On the AT - Rt. 27 to East Flagstaff Rd.

Photos:
Page #1
Page #2

July 6, 2008 | Miles: 8.0
Start: Rt. 27, Stratton
End: Avery Campsite


The day started with a 2-hour drive in the fog, but by the time Sue from Stratton Motel met us at East Flagstaff Road for our shuttle to Rt. 27, the skies had cleared and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. We hit the trail at 9:30 and enjoyed the first few miles of nice, mellow woodland walking. Snowman was a bit grumpy, as he doesn't like that we're always up early for these adventures and the bugs were biting him, and I told him I was happy to continue on and finish up our remaining AT miles without him. He then reminded me that I don't know how to use our stove (which is, sadly, true) so we had a good laugh and got back into the swing of things :-)

This was a great section of trail. Very scenic. A few hours into the hike, we descended to Horns Pond for lunch. This pretty glacial tairn seemed to be the perfect tranquil spot for lunch, until a group of teenage boys came down to jump in the water and laugh and tell dirty jokes. Actually, it was quite entertaining!

From Horns Pond, we hiked up over the Horns, taking the side trail out to North Horn, with beautiful views of Sugarloaf in one direction and Flagstaff Lake in the other. The ridge meandered along, taking us over West Peak, which is in the alpine zone and has some of the same wonderful alpine flowers found around Mt. Washington and the Presidentials. Gorgeous!

From there, we descended into the col and arrived at Avery Campsite around 3:30. Not a super fast hike, but a good one. We chose what looked like the best tent platform and went to get water. There was not much, and the pool was in between two big rock slabs. I had to work my way up onto a ledge to sit and pump the water. Awkward, but it worked. The campsite appeared a bit forgotten and overgrown, but it was a decent spot, except for all the bugs! The black flies were relentless. We had to set up the tent fast and get into it to hide! It made for a bit of a long afternoon but we rested and looked at the maps and schemed for our upcoming trips. After dinner, we decided to walk a ways up the trail to see if we could see the sunset. We didn't have to go too far up the side of Avery Peak to get a beautiful view of the sun setting over Flagstaff Lake. It looked like a sunset you'd see in a poster. Brilliant orange and pinks. A great end to a nice day!

Flora and fauna report: There was common wood sorrel everywhere! Also a wonderful alpine display up on West Peak and Avery Peak - mountain azalea, labrador tea, diapensia. Also saw sheep laurel, bunchberry, blue bead lily, goldthread. On the fauna side of things, the toads were abundant, with lots of tiny ones the size of my thumb nail hopping about, as were the birds. Saw a number of juncos, chickadees, a Yellow-Rumped Warbler and a White Throated Sparrow, while Snowman saw a Black and White Warbler. Nice!

July 7, 2008 | Miles: 8.7
Start: Avery Campsite
End: East Flagstaff Rd.

We were up and out of camp at 7:30am, making the summit of Avery around 8am. A gorgeous morning with a brisk wind and wonderful light. We soaked up the views from Avery, and I couldn't help but think that times like this are why I like to hike. Gorgeous views. Good company. A nice brisk wind. Alpine flowers. What more could you ask for? From Avery we descended into Safford Notch, where the trail wandered alongside some very large erratics. Neat. The trail then took us up onto the ridgeline of Little Bigelow. There were some nice views from various outlooks and rock ledges, and we enjoyed lunch at the far end of the ridge, with views looking back at the whole Bigelow range. The day was heating up, and it was getting pretty warm as we descended to East Flagstaff Road. Luckily the descent was pretty quick and mellower than expected. We took a water break at Little Bigelow Lean-to and then boogied through the remaining mile. We hit the road at 1:30, and drove up to Round Barn to stick our feet in Flagstaff Lake and wash off a bit. The water was a bit too cold for me to do much more than that, but it felt good!

This was a great weekend of hiking. Beautiful terrain and much more manageable heat-wise than our trip around the GooseEyes. I've been wanting to hike the Bigelows since seeing them from the chairlift on Sugarloaf 8 or 9 years ago, and they did not disappoint!