Date: 2015-07-25
From: Little Bigelow Shelter

To: Hwy 27
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

7/25/2015Treadway:10/10Weather: Overcast and wet from the rain during the night, gradually drying by mid-afternoon 6/10Stats:15.35 mi9:48:451.6 mph2767 cAvg hr 105 bpm4875 ft up5170 ft down 27118 stepsNarrative:Boy, did I do a lot of grunting today. Four peaks, Little Bigelow Mtn, Avery Peak, West Bigelow Mtn and South Horn. Up at 4:45 am and on the trail at 5:30 am. Started out with wet hiking shirt and pants but kept warm going up Little Bigelow. This was the hardest day so far, even harder than Day 5 when I went up and over Chairback late in the day. The treadway was as difficult as it has been since leaving Katahdin, and it was up and down all day long. I am finding the downhill to be much, much harder than the uphill. That¢s where I did most of my grunting today. Near the top of Little Bigelow, I made it to some ridges with views to the south and east, and I was able to take scenic photos. For the rest of the day, all views were completely obscured by clouds. On my way up Avery Peak, I was passed by a local day hiker who just zoomed past me. He was a very nice man and a native of Maine who hiked all the AT in Maine in four different sections. As I was going up Avery, I realized that I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic because of the trees and rock cliffs which were so close to me ¢ almost suffocating me. As I approached the summit, I went above the tree line and the feeling of closeness went away. There is a nice plaque for Miles Avery at the summit, so at least I was able to take a picture of something when I got up there. The local hiker was on the summit when I got there, and he lingered as I moved on, but then he passed me again on the way down Avery and on to West Bigelow. For about .3 miles down the summit, it was steep, and the boulders were slick. I fell and skinned my left thumb. The local hiker whizzed by me again, observing that it was ¢slow going¢ on this steep downhill (but not for him). I caught up to him again on top of West Bigelow, the high point of the range. He turned around there and I continued my traverse. Another brutal downhill, and then the climb up to the fourth summit of the day, South Horn. On the top of South Horn I met two NoBo flipfloppers, Sugar Roll, a young woman with facial piercings who kindly gave me a much needed jolly rancher, and a man named Beyonc©. They started at Rockfish Gap and said that Shenandoah was wonderful and that Rocksylvania was not as bad as most people say. Another steep but (this time) manageable descent to the Horns Pond Lean To, which has an excellent spring. I met a lady there who was day hiking. She mediates family law cases and confided in me that this was hard work which did not pay well and that she was not happy with it. (In Maine state court, mediation is mandatory in all family law cases with minors.) The next 1.5 miles or so was another steep, hard downhill. I heard blaring music below me on the trail, then saw a muscle-bound NoBo wearing headphones. I could only imagine how much his ear drums must have been hurting. He taunted me, saying, ¢hey, you only have 2,000 more miles to go when you make it to the trailhead.¢ I said, ¢I know.¢ I felt like saying ¢%^£¥ you.¢ A$&@%#e. When I ran into Georgia in Stratton, he said the same jerk taunted him too. The last 2 miles were a nice rolling stretch on good tread way, but at this point my body was beaten up too much to savor it. I called Sue at the Stratton Motel and she picked me up for $5. She said she has no private rooms and only one bunk bed left and made me pay in cash in advance for it. Thankfully, the bunk bed was taken. It was crowded and close quarters at Sue's place, the Stratton Motel, and I quickly got a room at the White Wolf Inn, then went back to Sue, who gave me back my money and stamped my AT passport. Then I got ice and borrowed a 5-gallon bucket at Fotter's Market, iced my feet and ankles and had dinner with Georgia and Tundra at the White Wolf Inn. I have now figured out that I need to be as kind and generous to myself as possible if I want to make it out of Maine. I resolved to take zero days in Stratton, Rangely, Andover and Gorham.