Date: 2005-07-16
From: Little Bigelow Lean-to, ME

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: scattered clouds

15.3 miles todayStratton, Maine I'm real glad I started carrying my sleeping bag out of Monson instead of the quilt I was carrying in the Wilderness. I had my sleeping bag open and just quilted over me last night and I woke up cold. I zipped up the sleeping bag and slept good the rest of the night. I woke up at 4am and layed there trying to decide whether to go into town today. The thought of a hamburger made up my mind for me. I put on coffee, ate breakfast and started hiking at 5:20am. I only had 15 miles to do to town, but it was over the Bigalows...a very rugged section of trail. Normally I would have made it to town by 10:30, but because of the terrain, I didn't get to the road until 1:30. I saw quite a few day hikers today and met Bucko, a sobo. He and a friend were just waking up on top of Little Bigelow when I hiked by. All the work I put into getting to the summit of Little Bigelow didn't last long because the trail went right back down to Safford Notch. The next climb was a long fairly steep climb to the summit of Avery Peak. I could look across at the next mountain I had to get to, but the trail went down to Bigelow Col. A Col is the saddle between two mountain peaks. I've only heard that word used here in Maine. On the way down to the Col, I passed a boxed spring and the water was so cold I'm surprised there wasn't any ice in it. I looked at the next peak I was heading to about 3 miles away by the name South Horn. Down and up again. Tons of rocks of all sizes from very small to the size of a garage to get by and washed out roots all over the trail. My legs are starting to feel like hiker legs again. I went by Horns Pond Lean-to and talked to the caretaker for a while. She was warning me about how tough it is to hike all the way to Georgia...hummm, thanks.  ;-))) The trail went down steeply from there. By the time I got to the bottom of that mountain, my legs knew they had a workout. I met a day hiker who has walked the entire trail in sections by the name of High Octane. We talked a while and he told me about some trail magic waiting on me at the bottom of the mountain. I got to Stratton Brook Pond Rd and there it was...trail magic!!! Canned iced tea and beer. The tea tasted great on a warm day like today...Thanks to whoever left it. One mile later, I got to Rt 27 and there was a cooler full of cokes left by the owner of the Stratton Motel. Now that's my kind of trail magic. I started hitching into town, but nobody liked me today. :-(((  Thirty minutes later, a nobo by the name of Nome came out and we still couldn't get a ride. Twenty minutes later, Bucko and his friend came out to the road. They had a cell phone and called Don at the Stratton Motel. He came right up and picked us up. He's the new owner of the Stratton Motel and has made it extremely hiker friendly. I stayed here a few years ago and now I would recommend it for any hiker. I ate dinner, took a shower, washed my clothes, went grocery shopping and then went to see who was at the hostel. I was talking to a nobo by the name of Restless when Trek hollered at me from the kitchen. He didn't recognize me at first because of my new sophisticated look...no beard, just a little fur on my chin. He's working on his third thru hike. See Mom, there ARE other crazy people too.  :-)))