the morning crossing I did not use a pole and was nearly taken out by the stream.
At the truck I had little to do before heading out; my hiking boots were off and my feet were washed. I grabbed a cold drink from the cooler and started driving the endless speed bump known as Rapid Stream Road.
Continued.........
Trails: Fire Warden’s Trail, Appalachian Trail, Horns Pond Trail
Summits: Avery Peak, West Peak, South Horn
Hikers: Solo
I was on my own this weekend and decided to take a shot at finishing up the New England Four Thousand Footers. The only remaining peaks I had on the list were all in Maine and they were all in the same general region of the state. I needed three days of hiking and two nights of car camping but everything, including the weather forecast looked good. I started with the hike located furthest from home, which was also the largest hike, and worked my way back. Up first were The Bigelows.
Initially, I was only interested in hiking the two 4K peaks (Avery and West) but there is also a New England Hundred Highest peak nearby (South Horn). I did the math and decided an earlier start would get all three. The alarm went off at 1:00am, I had packed the truck before going to bed, it wasn’t long before I was on the highway north. At ~7:30am I was parked at the end of Stratton Brook Road and hiking. The truck thermometer said 24 degrees but I knew the day would warm up once the sun went to work.
The early part of the Fire Warden’s Trail is a mild walk in the woods. With all of the fall colors the place is beautiful. Unfortunately, I’ve had my camera in to Canon twice for repairs and it needs to go back again. It will be interesting to see if they get it fixed before I run out of patience. Consequently, there are no pictures from the weekend. At 1.7 miles the Horns Pond Trail enters from the northwest and the Fire Warden’s Trail starts to gain elevation. Eventually, the trail is on a pretty steep climb to Bigelow col. I left the truck with two more layers than usual, by now they were in my pack and I was up to temperature. After passing the trail junction, everything generally dried out and there was very little mud or water on the trail. The footing is good and it’s just a matter of climb.
I hit Bigelow col and picked up the Appalachian Trail. First I headed east to Avery Peak. The final couple hundred feet of elevation to the summit is a very rocky stretch with some open areas. In these places the brisk north wind was making things uncomfortable. I decided my rain jacket was enough to take care of the wind. There were also areas of ice on the final approach and foot placement became important. I cleared the treeline, the wind was pretty strong and kept me moving. For a short section on the way across to the actual summit the trail drops slightly down the south side but it was enough to get a break from the wind. I made the final climb to the summit and wasted no time in a u-turn to head for West Peak.
From Avery Peak to West Peak is a short distance with ~450 feet in elevation along the way. After I passed through Bigelow col the gradual climb started and before long I was on West Peak in less difficult conditions. South Horn was waiting a little over two miles further west. I kept moving.
The ice never became significant but between West Peak and South Horn there was enough of it to require attention to foot placement. As I walked along I remember thinking how much this seems like the walk between Flume and Liberty. Eventually I was on the final moderate pitch to South Horn. I hit the summit and removed my pack to relax for a few minutes. While I was there another hiker approached from the opposite direction. It was a fellow named Ted from Derby, Vermont. His plan was to only hike South Horn and was then making a u-turn. At this point we were both headed the same way and decided to walk out together. I really enjoy hiking company and Ted was definitely a pleasure to walk with back to the trailhead.
After leaving South Horn we had a short walk to the Horns Pond Trail and then it was really our exit hike. The Appalachian Trail generally stays on the ridgeline of Bigelow Mountain and Horns Pond Trail heads down from the ridge to lower portion of the Fire Warden’s Trail. Only 2.5 miles back to the Fire Warden’s Trail and 1.6 to the trailhead and the Bigelow’s Loop was hiked.
It was a terrific start to the weekend of hiking. I managed to finish the hike a couple hours earlier than expected and made a new friend along the way. Thanks Ted, I really enjoyed walking along with you. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
October 8, 2011: Abraham
Trails: Fire Warden’s Trail (aka Appalachian Trail)
Summits: Abraham
Hikers: Solo
After spending the night on Stratton Brook Road I made the drive to Kingfield for my hike of Mount Abraham. I was enjoying my drive along West Kingfield Road until it turned to dirt and became Rapid Stream Road. Evidently, Rapid Stream got pretty wild when TS Irene came through. The road must have been flooded with a strong flow. There are many areas where fill has been used to help make the road passable but it’s very rough. There may have been a couple places where I hit 10 mph but mostly it was ~5 mph. In one section it appeared the current road surface was at least four feet below the previous road surface. I assume it was hit with a bulldozer to make it passable but it’s rough. I expected at any moment I would see Marc Howes in his Corolla OR Edition. It never happened.
I reached the location of the washed-out bridges, parked as much out of the way as I could, grabbed my things, and headed to the trailhead. The first crossing was easy with plenty of high rocks for a dry crossing. The second crossing made me pull out my sandals. I waded across in knee-deep water – refreshing! After I dried off and re-installed my hiking boots I was on my way. ~.5 miles and I was at the trailhead.
The Fire Warden’s Trail has been getting a lot of attention this year. At the trailhead there is a notice the Fire Warden’s Cabin was gone and the trail in the area was relocated to the south. On the early part of the trail I found two additional sections of trail that were recently relocated to the south. After crossing the logging road I came to a couple contractors that were working on erosion control; water bars, stepping stones, etc. They told me about the work they had been involved with over the past month and the trail relocation work.
This is a beautiful trail with easy grades all of the way to the area of the old Fire Warden’s Cabin. From there, the trail goes vertical all the way to the summit. After working through a section of conifers the trail breaks out on an upper part of a slide. From there, the trail is generally exposed for the remainder of the climb. The conditions on this hike were much better than the day before with less wind and warmer temperature. I was soaked with perspiration and the wind was blowing high enough to cause a chill. Out came the rain jacket for the final couple hundred feet.
As I arrived to the summit a couple young guys that blew past me on the climb were just leaving. I had the place to myself. The 360 degree views from Abraham are outstanding. I was able to view the area peaks that I had already climbed and the one that were still waiting. Not knowing how cell coverage was back in the valley I made a check-in call. Soon I was on my exit hike.
On the hike down there were a few others that had a later start; some near the treeline and others lower near the Fire Warden’s Cabin site. Eventually, I was back to the work zone stopping to talk with the pair of contractors. One told me that earlier hikers claimed to have bushwhacked upstream from the second washed out bridge and managed to find a rock-hop crossing place. I thought about that as I walked back to the bridge locations.
I arrived at the second bridge and noticed a few others on the far side looking at the stream and shaking their head. By then I decided to change to the sandals and wade back across. The change I decided to make was to pull out a hiking pole for a little stability. On the morning crossing I did not use a pole and was nearly taken out by the stream.
At the truck I had little to do before heading out; my hiking boots were off and my feet were washed. I grabbed a cold drink from the cooler and started driving the endless speed bump known as Rapid Stream Road.
Continued.........
