king tut
New member
Two Bigelow peaks
This morning I decided to head out and go for a hike, since i hadn't done a real hike in quite a while. I awoke early this morning for some reason, i am not sure why? But at 4:30, i was awake, and alas there was no Olympic coverage on, so i bummed around for a while and then headed out the door at about 5:30. My plan was to hike some Crockers or some Bigelows, wasn't really sure which. I headed towards Stratton and looked for the road into Stratton brook pond, but it was dark and i wasn't thinking clearly at that hour in the morning. After taking a couple of wrong roads, i decided to park in the big parking lot off of rte 27 where the AT crosses. I was going to hike the Crockers, but some voice told me to go hike Bigelow. I looked around and didn't see anybody, so i figured it was my inner child talking to me.
So, i started hiking just before 6, hoping to see a nice sunrise. The first mile was very icy and I put on my stabilicers real soon into the hike. Before too long I came to Dick Brown's bridge. I am not sure who he is, but he has a nice bridge. I looked to my right and there was a gorgeous red sky reflecting into the stream! I took a few pics, and I think they came out well. The rest of the hike up to Cranberry Pond was icy, but quick. At the junction of Cranberry Pond I went right to go up to Horn's Pond. This section of the hike turned out to be tougher and longer than I thought. But.. I finally arrived at Horn's Pond, 5.3 miles into my hike. I looked around and there were no signs of life anywhere. So, then I headed up the Horn, and man it was steep. But, there had been a lot of tracks up to S Horn, so it was an easy climb.
Up to S Horn, the trail was rather easy and packed quite well. Only 0-6 inch base depending on where you were. Once I left S Horn, it became apparent that there were no other tracks heading to West Peak. The snow depth increased to about a foot, and I had to take off the stabilicers and slap on the snowshoes. The next several miles were a lot harder since there was no packed trail and my body was bonking big time. My stomach didn't feel too great so i really didn't eat too much on the way up. The trail was nice and scenic though, great views everywhere. I only lost the trail for about 2 minutes when it came to a few openings in the trees. I slowly made my way to West Peak, and the climb up took a long time as I would take about 20 steps and then put my hands on my knees as my lungs questioned what I was doing. But I finally made it to the top after a slow crawl up. This was the only place on the trip where i could have used some crampons. The last 200 feet up were pure ice. I did have my Atlas 1033's on, and they have some pretty big teeth on their bottom, so i was fine.
I took about 2 minutes at the summit to snap a few pics, and then headed down. There really was no wind up top today, and the temps were at least in the teens. It felt almost balmy. I got down to the col and decided not to go to Avery Peak as I was dragging. I then searched about 5 minutes for the Fire Warden's trail, and found it off of the privy trail. The Fire Wardens trail had some nice fluff on it, and was a fun descent. The first mile went by quick as I flew down on my snowshoes and did a little butt sliding too. The next 1.3 miles took a while though, but I finally made it to the trail junction. I stopped, drank some hot cocoa, ate an apple and some crackers, and then resumed the death march. I had done 10.6 miles at this point.
The last few miles out were fine, but there was some massive damage from the wind storm a few nights ago. There was one large section where about 40 % of the trees had been blown down. A complete mess. But I made it out and went out the Stratton brook road and finally met up w/ the AT again, and headed out. If anyone is thinking of going into Stratton Brook, don't. The road is blocked 1/2 way in by a large tree. It is also complete ice. Anyway, it was a fun hike, and 14 miles later and 3k plus vertical, I was happy to be done.
I put up some pics of the hike in Shutterbook. I think there were some cool ones today. I like Dick's pic the best.
This morning I decided to head out and go for a hike, since i hadn't done a real hike in quite a while. I awoke early this morning for some reason, i am not sure why? But at 4:30, i was awake, and alas there was no Olympic coverage on, so i bummed around for a while and then headed out the door at about 5:30. My plan was to hike some Crockers or some Bigelows, wasn't really sure which. I headed towards Stratton and looked for the road into Stratton brook pond, but it was dark and i wasn't thinking clearly at that hour in the morning. After taking a couple of wrong roads, i decided to park in the big parking lot off of rte 27 where the AT crosses. I was going to hike the Crockers, but some voice told me to go hike Bigelow. I looked around and didn't see anybody, so i figured it was my inner child talking to me.
So, i started hiking just before 6, hoping to see a nice sunrise. The first mile was very icy and I put on my stabilicers real soon into the hike. Before too long I came to Dick Brown's bridge. I am not sure who he is, but he has a nice bridge. I looked to my right and there was a gorgeous red sky reflecting into the stream! I took a few pics, and I think they came out well. The rest of the hike up to Cranberry Pond was icy, but quick. At the junction of Cranberry Pond I went right to go up to Horn's Pond. This section of the hike turned out to be tougher and longer than I thought. But.. I finally arrived at Horn's Pond, 5.3 miles into my hike. I looked around and there were no signs of life anywhere. So, then I headed up the Horn, and man it was steep. But, there had been a lot of tracks up to S Horn, so it was an easy climb.
Up to S Horn, the trail was rather easy and packed quite well. Only 0-6 inch base depending on where you were. Once I left S Horn, it became apparent that there were no other tracks heading to West Peak. The snow depth increased to about a foot, and I had to take off the stabilicers and slap on the snowshoes. The next several miles were a lot harder since there was no packed trail and my body was bonking big time. My stomach didn't feel too great so i really didn't eat too much on the way up. The trail was nice and scenic though, great views everywhere. I only lost the trail for about 2 minutes when it came to a few openings in the trees. I slowly made my way to West Peak, and the climb up took a long time as I would take about 20 steps and then put my hands on my knees as my lungs questioned what I was doing. But I finally made it to the top after a slow crawl up. This was the only place on the trip where i could have used some crampons. The last 200 feet up were pure ice. I did have my Atlas 1033's on, and they have some pretty big teeth on their bottom, so i was fine.
I took about 2 minutes at the summit to snap a few pics, and then headed down. There really was no wind up top today, and the temps were at least in the teens. It felt almost balmy. I got down to the col and decided not to go to Avery Peak as I was dragging. I then searched about 5 minutes for the Fire Warden's trail, and found it off of the privy trail. The Fire Wardens trail had some nice fluff on it, and was a fun descent. The first mile went by quick as I flew down on my snowshoes and did a little butt sliding too. The next 1.3 miles took a while though, but I finally made it to the trail junction. I stopped, drank some hot cocoa, ate an apple and some crackers, and then resumed the death march. I had done 10.6 miles at this point.
The last few miles out were fine, but there was some massive damage from the wind storm a few nights ago. There was one large section where about 40 % of the trees had been blown down. A complete mess. But I made it out and went out the Stratton brook road and finally met up w/ the AT again, and headed out. If anyone is thinking of going into Stratton Brook, don't. The road is blocked 1/2 way in by a large tree. It is also complete ice. Anyway, it was a fun hike, and 14 miles later and 3k plus vertical, I was happy to be done.
I put up some pics of the hike in Shutterbook. I think there were some cool ones today. I like Dick's pic the best.
