Rangeley High Peaks 10+1 - Day 2: The Bigelows: Avery, West, South Horn, North Horn

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hikersinger

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Location
New Boston, NH
Day 2 - The Bigelow Range: Avery (4088') and West (4145') peaks, plus South (3831') and North (3820') Horns

Route:
  • Stratton Brook Pond foot path, ~0.6 miles beyond the footbridge at the drivable end of Stratton Brook Pond Road, off Route 27
  • Firewarden's Trail to col between Avery and West peaks (4mi)
  • AT (north) to Bigelow's Avery peak (0.4mi)
  • AT (south) to Bigelow's West peak (0.6mi)
  • AT (south) to Bigelow's South Horn peak (2.1mi)
  • Spur path out from AT to North Horn and back (0.4mi)
  • AT (south) to junction with Horns Pond Trail (0.8mi)
  • Horns Pond Trail back to junction with Firewarden's Trail (2.5mi)
  • Firewarden's Trail back to Stratton Brook Pond tentsite (1.6mi)
  • Total 12.6mi, 8h45m, 4610' elevation gain

GPS track: https://www.strava.com/activities/744785677

Photo Library: View on Facebook

Links to other posts:
- Introduction
- Day 1 - South Crocker (4055'), Crocker (4168'), Redington (4001')
- Day 3 - Spaulding (4010'), Abraham (4049'), Sugarloaf (4250')
- Day 4 - Saddleback (4120') and Saddleback - The Horn (4041')

Sleep wasn't great with the wind howling and shoving the tent around at night, so we slept in a bit. The rain was gone, the sun out, and while it would be a noticeably cooler day today, the conditions were great for a hike up above 4,000 feet.

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(Western Bigelow Range, from the Stratton Brook Pond footbridge/tent site)

Matt just wasn't up to a full day of hiking with pain still present around the knees, so this would be a solo day for me. We had some oatmeal, and Matt made some coffee, then I was off by a little after 10am. The trailhead essentially starts on the other side of the footbridge, so I just continued from our campsite, along the pond's shore, about 1/3 mile until the Firewarden's Trail diverged off to the left, away from the pond.

The going was easy for quite a while. We'd seen several hikers pass our campsite before I started up, and I assumed they'd be heading up the Bigelows. I did come upon a trio of them that looked like parents with their adult daughter. They asked about mileage to the col between the Avery and West peaks, where the trail joins the AT; at that point we were about 1 mile away from the col, and just below the junction with the path that leads to the Moose Falls Tentsite. The going had been moderate, but I showed them that a 1/3-mile section ahead would be quite steep. It didn't seem like they knew the mountain very well, so I wanted them to be prepared.

As I ascended, I had was treated to occasional glimpses of the Avery peak up high. I thought I had noticed a veil of while on the upper summits, and as I ascended I could see I was right. At the very least, the rains of the previous day blanketed the highest elevations with either snow or ice. I'd be hiking up into Winter on this decidedly Autumn day.

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(Bigelow - Avery Peak)

I'd been running out of steam by this point, with the tough hike the previous day and lack of good sleep the night before wearing me down. Here it was, just day two of four, and I still had a good 10 miles to go on this hike. I took out the tunes, which I normally reserve for the descent: a mix of Radiohead, Above & Beyond, Muse, some Van Halen and others thrown in. It gave me the adrenaline boost I needed to power through the steep.

Just before the col, the trail takes either a left or right, and while the right way is right, there was a white marker on a large rock that brings you up and over/around some large boulders. I initially followed this route, but it didn't seem to lead anywhere. I went back down and followed the way up to the right, and within a couple hundred feet I was at the col / AT junction.

I felt great at this point, had a bite, then headed east along the ridge toward Avery peak. It wasn't long before I started ascending into alpine zone, where a nice blanket of rime ice covered the scrub. The trail itself was very well-protected by the scrub, and even where the trail went above treeline around the summit itself, boundary rocks placed along the trail (to help keep people off the fragile alpine vegetation) formed a buffer which kept rime ice from forming on the trail -- surely the wind was strong enough to be blowing the moisture horizontally...

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Avery peak has a couple summits, the higher of which has a single, tall post on it to mark the true summit. A further summit has a square, four-walled shelter made of rocks, about four feet high. I climbed in and found two USGS summit markers, and some respite from the high winds that were still hitting the mountains. By this point I had my winter mitts and hat on, and a wind layer; wind chills seemed like they were at perhaps the high teens.

The shelter provided me a chance to sit for a while, warm up a little, and have a bite. I was so thankful to be able to ascend this great mountain, get a real taste of winter, and overcome the rut I'd been in earlier in the day, ascending the steep section. Yet another cathartic moment provided by nature and high elevations.

I worked my way back toward the col, and along the AT / ridge toward West peak. I was only cresting treeline right at these two summits, since they were just a couple hundred feet above 4,000. Down under treeline, conditions were still late-Fall, no ice to be seen, so I was moving quickly. I hadn't seen anyone since the trio headed up to the col, and I wouldn't until I reached the Horns Pond Campsite along the AT later in the day.

Having crested the West peak, I dipped back down and prepared myself for the 2.4 miles to the horns, which from the east-west vantage point I could now see, did indeed look like a pair of horns. This ridge wasn't particularly tough, so I was able to traverse it quickly. The South Horn summit is right on the AT and, shortly after, a spur path leads just 0.2 miles to the North Horn summit. I hadn't really planned on hitting North, but I decided to after all. South Horn was the only non-4K peak I wanted to tag this weekend, since it's on the New England 100 Highest list -- sorry, North, not enough prominence compared to South!

Having now tagged all the peaks I wanted today, I turned my focus to getting down. It'd be the Horns Pond trail off the AT/ridge, back down to its junction with Firewarden's Trail, and back to our tent site. I could see Horns Pond and the AT campsite next to it from up on South Horn, so I looked forward to traveling through that area. The campsite has a couple lean-to shelters, several tent platforms, and two privies that have commanding views south over the Carrabasset Valley. Alas, they didn't have windows to enjoy the view while doing your business...

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(Horns Pond Campsite privies)

At the campsite I saw only the caretaker, Emily, who was in the midst of closing up for the winter. I asked her if she was seeing thru hikers much at this point, and she said just a few had rolled through recently; if any where coming through at this point, they'd have a rougher time finishing if they were heading north. (The going south would be tough for a while, too!) I also asked how long it would be to Katahdin, and she estimated two weeks: about four days to Monson from there, then the long haul through the 100-mile wilderness, and you're basically at Baxter.

The hike out was uneventful. We still had a good amount of light left when I returned at about 5:30, so we took out the camp stove and got the burgers going. They were the best burgers I'd ever had (see a trend developing here?). Another great day in the mountains, and we had the best camping spot I'd ever found for yet another night. The nearly-full moon was coming up into the sky, too. #goals #happiness

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Temps were still cold, but we were fed and happy. Matt had a great day exploring the area, reading a book; he was equally as happy with his experience, which made me feel much better. I was still feeling bad for the rough hike we had the day before.

... continue to Day 3: Spaulding, Abraham, Sugarloaf
 

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