Horns Pond Lean-tos 2011.2 to Little Bigelow Lean-to 2021.4 (10.2 miles, 996 total miles)
I had a fantastic night in my own personal shelter. I watched Netflix on my phone for a bit, meditated for a while, and fell asleep listening to Florence + The Machine around 9PM.
I woke up at 1AM, as I usually do in shelters. When I went out to pee, I saw an amazing full moon rising over the metal roof of the lean-to. The clouds had really broken up by then.
Unfortunately, I tossed and turned for quite some time before I drifted off. My days of being a morning person were behind me it seemed, as I snoozed my 5AM alarm for an hour and a half. Maybe I’d been too ambitious with that one.
I broke camp and was hiking in an hour, made quicker by the fact that I didn’t have to take down my tent. I ate cherry pop tarts and drank coffee with powdered milk for breakfast. Usually I had something more substantial, but I supplemented with snacks while I hiked for the rest of the morning.
When I was .3 up the very steep climb to North Horn, I encountered my first box spring on the trail. The water was cool and clear, and I collected a liter.
Another steep .2 got me to a side trail, where a blue blazed .2 would take me to a view. The day was beautiful so far, the sun had even come out and I could see blue skies between the clouds.
I was feeling immensely cheered by this, and figured it was worth it to make the trek to the view. I hadn’t gotten any views in a few days, plus I could check out what the weather was looking like on the other mountains in the Bigelows.
The forecast had called for showers before 2PM, then showers and thunderstorms before and after 5PM. My goal for the day was to make the 10 miles over the Bigelows by 2:00, which gave me plenty of time.
The side trail was mostly flat, with some uphill at the end. When I reached the top of North Horn, I knew I had definitely made the right decision by going to the overlook.
I saw Flagstaff lake with fog and clouds rising over it on one side, and on the other side of the mountain I saw gorgeous white fluffy clouds in and around the valleys between the mountains surrounding me.
I had cell service as well, so I spent half an hour up there before returning to where I’d dropped my bag at the start of the side trail.
I climbed a tiny bit more to South Horn, then started a steep descent. There were a couple views, but nothing like what I’d just seen.
A couple miles of descent and ascent later, I reached Bigelow West Peak. As I was close to the sign, I saw a middle aged couple approaching from the other side.
Clouds were around us, but there were enough clear skies to see beautiful views on either side of the Bigelows, toward Flagstaff Lake and Sugarloaf on the other side.
I talked with the couple for quite a bit, and they told me how they’d started on the Stratton Pond Trail that day. They were 107 peaks into the New England 115 4K peaks, which I thought was very cool.
After saying goodbye to them, I made my way .7 down to Bigelow Col Campsite. There had been some technical ups and downs on the peaks, but in between them there were several flat, enjoyable sections to hike on.
I found the privy at the campsite, rather far off trail, then continued .2 to another box spring. There was abundant water flowing out of this one, and I’d see water flowing across the trail at various points for the next couple of miles due to all the rain.
I climbed up the last of the steep Bigelow mountains, Avery Peak, named after Myron Avery of AT history. I climbed up exposed ridge line into clouds, and saw a day hiker up top, who I chatted with as well.
There were views everywhere but over the lake, where clouds had taken over. In all, I thought I’d gotten some great views throughout the range considering what the weather had been like.
As I descended Avery, I saw a wall of cloud to my left moving toward the trail, but was pleased when it stayed to the side of me. So far I’d been lucky with the weather, and was hoping it would hold.
The descent off Avery was a rather steep 2 mile drop of 1,800 feet into Safford Notch, which was very cool. The guide describes it as “house-sized boulders”, and that description was definitely not based on modest-sized houses.
When I was halfway through the day, I stopped at one of the many views to have lunch around 11:30AM. Dark clouds were gathering overhead, but I was very hungry.
I had half a Meal2Go bar, and drank electrolytes and caffeine for my last climb of the day. Going up Little Bigelow was a very gentle 3 mile climb that hardly felt like an ascent because it was only 1,000 feet of elevation gain.
I’d hiked in silence the first half of the day, but finished the Appalachian Trail episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast and an episode of Backpacker Radio while I did my last 5.1 miles from lunch.
Little Bigelow Mountain featured a mile long ridge walk, with several spot that were exposed stone with views. The sun had come out while I was climbing, and I was just starting to feel like I might not get rained on at all today while hiking.
A 1.5 mile drop of 1,300 feet got me to the Little Bigelow Lean-to. I saw a couple packs there already, and heard the sound of laughter from “the tubs”, which were cascading pools from the brook just in front of the shelter.
As I was hanging up my wet socks and shirt, a father and two sons came up from the tubs, and the dad told me they were hiking south over the Bigelows. The boys looked to be 7 or 8, and like they were having a fine time.
I figured I would stay in the shelter again tonight, and keep my tent dry. The weather was going to be nice again for the next several days after, which I couldn’t have been happier about.
I set up my air mattress in the shelter, then made my way down to the tubs to soak my feet in the icy water. I had finished hiking by 2:10, and was hoping to see Catchup and Sunshine soon. If I calculated right, I should see Catchup around 3:30, and Sunshine a little after.
It had felt like my early hiking days spending time by myself in the woods again. I knew the southern portion of my hike might be very similar to that, and it was good to know I could still have a good time by myself.
I still wanted to soak up as much time with Sunshine and Catchup as I could before they finished hiking, but I was glad I’d done what felt right to me yesterday.
I got to save money, and hike two shorter days over the Bigelows, instead of pushing myself to do the whole range in one day. The trail looked quite flat all day tomorrow, and I was excited to bust out a big mileage day on some easy terrain, and to finally sleep in my dry tent again.
When I returned from the tubs, two other hikers had joined the area. The Stranger, who I learned was a French man, was the hiker who had stayed in the other shelter last night. He politely asked if he could stay in the shelter with me tonight, and I said of course he could.
Second Wind was hammocking nearby, and I met him for the first time. I was sitting with him and The Stranger, when I saw Catchup approach over the rise behind him.
Catchup didn’t have his pack with him, and asked me to accompany him to the water source. I followed him, wondering what bad news I was about to get.
Catchup told me as we walked that he wanted to hike to Katahdin alone. I didn’t say much as I listened to his explanation, and tried to understand where he was coming from.
I said bye to him after a few minutes, and walked back to camp. The sky was extremely clear and blue, and I decided to take the chance on setting my tent up after all. Suddenly I wanted my space.
The Stranger and Second Wind turned in shortly after, and I had a Backpacker’s Pantry meal for dinner. I hadn’t seen Sunshine, Two Braids,or Percy when I headed to my tent platform around 6:30PM.
I sat next to my tent and meditated through the forest. I waited for Sunshine to arrive, my heart sinking as sunset approached and she didn’t show.
I had been afraid of something like this, but just thought I was being paranoid. I thought she might have stopped early to avoid weather, but didn’t have cell service to find out.
I had realized it’s very triggering for me to be almost exclusively around hikers that are finishing at Katahdin. I’ve always hung around NOBOs, on both hikes as a flip flopper, and that may be limiting my experience.
I know in the south I will only be around SOBOs and other flip floppers. I will finally be with only hikers that have traveled the same amount of miles as me, instead of those who will always be exactly 1025.4 miles ahead of me.
I feel that a lot of NOBOs I’ve been around since New Hampshire are just done with the trail for the most part. They have wrapped their minds around the fact that their hike is over, and many are so tired they are ready for it to be finished.
I’ve now seen the NOBO hikers I was closest to along the way finish the trail, and the real world feels just outside of my personal bubble in the woods. It’s knocking on the door ever louder.
The fact is I am happiest on the Appalachian Trail, and both times in my life that has been the case. I am more myself, as Jedi put it recently.
I know what post trail depression is intimately. I don’t have a concrete plan, only loose plans for after the trail. I feel worried about what I will do next, when I have ample time still to figure it out. Only, it doesn’t seem that way right now.
I watch my NOBO friends who have finished start living life again on Instagram. I’ve been listening to people for weeks make plans and line up jobs for after the trail. They are getting serious about life again.
I would be not even thinking about this right now at 1,000 miles in if I was a NOBO. For the vast majority of the trail, it feels like such an encompassing experience, that life after trail seems like a distant dream, until it isn’t.
It seems as a flip flopper I have to grieve my hike twice. I have to be confronted with the real world twice. I have to start over, twice.
I admire Catchup greatly for being honest with himself and us. Those are two very difficult things to do, especially the former, as that always has to happen first.
I had no idea where Sunshine was, though, and wondered if she still wanted to hike with me now that Catchup had split off. Through this, I now also realized that it had been very important to me to summit Katahdin with trail family.
I thought for sure it was going to happen with the Cult, then I thought maybe with Shrek, and of course for the last 200 miles I was convinced it would be with Sunshine and Catchup.
I know it shouldn’t matter, that this journey is for me and it’s only one mountain, but it’s still hitting me. For all I know, I’ll see Sunshine tomorrow and we’ll keep hiking together, but for now I have to be ready for anything. Life can change on a dime.